Ha Rollie - you too funny!
:smileybounce:
Methinks you are bored this morning - it's all good, I'll play along
I think for what you would pay for a nice heavily padded gig bag like a Fusion Bags, Reunion Blues, Mono, or even a Crossrock Hybrid is much more than even the cheapest $25 (from Empire Music in Canada) canvas-covered hard foam cases, and offers LESS protection in such a gig bag as mentioned due to lack of rigidity.
Sure a gig bag can protect against minor scratches and bumps, but if the headstock gets hit, or the neck is bent back, for that uke, it's just GAME OVER.
OTOH, these canvas-covered hard foam cases, have much greater resistance to being snapped in half, and are sold under more than a dozen different brand names, including Kala's Uke Crazy, Lanikai, Musician's Gear, etc and I've bought more than a half dozen sold under different names, and my conclusion is that they all come from the same 1-2 Asian factories, and ALL have the smell of uncured glue (which is easily remedied without chemicals or kitty litter or coffee beans by placing a fan, blowing full blast onto/into a case that's propped open for at least 72 hrs, and then the smell is gone...)
For a hard wood case, I would likely never spend for the Ameritage, or Colton unless my uke itself cost over $800 of which I have none, and same goes for a fiberglass (like Crossrock) case. However, I have been lucky to find sales of the tolex-covered wood cases at a discount, and I have reserved those for solid-wood ukes that need a better airtight seal for humidification purposes. I will not debate which case or bag is best for humidity control, because I simply want to avoid that topic.
To me a padded gig bag is like a dust cover, good for keeping the uke in the closet.
The Uke-Crazy style cases are good for out-and-about to uke jams and open mic nights.
The wood, ABS and fiberglass cases are the ONLY kind I would trust to go into the overhead bins on the airplane, and better if it is ALSO 'TSA Rated' just in case I am forced to check it under threat of being bumped/banned from the flight if I refuse.
I almost think that if I were to travel with a uke, that I'd FedEx it overnight to my destination, in a hard wood case well-cocooned in bubble-wrap just to avoid any hassle at the airport, or if traveling CONUS, just go by rail. Sure, rail takes longer but is way less stressful to me.
Anyway, these are my humble thoughts...