planes&trains

Ditto. I have checked in laptop in one of those slim Pelican cases meant for laptops. No problem.

prestonh

Ymmv but I would not check something of value that is insurable via shipping for greater than the marginal cost to replace it.

eng3

Laptops and most electronics with installed batteries are ok. That includes tools too and their installed batteries. Just pack them well. The only concern I'd have is if someone decided to steal or "lose" it so make sure your have some insurance and backups. You only need to carry batteries when they are not installed in the equipment

Dublin_rfk

Yes it is a YMMV situation. The chances of damage to packed electronics due to tsa inspections or tampering by airline personnel ( a favorite excuse of the tsa) are slim unless said luggage / baggage stands out due to size, weight and complexity of its latching mechanism (with tsa approved Locking system) and contains a dozen smaller re-closeable packages that are labeled in English and is before them on an average of 100 times a year (50 round trips). It only takes ONE time finding your bag next to a bin of its contents on the carousel or ONE time getting to a customer and opening your bag on-site and finding the fragile test equipment inside unwrapped and broken to lose respect for the ‘system’. Or better yet tracking a missing bags only to find out its at your departure point. Held there because tsa discovered something that caused them to page you to their office after your flight departed. Or maybe it’s a DYKWIA situation. Where you just expect things to work as described.

but this is drifting from the original direction of the thread.

battensea

Funny, in the mad rush right before the door closes when the gate agents or flight attendants are making people check their carry-on bags in the hold because there's no space left in the overhead bins, nobody ever asks about or mentions the issue of spare lithium batteries that might be in those bags.

😠