Thanks for that.
Our own routine is to find a bike shop and get it to dismantle the bike and put it in a box. Then to call a taxi to take us and the boxes to the airport.
The small cost is more than doing it yourself but a lot easier than finding the box, getting it back to where you're staying, dismantling and packing the bike and getting it to the airport. And but a fraction of the cost of the whole journey.
And you get an enjoyable chat at the shop.
I have also learned to time my flight so it is not on (or the day after) a day when a bike shop would be closed, such as a Sunday or Monday (or holiday) depending on the country.
Mid-week flights are usually good since most shops are open.
When I pulled the plug on my tour last summer, I was fortunate in that the only bike shop in town- or the only one I was aware of, at least- agreed to disassemble, pack, and ship the bike to my home. I think they used BikeFlights to do the shipping part, and there was something of a delay in getting started because they needed to wait until they had a suitable box on hand.
The entire service was well over the 29€ price you mentioned but well worth it to me to reduce the hassle to essentially nil. As I was in no hurry to have it arrive back home, this was a great solution and obviated the possible issue of trying to check a bike box on what began as a flight on a "regional jet": the type serviced by smallish aircraft with limited cargo hold space and three seats in each row: two on one side of the aisle and one on the other.
The price I mentioned is for packing only. It is still the responsibility of the cyclist to get the box to the airline and pay any applicable fees.
I oftentimes see people asking where to find a bicycle box for their return flight home. I just spoke with a shop in Lisbon and they offer a bike-packing service which includes the box for 29€. (I am not affiliated with them; rather, I was making phone calls to Lisbon this morning to find a box for my return home and came across them.)
http://www.biclas.com/
1 year ago