Packing sensitive electronics for flight
My girlfriend is flying from to Missouri later this month to visit her family. Her sister, in Missouri, wants her to bring her game consoles so they can play games together. She will also be visiting for a month.
How can I safely pack these items with her? She'll be bring two consoles, a couple of games for each, a laptop, tablet, books and clothes. So far, my idea was to pack everything that can't be damaged into a checked bag, bring the consoles in the overhead bag, and her tablet/books in her carry-on. Is this a good strategy to prevent the most probably damage? What sort of accommodations should I make for going through security? I won't be going with her, so I can't go through security with her, or tell her how to get to her gate. The other option we've found is to have it shipped over there, but that involves paying to ship it over, and paying to ship it back.
Best Answer
I once travelled with two consoles in my hand luggage while moving between countries. The most sensitive piece of the assembly are in my opinion the controllers. Anyhow if you can, take both console and controllers in your hand luggage, and leave the games in your checked piece. Should you be forced to check everything in, you can wrap each item individually in one or more items of clothing for extra padding.
When you get to security checks with your console-packed carry-on, you will have to remove the consoles before putting the bag through the x-ray machine. Very much like in the case of laptops, large pieces of electronics can hide items placed behind/before them, or render them confusing on the scan image. The consoles will of course have to be scanned themselves.
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How do I pack electronics at the airport?
Pack large electronics on top layer of carry-on for screening accessibility. Place your 3-1-1 bag with liquids, gels and aerosols in the front pocket of your carry-on for accessibility.Can electronics be in checked luggage?
Most consumer personal electronic devices containing batteries are allowed in carry-on and checked baggage, including but not limited to cell phones, smart phones, data loggers, PDAs , electronic games, tablets, laptop computers, cameras, camcorders, watches, calculators, etc.Can electronics be carried on plane?
Electronics. Personal electronics are allowed in either checked or carry-on luggage. In fact, it might be preferable for you to keep items such as laptops, MP3 players, video cameras and video game systems with you, because checked baggage might be jostled quite a bit as it's loaded onto and off the plane.What to do with electronics when flying?
Once you're on the plane, you're free to use your portable electronics until the flight crew readies the plane for departure. At that point, most airlines require that laptops be stowed under the seat in front of you or in the overhead bin.How I Flew Overseas With My Desktop PC
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Answer 2
In most cases I'd expect that packing the items as a unit in checked luggage in a manner that you'd use if mailing it and placing it at the core of the checked luggage with other soft contents around it as padding would be substantially more than adequate.
While baggage handling staff on occasion (at least) throw bags and while they may fall several metres off a conveyor [I have taken photos of both these things happening] it is not too hard to design a packing system that survives this. If you can pack it so that it seems likely to survive the most violent handling that you can possible conceive the bag experiencing then it may survive :-).
Carrying the equipment is fine if you are willing and able to "ride shotgun" on it at all times.
If it's placed in an overhead locker it must survive any possible action by other passengers.
We've all seen:
Oops! Sorry! I didn't realise that was hooked onto my bag ...
If I shove hard enough I'm sure that my bag will go into this locker
If I slam the locker door harder it will surely latch.
and
- Well who would have thought the locker would burst open like that during takeoff and rain bags!!!? (I've seen it happen.)
Carry on: If you have to take it out for security inspection it needs to survive handling by security staff and just possibly interaction with other passengers at the far end of the XRay machine.
Worst case - if you are standing with arms extended being frisked for the 3rd time and the console is being pushed aside at XRay exit by other passengers it must not be able to be damaged. A ride in your checked bag allows you to be master of the situation.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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