Went with BA to Malaga couple weeks back as got airmiles to use up. Easy and relaxed experience going out from T5 and no hassles at all with the bike.
Coming back Malaga was more of a nightmare. Too busy. The check-in desk didn’t open until the 2hr before which is a pain when you’re dropped off 3hrs before. The desk is run by Iberia and they were a bit clueless about bikes, then had to drop it off to the big xray place and wait for the guy who was seriously taking his time. Then massive queues and chaos at security. By the time I got through I had to go straight to the gate. Still though, it worked out in the end.
BA published weight for a bike bag/box is 23kg in economy though, which really is not a lot (if using a box you’ll go over). It also counts as your one check-in bag.
However, at Heathrow the guy at the desk said it was 32kg. Malaga they couldn’t even get it on anything to weigh it so didn’t bother.
You do however get two carry on bags. One for overhead and one that can fit under the seat, and the sizes are fairly generous, and weight is anything up to 23kg per bag. So I got rest of my luggage in carry on bags.
I went with an Evoc bag for bike as requires minimal bike disassembly, and I’ve heard bags are treated with a bit more care than a box sometimes.
No free food on BA European flights in economy any more by the way. The stuff they sell is M&S stuff though.