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[Khofax]

Hello everyone. My wife and I have our tickets and hotel booked for star wars celebration. We would like to bring our kits but here is the problem. We are in Ottawa Canada. My question is how do we get our kits there? We are flying down. Now I looked into shipping our kits but the cost is crazy. Over 200$ for one suit, one way.  We can always pack most of the kit in a suitcase but what do we do with the buckets. I know that if we don't bring our kits we will wish we had when we see all the others with kits. What's a Merc to do ?

Cheers,
  Alain

[Ruusaan Ordo]

This has been and is being discussed here:

Trip Planning: Where do I start?

Shipping Mando Kits QnA

C7: Getting gear to the con... traveling with "weapons"... Q & A

[Thaxos]

Helmet goes in a helmet bag and becomes your personal item, most helmets fit snugly under the seat in front of you.

Been doing this for four years now, never had an issue.
My armour fits into a bin that counts as checked baggage.

[Vonic Vonnor]

The 501st Legion does the same I think. They bring the helmets on the plain as their carry on, and their armour in a case that goes in bage compartment of the plain. The helmet gose under the seat in front of you or can go in the compartment above you.

[Thaxos]

The 501st Legion does the same I think. They bring the helmets on the plain as their carry on, and their armour in a case that goes in bage compartment of the plain. The helmet gose under the seat in front of you or can go in the compartment above you.

I don't trust the overhead compartment.
Luggage fit loosely inside can slide around and crush the helmet.

Or you can have people cramming their luggage in beside your helmet and crush it that way.

Strongly advise against this.

At your feet, in your control is best.

[Vraeden]

Instead of packing your armor up, has anyone thought of putting all of their prop weapons in checked luggage and just wearing your armor on the plane?

You'd have to take the pat-down from TSA, but you wouldn't have to check a storage trunk.

Just curious.

[Thaxos]

Instead of packing your armor up, has anyone thought of putting all of their prop weapons in checked luggage and just wearing your armor on the plane?

You'd have to take the pat-down from TSA, but you wouldn't have to check a storage trunk.

Just curious.

Closest I've gotten to that is wearing my Captain America leather jacket on the plane.

No armour though, being metal that'd be a really awkward conversation. The less they have to question what you're doing, the better.

[Ref Al'drann]

It's best not to draw attention to yourself in a US airport. I imagine that stepping through the doors in your armor will result in a very thorough search, questioning, and a missed flight. But hey, you might end up on the news - so you'll have that going for you, which is nice...

[Vraeden]

So my employer sent me to DC this past work week, and Kyrimorut Clan was gracious enough to host me for a troop at the DC Auto Show to support the Red Cross.

I wanted to troop with a neighbouring clan, but I also took this opportunity to transport my kit as a test run for Celebration, while using my expense account to ship my armor.

My container of choice was this one from the Container Store.  It has wheels on one side and is 31" x 17" x 12.5", which is just over 60" total (length + width + depth), and that happens to be under the 62" threshold that US Air considers to be "oversize".

I packed up almost my entire kit, including my blaster pistol (a kitbashed Nerf gun with no internal moving parts) and a rubber knife.  I packed my boots in my suitcase and my helmet (minus the earcaps and rangefinder, which were in the tote) in my carry-on backpack.

With my armor in it, the container weighed in at just over 31 pounds, so I was good for size and weight.

While traveling to and from Washington National Airport, it did not appear that TSA opened my luggage, even after X-raying it.  Everything arrived in order and the storage locker seemed to hold up well in transit.  There was not the usual flyer in the locker that TSA gives when they open up your suitcase (I've seen those before) and it did not appear that anyone had been riffling through my stuff and moving things from the way I packed them (which has also happened to me before.

Even in my backpack, my helmet fit under the seat easily and did not raise any issues with TSA.

As far as expense, the second bag cost $35 each way with US Air.  I do not know how much it would be to ship this to a MMCC member in California or to the hotel, but I can't imagine something that size would be less than $70 to go there and back again.

I am VERY nervous about traveling with my armor, but this trip has eased my mind just a little bit, as has talking to people who have flown with their kits as checked baggage and haven't had any troubles with TSA.

[Khofax]

I'm nervous about traveling with my kit but i know that if i don't bring it ill regret it. I think what worries most is the stop over. I will be packing up my kit this weekend to see what i can come up with.

[Khofax]

I was just looking at the size requirements for carry on.  The website says "one carry-on item with maximum dimensions of 9”x14”x22”. My helmet is a little bit bigger than 9". I wonder if this will be a problem ?

[Vraeden]

I have the medium Stalkers from NME and the last time I flew, it fit in my backpack, which then fit easily under the seat in front of me.

[Khofax]

ok cool

[Emmars]

I was just at Celebration and while I didn't transport my kit, I took the opportunity to measure the carry on sizing bin at the gates and also the actual underseat space. It's more like 14" X 22" by 11" though keep in mind that the person sitting over your bucket might compress the seat a little. Still. Everyone is saying they had no issues and I think it should work fine despite an 11" helmet (mine is also closer to 11" laterally.)
My question is whether or not anyone has tried a rigid sided bucket carrier of any kind to offer a little more protection. Mine is a resin cast and the visor is polycarbonate which doesn't offer as much rigidity as a welding visor would so I have compression  concerns myself and wondered if anyone tried some sort of tool box instead of just a soft motorcycle helmet bag.