Sending a bread machine through as checked bag
 

I am flying MCI-DFW_ABQ on Friday to visit my sister. I have a bread machine I no longer use that she expressed an interest in. As I am Gold on AA and can check bags free, I packed it up in a box and plan to check it in as luggage.

When it is x-rayed behind the scenes is it likely a bread machine will look suspicious and cause TSA to undo the tape and rope tied around the box? If they do open it up, will they repackage it the same way I did? It's very securely wrapped, the box is reinforced, and there is a rope carrying handle on it. it took some time to do this to prevent the airlines from damaging the bread machine wile being transferred from one flight to another while in transit.

Like everything else with flying these days, the expected result is always a crap-shoot. It would be interesting to hear how it went after your trip.

I will report. The baggage x-rays at MCI are located before the bags go down to be loaded on the planes. I will hang around and observe the screeners as they send the box though the x-ray tube. If they ask me what it is I can tell them before they unpack it, although I doubt they'll listen or believe me. I rather doubt that identifying an object as a bread machine comes up during x-ray screener training. And if they undo the packaging I will ask them to pack it back up securely, like they found it. If they don't I will call for a supervisor and lodge a complaint on the spot.

FWIW, I had the same concerns as you a couple years ago, only the item was an almost unused toaster oven.

It fit in an old gym bag, so I carried it on. Ridiculous, but it was that or risk the baggage boys tearing it open and not re-securing it. (This was at SEA, TSA baggage xray is behind the scenes).

FWIW in 2005 I checked a 20 inch CRT (tube) television in a box as luggage on a domestic flight. TSA opened and "inspected" the box and left their little note, but the TV was fine. That seems way more "suspicious" to me than a bread machine.

The problem is that you never know (unless you're at an airport where you can stand by and observe the x-ray scan like at PHX) if the baggage TSOs will re-pack intelligently if the box is opened.

There's another thread right now in this forum about a traveller whose checked bag was searched by TSA. They opened a large bottle of aspirin and a multi-day compartmented pill/vitamin container. They left them open after investigating and when she arrived, she found the pills, aspirin and vitamins scattered throughout her luggage.

They will almost certainly open the box, so I think you're doing yourself more harm than good by packing it so well, considering that it will only remain packed until it gets to the first airport.

Have you considered something like a Rubbermaid Action Packer? They're one inch less than the linear maximum of 62" for checked luggage, and most likely the machine fits fine with adequate padding.

I have checked in both an espresso machine and a stand mixer in their original packaging, and both were fine but both were also opened.

Exactly, you may find it just as secured as when you packed it. Other times...not so much. It depends entirely on the TSO opening it.

You might want to try something other than a box. I've seen a good amount of plastic tubs come through baggage and they seem to hold up better than a cardboard box. They're also less likely to roll and get stuck in places.

I had my warehouse employees pack it for me, and it is very secure, double boxed and padded. If they open the top of the box they can easily see it is a bread machine. There are also 8 cookbooks packed in the box. But they will have to tape it back shut and retie the string around that has formed a carrying handle. Or they can just use their common sense when viewing it on the screen and see that it is a bread maker. I'd carry it on if I had a direct flight but we have to change planes in Dallas and the thing is very heavy.

Might have been better to pack the cookbooks separately. There are TSOs (perhaps TSOguy can help here) who have posted here that books can look liked blocks of 'nastiness' (so can blocks of cheese or chocolate -or so we've been told).

Depends on how dense the innards of the breadmaker are, a good amount of small kitchen appliances with good amount of metal construction might be to dense for the scanner to see entirely. The cookbooks might also lead to a search.

Wish I could more be more specific but SSI constrains me from doing so.

You're being helpful. Knowing about things like the books helps. I often travel with a lot of books - saves time and hassle for both TSA and me if I pack them in a separate bag (and I usually do, since even if I spread them out, they have a tendency to 'settle' together).

update: no problems
 

I arrive at MCI and go to the AA counter to check a suitcase and the well packed bread machine in a box. Agent asks "what's in the box?" I say a bread machine. She says "that's a first." She puts a luggage tag/sticker on it and I take it over to the x-ray.

TSA gal puts the heavy box on the conveyor while I'm watching. She asks what's in the box before the guy viewing the screen sees it. I say a bread machine. It goes through, comes out the other end, and she tells me it's fine, no need to open the box. When it arrived in ABQ after changing planes in DFW, it was still unopened, not damaged, it made it through as checked baggage in one piece safe and sound.

^ Glad it worked out OK. It's much better when you can deliver it to TSA yourself and be there in case of questions.