Air Travel with my PC

[Stewysb119]

I have an interesting dilemma that I need help with.

I have a flight from California to the Kansas City on Thursday and I have to take my computer with me.

It's a Centurion 5 case with an 8800GTS and a Zalman 9700 CPU cooler (The only 2 things that stick up way off the motherboard). I can carry it on and let them Valet check it if it doesn't fit in the overhead, or I can check it at the gate.

I have 2 questions.

1) How do I pack it so that Donnie the Retard bag handler doesn't destroy it when I check it? I do have a suitcase big enough to hold it.

2) Am I going to get a ton of crap from the security people if I try to take it on the plane with me?

I have heard that all I need to do is bubble wrap it to death and surround it with clothes in my suitcase. Some have said that I need to stuff the case with newspaper to keep the components from moving around. I'm confused.

Any help would be great.

 

[MarcVenice]

I bet it would be best to REMOVE the heatsink, and take out any PCI-e and PCI cards. Harddrives and dvd drives should be in place thoroughly enough, so should the ram be. Then wrap your videocard in bubblewrap and stuff. How to properly transport your case, hmmm, stuffing it with newspaper sounds good, then surround it with clothes in a suitcase. But I bet other people have better suggestions. I'd remove the heatsink and your videocard though.

 

[Gillbot]

Personally, I'd ship it and pack it like it was going to be used to test explosives on the outside of the box. Other than that, I'd say remove anything and everything possible from inside the tower that way it can't be knocked loose, package it the same as above and hope for the best.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
I bet it would be best to REMOVE the heatsink, and take out any PCI-e and PCI cards. Harddrives and dvd drives should be in place thoroughly enough, so should the ram be. Then wrap your videocard in bubblewrap and stuff. How to properly transport your case, hmmm, stuffing it with newspaper sounds good, then surround it with clothes in a suitcase. But I bet other people have better suggestions. I'd remove the heatsink and your videocard though.

+1

less objects that stick out or hang out, less things that can break.

 

[thegisguy]

I had this same dilemma at Christmas. I built a PC for my dad and was planning to fly back with it. Last minute I chickened out and paid to ship it. Before doing so I called the FAA. Their advice was to carry it on, not bubble wrap ahead of time so security could check parts out, and get there early to have PLENTY of time to get past security.

Good luck.

 

[AmberClad]

All these precautions make me wonder how Dells manage to arrive at their destination fully assembled, and (I assume?) usually intact.

 

[vailr]

I'd suggest using the case's original factory box, stuffing padding in to prevent any CPU cooler movement.
Tape up the box and place a destination address label on it. Check it in as "checked baggage".
Hopefully, all they'll do is pass it through their x-ray machine.
Call your airline for their checked baggage limits. Southwest recently decreased from 3 to 2 the allowable checked-on baggage (besides the allowed carry-on "single luggage piece and a laptop or other small bag").

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: AmberClad
All these precautions make me wonder how Dells manage to arrive at their destination fully assembled, and (I assume?) usually intact.

well on the assemby line, there packed by parts. So its not hard to pack about 1000 boards into a crate and then pack it.

As for delivery, the packing on dell's are top notch. I have to admit it, they know how to pack. Even when you RMA there laptop's IBM and DELL have a package service which drops off a box for you to ship your laptop in.

Very nice service when you unfortunately need to RMA.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

it's the small things, right? Pack it to death and ship it. I don't trust Donnie the bag handler.

 

[Skott]

Considering how airline baggage handling is these days I'd ship it if you cant carry it on. No way in hell would I let my pc sit in a belly of a plane. I'd trust FedX or UPS before airline baggage handlers. Just my opinion though.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Either carry it on and get the airport at least 3 hours early so they can inspect it or ship it. I happen to know Dawnie the retard bag handler and I'm tempted to ship my clothes when I HAVE to fly and I drive if I'm going somewhere connected to my by land.

Yes I actually know a guy named Dawnie who is a baggage handler, he attended one of my classes when I was teaching an A+/Net+ class a few years ago, he was at the time and I believe still is a baggage handler. You spelled his name wrong though.

 

[bharatwaja]

Originally posted by: BlueAcolyte
Pack it to death and ship it. I don't trust Donnie the bag handler.

+1...

Personally I dont trust donnie or dawnie too.... FedEX or UPS is the way to go....

Personal experience, the stupid bag handler misplaced one of my boxes containing a core 2 quad q6600 which I was to gift to my niece.... and it took me 40 days to get it back....

Oh, by the way, it was a flight from New York to Mumbai, april 2007.

so you would know how frustrating it wud have been....

 

[Goldfish4209]

Take out the graphics card and smother it with bubble wrap, then stuff the case with packing peanuts or newspaper. Personally I'd rather not take out the heatsink, and a 9700 isn't that much of a monster.

 

[imported_wired247]

I'd be most concerned about flimsy connectors such as SATA... remove all of those, do not use typical bubble wrap as this can carry a lot of static charge. I would not be too worried about the heatsink as it would take quite a large force to uproot it from the mobo. just wrap the video card in anti-static bag then wrap around that with bubble wrap, but ddon't put any bubble wrap inside the computer. pack it sepearately