Originally Posted by
Steve_sr
FYI, this is ill advised on flights in and to the U.S (and possibly E.U.) TSA opens EVERY bike box for inspection and then usually makes ZERO attempt to put things back together the way it was found. Extra clothes and stuff really complicates their work, makes them angry, and even less likely to put things back together properly. The rule is to connect (zip tie) everything to the frame so that they only have to pull out 1 piece to inspect and hopefully put it back in the same way it came out.
This was my assumption for all flights domestic and international, until this summer. My bike box from Detroit Metro to Portland, OR, was definitely not opened. It was very light as there was only a 56cm road bike in there. It was opened by TSA from PDX to Omaha at RAGBRAI last July. I saw a couple bike boxes arriving with mine at Omaha, that were not wearing any TSA tape and appeared to be unmolested by the TSA.