When I flew from the east coast to Seattle I flew with the bike. It was cheaper on southwest than the shipping optins I chesked and it is nice to be able to ride right out of the airport.
That said I did use shipbikes on another trip and the service was good. The problem with them is that unless something has changed you either have to use a hard case or one of their expensive boxes. That may be fine if you are starting and ending your tour from the same place, but if you do point to point tours you have to deal with getting your case to the end point of the trip for the return home.