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I am going on a trip in a few weeks and am going to take my army. I have 2 cases and what are the odds on making it through to carry them on without any trouble?

Anyone have experience in taking figure/pistol Cases on an airline recently?

Phone the airline, ask them.

I do it frequently. Usually it's fine, unless the scanner person is new, they've probably seen minis before. I've even met a guy who played historicals once. Occasionally they'll go through your stuff, but always in your presence. Just make sure to tell them how delicate it is --a lot. That was with army transports, gun cases may be a different story. Use something else if it's available.

This is probably a given, but just in case...

DO NOT CHECK THEM THROUGH BAGGAGE!

-Leo037

I always just put mine inside a larger suitcase and check it through. I guess that makes me dumb, though. Crap. I suspected that I was dumb for a long time, and this just confirms it.

Pariah Press wrote: I always just put mine inside a larger suitcase and check it through. I guess that makes me dumb, though. Crap. I suspected that I was dumb for a long time, and this just confirms it.

That depends. Does your stuff come out broken every time? If so, then
yeah. If not, then no.

i always carry on a sabol army transpost case...
sometimes the security like to give me a hassle...
they act like i'm gonna stab somebody with a soft metal sword that's 1/2 an inch long, and had ten hours of work put into it...
i just tell 'em there's no way i would wanna chip the paint, and if someone is in need of a stabbin', i'd use my thumb...not the best way to get along with security...

i've never been told i would have to check it though...so it should be all good for ya...the only problem could be tryin' to carry on 2 cases...better to have one big one, than two small ones...

cheers
jah

Broken, I am more worried about stolen. Baggage is also scanned, and trays full of metal minis are the sort of WTF result on baggage x-ray that gets your luggage manually checked. This leads to several problems. If your luggage is packed jam tight there may not be time to get it all back inside all scrumpted up after a search. Some items may be left out, otthers arrive broken, and that doesnt include as yet the possibility that something might be pocketed.

I always check armies in as hand luggage, not that I have flown with a mini collection since the 80's.
As a rule dont fly with anything in baggage that would warrant a second look after x-ray. So if your army is all plastic it might be ok.

I took the Sabol "division" sized transport with me to Adepticon. I put it in a larger suitcase and I checked it in. The suitcase was manually inspected on the flight out but not on the way back. I had a total of 7 models that needed to be re-gluedfrom both flights.

Darrian

I haven't done this, but you could also try to ship them to your destination (preferably with UPS or FedEx) if you think it'll be too much of a hassle and/or too much to lug through carry-on.

Thank for the responses.

Argh. I think I will readjust my army into figure cases and give it a go!

I definitely recommend carrying on your miniatures if you can swing them into carry on luggage (such as the sabol cases designed to be carried on).

I always take mine in carry-on. So far with figures I’ve flown to Chicago twice for Adepticon, DC and Philly for The Colonial, and Amsterdam for business.

For the US trips I carried a normal Sabol Army Transport and a single GW hardcase. For Amsterdam I just brought the hardcase, with a tray of Sabol-compatible foam in a bigger bag for my cavalry.

Every flight has gone fine. I’ve gotten asked to take out figures or open the bags maybe twice. I’ve run into at least two TSA guys who play. Best quote at the x-ray machine- “Is that a Stegadon?”

Checked luggage would seem fine, assuming your figures were well padded and snugly packed, inside a case, with soft padding around it (like a blanket or comforter), inside a big hardsided suitcase or footlocker.

A tough hardsided larger case should keep the figures safe; you just want to make sure they’re snugly packed in their “real” case inside, so they don’t break tumbling around and knocking against each other when a handler literally THROWS your suitcase, and it tumbles end over end. I’ve never checked an army not out of fear of breakage, but more out of paranoia about it being lost/misdirected, and not having my army for the tournament.

Did my zilla-nids as a carry-on and got to watch the x-ray screen as they went through. The all metal flying hive tyrant was perfectly posed to give the operator a double-take. It was awesome, but no they didn't hassle me at all.

As for checking it with baggage, think of it this way: If you can set your army case up at the top of ~3 flights of stairs and kick it down without worry - go ahead and check your army with the luggage. Otherwise you really have to go for carry-on.

I checked an army case for a 2 hour flight and came out with a lot of unusual damage to the minis inside. I honestly think some were broken during the security screening: "What's this little plastic thingie? Could there be a bomb in it? <snaaap> Alright no bomb, well what about this one though? <snaaap> Nope... Man there sure are a lot of these things... <snap> <snap> <snap>"

Dude carrie on is the only way i don't trust them damn baggage handlers