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For what it’s worth, soft cases will pretty much never go on the bottom of a stack of luggage, but hard shells certainly will. The ramp agent has about 10-15 minutes to stack all the bags and they want solid squares to make a fast stack. Think about the last moving van you loaded, you ideally put like-sized boxes together in stacks because it’s tighter and more efficient.
Soft cases and larger hardshells will often end up against a wall or on top of the pile. This doesn’t mean a bagalanche can’t happen, they do, and bags could fall onto a bike case. These tend to happen more on lightly-loaded flights, and the shape of the pit (cargo hold) matters as well. Most widebody overseas flights have baggage loaded in containers that are then loaded on the airplane, so the risk of belt or collapsing piles is lower.
More damage and risk happens on bag belts inside the airport or belt loaders into the airplane. Bags fall off, get caught, etc. Avoid long loose straps, and if you have a hard plastic case put stair tread/grip tape on it so it sticks to belts better. Many airlines will make you sign a waiver for soft cases as well.
Keep these points in mind when shopping for cases and packing. They apply to all case styles, from S&S to soft SciCon-style and everything in between. Dealing with the size and shape of the cases for taxis, buses, trains, rental cars, and small hotel rooms is another discussion.
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