Originally Posted by paravirtue

Next month I will be visiting my family in Lebanon, flying NWA to AMS, KLM from AMS to BEY. I want to take a desktop computer with me for a gift. The issues are:

1) What will I be charged in fees?

How many total items are you checking? What are the sizes (linear inches)? How much do they weigh? What class of service are you paying for, WBC or Coach? Are you elite with NW/KLM? All of these factors determine what if any costs you will incur.

2) How reliable is NWA & KLM to ensure no damage or theft?

Not at all, if you check it, it is subject to "normal" wear and tear and they are not responsible for "normal" wear and tear.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I plan on leaving the computer in it's original packing.

You can find the luggage allowance rules on NWA.com and KLM.com. Generally it is two checked bags of 50 lbs or less and one carry on are free. There are many more factors, one of which is the size of the item. Elites are allowed more weight but no more bags. First class is allowed a third checked bag (I think, not sure on Intl flights).

My advice would be to use what ever courier service delivers to that country or NWA Cargo. Overlimit and overweight bags can run $100 or more per item. It is sometimes cheaper to buy a ticket for a friend and have them travel with only carry on and use their checked luggage allowance for your overage. If it was me, I think I would use someone like Fed-EX, UPS, Airborne or a similar company that is used to handling things like that and can get it through customs on both sides.

Thank you.