Maybe Mr. Armstrong can push for some airplane reform

Apparently South West Airlines does not charge to check a bike (note if you are taller than 4 feet your standard bike will still cost money). At first I thought this is awesome (my initial excitement was dashed on a very small box with my bikes very large frame).

As I follow the story

today Lance sent the following to the 2.4 million followers who read his "tweets/twits"

RT @LIVESTRONGCEO: Hey @southwestair - idea: SWA should be the first airline to take bikes for free! Bags are free. How about bikes?about 9 hours ago via UberTwitter
A short time later South West Airlines posted their policy non motorized bicycles. Please forgive this giant corporations grammar this policy can save you money.Here is our policy on bikes (scroll to non-motorized bikes) u can check bikes for free: http://cot.ag/2I9afw @livestrongceo@lancearmstrongabout 9 hours ago via CoTweet
Following the link they do have some severe restrictions that make this a free bike in name alone.
The box size has me some what concerned a length + width + height of 62 inches is pretty much impossible to do. My mountain bikes frame rear dropout to head tube, and bb shell to seat collar is 62" (42+20). A frame has to be very broken down (to base tubes or raw carbon) to fit in that space. A 2 foot by 3 foot box would suck up 60 inches (24+ 36=60) this will make for a very slender bike given the narrowest dropouts are 120 mm wide in the back. In fact 700c rims require 24.5" length and height just to fit with out tires. I believe to fit a bike in this I would need to have a frame that can be decoupled S&S style I do not even own a bike that could be much less afford the custom frame that can take the couplers. However a folding bike may fit I will have to measure ours at the shop Thursday.
Free bike transport could make them money. It gives you virtually every single ticket for a person with a bike. It makes you the airline which otherwise spits out millions of tons of CO2 look greenish which is good P.R.. Finally bikes like Ikea Furniture, flat pack. They are ideally suited to the cargo bay of an airplane where volume is at a premium. A careful cyclist can bring their bike narrower than a foot my bike into a 3X4X1 area this is 96 inches a 100 inch barrier is much more realistic.
What could have been a glorious day leaves me saddened as I do not think it is possible to squeeze my bike into the box SWA would allow to be on a jet plane for free. South West clearly missed the point the cycling world/Lance Armstrong was trying to make. Bumping the allowance for bicycles would be simple the box does not have to be much bigger than the 62" allotment. Which as of right now allows for a well packed wheelset.
Heres to realistic policies for bicyclesJohn Henry