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I've travelled lots with bikes, I've taken carbon, steel and titanium frames with no issues at all.
If you've ever seen baggage loaded onto planes, they're put onto pallets/cages (smaller for budget EU flights and quite big for transatlantic) which are usually about four cases deep. They try to pack as much into a pallet/cage as possible, and since most suitcases are regular shapes and your bike bag isn't, it'll go separately. It also certainly won't go at the bottom, as it'll have been checked in oversized baggage anyway and will be last to go on with the other sports equipment like golf bags etc.
yeah I read the same about shitty closures on cheap cases as well..
will a bit of pipe lagging protect it if it's at the bottom of a big pile of baggage? am I worrying too much?