My wife's bike has S&S couplers, but we have not used them very much for air travel. To get her 700c wheels into a 26" x 26" case requires taking the tires off as well as all the the other disassembly required. The racks and saddle will not fit in the box. Carrying an extra bag for odd parts seems to defeat the purpose. We used Iceland Air for 3 trips and have paid $128- $150 per bike. We also do open Jaw flights, and a hard case would not be practical. We get by with one free checked bag, and carry our our rackpacks, bar bags and helmets. The total cost was the cost of the ticket and the $150 (2018 price) for the bike. I like Iceland Air, but it is the entry point into Europe, and you go through passport check and customs at Keflavik which requires switching planes. We do save money using her S&S couplers when we ship our bikes through FedX or UPS. We can get her bike in a smaller bix that saves about$100 compared to my bike's shipping cost. We've almost paid for her couplers in shipping savings, but not by using them when flying.
The Yellow duffel bag gets checked free, I carry on the rackpack, bar bag, helmet. The empty panniers go in the bike box.
My wife is rolling both bikes and all our gear to the motel's van at the Lisbon Airport. We switched planes four times during this trip" PDX to Seattle, Seattle to Keflavik, Keflavik to The Netherlands, and The Netherlands to Lisbon. I can't remember why we did it that way, but it worked out.
