Ski bags

Due to the high cost of renting skis with the Euro exchange rate I have taken advantage of end of season offers and bought a couple of sets of skis and poles. So next thing is to transport them to the slopes, preferably without paying the extra £30 ski charge that the airlines are now charging. So I thought I would get a Dankine Low roller either 165 or 175 cm long which weigh in at 3kgs but are large enough to accommodate your skis, poles, boots and all your clothing.
There are a couple of issues with this plan though so I thought I would list them for opinions / previous experiences from members.

The main issue is the interpretation of the airline baggage rules.
Thompson allows 20kgs standard checked in baggage and has far as I can gather 12kgs ski baggage at an extra cost of £15 each way. As I have previously posted there appears to be no rules on the ThomsonFly website about the size of your case in particular the length. So if you can get everything in the Dankine and it weighs 20 kg or less you appear not to have to pay the £30. I have heard that you are not allowed to put the sports equipment in the standard luggage and this was demonstrated when one guy had to remove his ski boots from his 20kg standard suit case and was charge £30 to put them in a boot bag, LOL. Surly that can’t be true. If you had hiking boots in there or trainers would they be considered sports equipment, doubt it. There is also talk that some airlines have a max case length which is a combination of the actual length, width and depth of the case and it is 160cm which obviously would rule out any ski bag.

The next issue is also a deal breaker, many people say that if a ski flight baggage hold is full the skis get left behind therefore if you have everything in one of these bags and the baggage guys are feeling cruel you could end up in resort with nothing other than the clothes you travelled in. As this happened to anyone, is there any truth in it?

Any other possible drawback that people could think of would be appreciated.