Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Your question

Taking a computer on an airplane as checked luggage

Tags:
  • Homebuilt
  • Computer
  • Systems
Last response: in Systems
Share
December 13, 2006 11:52:25 AM

I'm building a new computer this December that I will also want to take back to Norway with me. I'm an American living there and I'll be transporting it as airline luggage. I would like this to go as smoothly as possible, and I'm unsure of how to pack everything.

One option is to have a computer company I know build/assemble the computer, and ship the computer to my home in the States. Then I can take the box and stuff it into my large duffel bag for transport. They say that this is adequate and that the parts inside the computer will be safe.

The other option is to pack all the computer parts separately from the case. This way, I won't have a huge box to deal with, I can just put the case into the duffel bag with some clothing around it, and the parts will be packed in their protective containers.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to go about this?

*edit: found the perfect case and cooler so this next question is unnecessary.

More about : taking computer airplane checked luggage

December 13, 2006 12:08:11 PM

Disassembled. Period.

Any shaking during loading/handling etc. might damage the motherboard and other components, considering that it support a bunch of cards, and a heatsink.
December 13, 2006 12:39:26 PM

Yes, the ideal method would be to carefully return all the parts to their original packaging, then carefully pack them in your luggage. Just remember that you will need to clean off the thermal paste on your heatsink/CPU and apply a new layer when rebuilding.

However, I don't know the regulations on bringing electronics/computer equipment through airport security. I would inquire ahead of time.
Related resources
December 13, 2006 12:52:17 PM

Disassembled,
and get yourself insurance, in case some of the components die or got lost.
also get a written statement that it isn't a problem for airport security, they are crazy nowadays :?
December 13, 2006 1:11:01 PM

Firstly, don't be daft - sticking it in a duffel bag is just *asking* for trouble.

Secondly, only transport it disassembled, if you try to move it assembled you're, again, asking for trouble.
December 13, 2006 1:27:17 PM

At minimum, remove any cards and memory. I would even go so far as to remove any hard drives and transport them separately. It should be OK to leave the motherboard in place, but consider also removing the heatsink and processor.

As far as cases go, most people here are in agreement...you get what you pay for. For myself, since my cases tend to last over several builds, I like to get good quality. Silverstone, Lian Li, ThermalTake and CoolerMaster all make very good cases (and some of them even fitsmaller budgets). There is also the Gigabyte Aurora that Tom's mentioned in the buying guide. Just figure out your space needs and your budget and go from there.
December 13, 2006 1:42:10 PM

I did the same thing a few years back you have to dissasemble everything and pack them carefully I actually stuffed clothes inside my case to protect from vibration everything worked as a charm once I got to the US
December 13, 2006 1:43:29 PM

Have you ever seen how luggage is cared for by the airlines? I've seen garbage cans treated with better care.

Duffel bag - I'd recommend a hard suitcase.

Disassemble like everyone else is suggesting. Make sure all items are wrapped tightly, and then wrap them again. Pray your HD isn't tossed around enough that it becomes busted.

Insurance is good. I'd also take photos of your computer and each part before you pack it - in case it becomes damaged and you have proof for the airlines.
December 13, 2006 1:59:14 PM

make sure that you've got everything in antistatic bags, dry air + cold leads to a hell of a lot of static
December 13, 2006 2:07:32 PM

That is a must.

Antistatic bags will be required.

Then just pack each part individually, packaged with foam, or other shipping material.

Suggestion: Go to a post office or store that sells shipping supplies, and buy the bubbled envelopes (yellow color). These provide great protection for small items, such as your memory. Recommend getting one bag per card + memory.

As for your processor. Leave it in the mobo as that’s the best place for it. However, remove the HSF and pack that separately. You can also remove the Processor and cut a bit of foam and stick the processor in the foam. That will protect the pins.
.
December 13, 2006 2:14:27 PM

burn-e86 is right about anti-static. I was in the air freight industry a long time & seems to be a contest to see how much freight/luggage can be damaged per plane. Also, sorry to say but it is true, quite a few ramp people (load the planes) make a nice living selling "lost" items. Document & pics. Also be warned, if the worst happens & stuff is "lost" or damaged, the claims people will try hard to blow you off to avoid paying. Have copies of receipts, etc & again, document & pics. Maybe only take a few components & buy the rest overseas? (esp a case - the size & weight will be problems if shipped as luggage). Sorry to be so long but I am sure many others will be taking stuff on airplanes over the holidays. BTW, do u like blondes??? :wink: have fun!!!
December 13, 2006 2:21:58 PM

Blondes? Who doesnt? Odd insert there aj49.
December 13, 2006 3:08:05 PM

Have you considered shipping some of the parts (USPS, Fed Ex, USPS, or whatever) or would that be too expensive?
December 13, 2006 3:11:49 PM

I moved to Germany six months ago and took my whole computer in my luggage. The computer went in my big Samsonite soft sided roller bag and the LCD monitor went in my wife´s. I put a few layers of clothes along all sides of the case, and stuffed the case full of socks and underwear (yes, they were clean). I didn´t have any problems with electrostatic or damage (well I overstuffed the hard drives and bent the mount a bit, but I bent it back). If you bring in all the pieces in their original packaging you might get hassled/have to pay taxes on them/prove they are for personal use, but I´m not expert on that end.

I went with the Antec Super Lanboy II case. The size and price were right. My only small complaint about the case is that the aluminum is a bit thin and will bend if you are rough with it, although it arrived undamaged.

Best of luck with your Journey.
December 13, 2006 4:10:40 PM

Hi again! Thank you to everyone for all the responses, and for wishing me luck on my journey. Please also wish me luck in returning to the States, especially that first bit of culture shock I get every time as I land at JFK. Let me just clarify some things and ask for some more clarification on some others:


1. I will not be taking the computer through security, I'll be checking it as luggage. Security these days is a mess, but do you think I really need to tell them that I am checking in a computer or get a special document for that?

2. Antistatic bags seem to be a major theme here. I suppose that the components I order will come in antistatic bags, but if I need more, where can I find them?

3. I can prove that the computer is for personal use should they decide to stop me. They mostly seem worried about people going over their quota of alcohol, which I will probably be in violation of :) 

4. I will be sure to document everything on paper and in photographs.

5. I cannot ship the computer or any parts to myself because I will be charged 24% VAT (that's tax for those who don't know) when I pick it up in addition to the steep shipping fees.

6. Norway is incredibly expensive and that's why I am not going to buy any computer hardware here. Think 3 to 4x prices in the US.

7. Blondes are nice...but don't try living with one.

If I'm assembling the system myself, I guess I can just take the components back with me and assemble the system in Norway. If I buy through a company, then I'll have to disassemble and reassemble. I will try to get them to send me all the packaging that the components come in. This is taking a lot more planning than I had anticipated.

As for the case, I'm still lost there. Any other suggestions?
December 13, 2006 4:21:17 PM

Antistatic bags can be got via shipping company like fedex.
And i duno if Xrays would harm the CMOS or not. WHY ARNT YOU GETTING A LAPTOP, SON?
December 13, 2006 4:22:34 PM

Since he's going to Norway & he may find a few there :wink: ----- def will enjoy himself. I was through there a long time ago & only pleasant memories. By the way, I agree about looking into freighting a whole computer but see what customs has for export & import requirements as i know there are restrictions on shipping components to certain countries.
December 13, 2006 4:27:34 PM

The VAT would make shipping very very expencive. Not really an option. Getting a nice laptop is though.
December 13, 2006 4:39:21 PM

Maybe I don't understand how VAT works, but if you buy a computer component here in the U.S., receive the package here in the US, then repack it and Fed Ex to your address in Norway, why would you have to pay VAT?
December 13, 2006 4:48:33 PM

Import tax.
December 13, 2006 5:04:32 PM

"Import Tax?"

I'm sorry but that doesn't clarify my confusion...VAT = Value Added Tax, right? I've been to England, I've been to Greece, I've been to Spain. My understanding is that VAT is roughly similar to a sales tax in the U.S., except that it's a tax on each stage of the production of a product.

I have also mailed stuff to friends in England and Greece and I've never heard them mention having to pay a VAT on it. Granted it wasn't electronics but it was still stuff of value I sent them as gifts.

I guess I still don't understand why you'd have to pay VAT, especially if you're essentially mailing your own stuff to yourself? Military dudes from the U.S. move to Europe all the time with computers, furniture, household appliances and $1000's of dollars worth of stuff without have to pay VAT. Why would this be any different?
December 13, 2006 5:38:33 PM

"VAT is an indirect tax, in that the tax is collected from someone other than the person who actually bears the cost of the tax (namely the seller rather than the consumer). To avoid double taxation on final consumption, exports (which are, by definition, consumed abroad) are usually not subject to VAT or VAT is refunded which led to such consequenses."

Example
Consider the manufacture and sale of any item, which in this case we will call a widget.


Without any sales tax
A widget manufacturer spends $1 on raw materials and uses them to make a widget.
The widget is sold wholesale to a widget retailer for $1.20, making a profit of $0.20.
The widget retailer then sells the widget to a widget consumer for $1.50, making a profit of $0.30

With a U.S.-style sales tax
With a 10% sales tax:

The manufacturer pays $1.00 for the raw materials, certifying it is not a final consumer.
The manufacturer charges the retailer $1.20, checking that the retailer is not a consumer, leaving the same profit of $0.20.
The retailer charges the consumer $1.65 ($1.50 + 10%) and pays the government $0.15, leaving the same profit of $0.30.
So the consumer has paid 10% ($0.15) extra, compared to the no taxation scheme, and the government has collected this amount in taxation. The retailers have not lost anything directly to the tax, but they do have the extra paperwork to do so that they correctly pass on to the government the sales tax they collect. Suppliers and manufacturers have the administrative burden of supplying correct certifications, and checking that their customers (retailers) aren't consumers.


With a VAT
With a 10% VAT:

The manufacturer pays $1.10 ($1 + 10%) for the raw materials, and the seller of the raw materials pays the government $0.10.
The manufacturer charges the retailer $1.32 ($1.20 + 10%) and pays the government $0.02 ($0.12 minus $0.10), leaving the same profit of $0.20.
The retailer charges the consumer $1.65 ($1.50 + 10%) and pays the government $0.03 ($0.15 minus $0.12), leaving the same profit of $0.30.
So the consumer has paid 10% ($0.15) extra, compared to the no taxation scheme, and the government has collected this amount in taxation. The businesses have not lost anything directly to the tax, but they do have the extra paperwork to do so that they correctly pass on to the government the difference between what they collect in VAT (output VAT, an 11th of their income) and what they spend in VAT (input VAT, an 11th of their expenditure).

Note that in each case the VAT paid is equal to 10% of the profit, or 'value added'.

The advantage of the VAT system over the sales tax system is that businesses cannot hide consumption (such as wasted materials) by certifying it is not a consumer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VAT
December 13, 2006 5:50:46 PM

1. VAT is value-added tax and the percentage depends on the country. It also depends on the country whether or not this is enforced often or not. We Americans do not understand the concept of VAT or import taxation, it takes living in Europe a very long time (as I have) to begin to appreciate it. The thing that will never change is that Europeans don't hate it as we expatriates do. Norway is the last secret communist country, only they call it socialism. If they joined the EU, I really think that the country would fall apart as they have so many laws and so many taxes.

If I shipped a 3000$US computer to myself in Norway, I would pay 720$US when I picked it up. It's basically the government saying "we know most things, especially electronics, are cheaper (even more than 24%!) in North
America and the rest of Europe so if you try to ship them here, we'll take our cut as if you bought it here."

2. I am not military but military dudes living abroad don't pay import tax.

3. The laptop idea. Three years ago I did the laptop idea. Since then, I swore I would never buy another laptop and I would certainly not buy one from Alienware. Almost as soon as I bought mine, they changed the architecture attached to the user-replaceable graphics cards and hung me out to dry with never being able to upgrade. Furthermore, they refuse to update the proprietary graphics drivers and my system has major issues with the ATI drivers. I constantly have my drivers fail and my computer reboot unexpectedly. The error when I return to Windows is always about THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER or that the video drivers stopped responding.

This new computer will be primarily used for gaming until my 3-year-old computer finally dies. Then it will be used for everything. The computer I am presently using is an Alienware Area 51-m 766 laptop (pentium 4 3.2, ATI 9600 128Mb AGP, 1 Gb RAM). The last game I could play well was Thief: Deadly Shadows. I bought a Playstation 2 two years ago to play games since this laptop is inadequate.
December 13, 2006 5:56:59 PM

dang sorry to hear.
And great expliation of the VAT. [insert tax joke here].
You could always move to the USA? No?
December 13, 2006 6:45:27 PM

Move back to the USA just because of a computer and some taxes?

I like where I live and although I would make a lot more money doing what I do in the States, I prefer my tranquil life and good working hours. I'll probably move to Scotland to settle finally once I've specialised. By then I won't have to worry about overclocking cheap processors and paying VAT :) 
December 13, 2006 6:46:38 PM

Thanks. Your explaination and the pervious poster's explaination of VAT really clarifies things for me. In that case, don't ship it to yourself. (-;

I knew rough how the VAT worked but didn't have it spelled out before. I wasn't aware that at each stage the previous paid tax is subtracted, I thought it was simply piled on.

In light of the expense, I agree with the posters above; specifically:

1. Pack everything in the orginal boxes, if able
2. If not able, use anti-static bags/bubble wrap
3. Buy a large roller type suit case
4. Place everything in the suit case, well padded by cloths
5. Check the case (do not carry on)

I have travelled across the U.S. with electronic equipment (including boards costed over $30,000) and have never had any problems (knock on wood).
December 13, 2006 6:56:29 PM

Naw. That country is beautiful. If I had more $$$ I would move up there in a heart beat.... Greenland maybe...
January 15, 2007 1:33:13 AM

So I leave the States to go back to Norway tomorrow. I've got the computer built and I've tied everything down inside the case with those nylon wire ties. Everything is really strapped tightly so I'm not worried. I've got a mountain of foam, bubble wrap, styrofoam peanuts and that packing material made of plastic with large cells of air inside. I'm packing the computer inside of the box the case came in, and putting that into a large box with a massive amount of the above packing material surrounding it. Then, I'm going to write fragile in three languages on the box. I think it will be okay, my father thinks it will be okay, and a local computer company thinks it will be okay. I'll probably enquire about some insurance on it as it's worth about 2500$US, but I'm not worried because I'm flying Lufthansa. I know the fools at JFK don't care about luggage and fragile stickers, but they treat them better once in Europe.

Comments? Suggestions? Flames? :?: :roll:
January 15, 2007 1:37:03 AM

PS: no more duffel bag! That was a bad idea to begin with. Looked around for a hard suitcase that would fit this, but I couldn't find one. :( 
January 15, 2007 1:45:06 AM

I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not (not sure how paranoid your airport security guys are in the states etc) but have you thought about removing a couple of the more expensive/fragile components (like the hard drives and Graphics card for example) packing them nice and softly in a carry on bag and taking them on with you...obviously you can't do it with the whole case but a couple of the things that are more likely to get destroyed if the case takes a knock (I lost a hard drive when my computer was trucked across the country a few years ago)....of course if security won't let you past carrying that (which would be really odd) then it can't happen but I thought I'd suggest it
January 15, 2007 12:08:58 PM

It's a good suggestion. I don't really understand the security here anymore, it was more relaxed the last time I was in the States. This time I've had so many strange experiences.

#1. "Sir, you may not bring that bottle of water through security." So I drank the entire thing right there. "Sir, I would like to inform you that we did not make you drink that liquid." So I stood there dumbfounded and he repeated that phrase three more times.

#2. "Sir, may we check your bag?" I said certainly. "I seem to be having some trouble opening this bag." I reach to help him. "SIR, YOU MAY NOT TOUCH THIS BAG WHILE I AM INSPECTING IT!!!"

#3. I show ID and my boarding pass in order to proceed through security. I then proceed through security. "Sir, may I see your ID and boarding pass?" "Sure, but it's in my jacket pocket which is going through your x-ray machine right now." "SIR, YOU ARE NOT GOING TO ENTER THE GATE AREA AND BOARD THAT PLANE WITHOUT FIRST SHOWING ME SOME IDENTIFICATION!!!" Then the fool walks away and I never see him after that. I looked for him thinking he would throw me to the ground and arrest me, but I never found him and I never showed those bastards ID. I also, yet again, "wasn't made" to drink my bottle of water.

I have many other stories, but it's not worth it. I don't have a good feeling about bringing a bunch of computer components through security as they will probably be scrutinised. Then again, I really feel that all of this security nonsense is made for us to feel safe, but fundamentally, it is not secure. i.e. one could line his digestive tract with plastic, fill a bottle with petrol, be denied security clearance, drink the entire bottle of petrol, go to the bathroom, throw it up back into the bottle, and then wreak some havoc.

My apologies for this question becoming a rant!
!