Questions About Flying To Card Shows

storm888

It has been a while since I flew with more than carry-on luggage.

1. Is it relatively safe to pack cards/collectibles in check-through luggage?

2. Is checked-through luggage locked, or do I leave it unlocked?

3. Where is the best place to buy airplane tickets?

4. How far in advance should I buy airplane tickets?

My plan is to go several months from now. When I get to
the main location, I will rent a car and drive to the other
spots. The whole excursion will be about six-weeks.
All stops are in the western-states.

Thanks.

yankeeno7

I have done this a couple of times. My advice....with the way luggage is handled, I would NEVER trust the airlines. I have always packaged my purchases and mailed them home. In my opinion, the best way to protect your purchases.

I buy my tix in advance as possible unless you dare to try and catch last minute deals. Often times, the more advanced, the better the price. I try to fly with Southwest Airlines as much as possible. After that, its usually American Airlines. American Airlines I tix I dont normally go direct...I check priceline.com or tavelocity.com.

XanaduNow

Storm,

DO NOT check anything valuable. It simply isn't worth it. If you can't carry it on pay for it to be shipped back to you/to where you're going with insurance.

As far as airline tickets go, it all depends on many variables. When you're going, for how long, what day of the week you're flying out/in on, the cities you're flying out of/into, etc. I've had the most luck with Orbitz. If you're months in advance than prices are pretty much going to be the same across the board. As you get closer to the departure date all those other variable I mentioned will come into play.

The more popular the flight, say, Boston to LA, the more flights they'll have and the mored likelihood that more flights will be added. I'd say keep checking in on a regular basis to see the costs. As you get closer, things will go up or down. It's much like gambling, you need to know how much you want to win and once you hit that point you get out and vice versa.

Either way, good luck and have fun.

Arthur

5STAT

1st note....you CANNOT lock any luggage that is checked. After 9/11 they will automatically pop it and inspect the contents anyways!
2nd...next time your at a boarding gate..stand near a window and watch luggage get put on and off conveyors!! They LITERALLY throw it!!

When I take cards on a plane, I put them in a smaller suitcase on rollers. One that will act as a carry-on...ONLY!!

If I buy too much..I go to a post office and mail it home. Well one time, I had to rent a one-way U-haul and drive it all back.

As for flights....plan as far out in advace as you can. I always use JetBlue if possible..Southwest is good too. If you go to there websites...you can usually get great rates early. BUT don't wait...they fill up fast!!

greenmonstaaaah

after attending the national in anaheim last july, i flew home cross-country from LA to boston with an original ted williams hartland statue in tow....entombed in bubble-wrap (the statue, not me!); to this day i still find it amazing that both the statue and myself arrived home in one piece!!

storm888

"...entombed in bubble-wrap (the statue, not me!); to this day i still find it
amazing that both the statue and myself arrived home in one piece!! "

///////////////////////////////////


Was that carry-on or checked-through?

My challenge is that I am setting up at the shows; not just buying.
That means I need to take stuff with me when I fly. I cannot carry
all of it on the plane with me. Some stuff has to be checked through,
or I need a new solution. Return trip is easy; I'll just mail it all home.

I was thinking of using "General Delivery" to the USPS Zip-code that
I am arriving at first. I would rent the car, and drive to the PO and
pick it all up. Anybody ever tried anything like that?

XanaduNow

Storm, is time a factor? Have you thought about driving? Everyone's different but if time wasn't a factor I would drive every time.

Arthur

greenmonstaaaah

storm, that was carry-on taken to an entirely new level!!!! i didnt let the bag the statue was in out of my reach--nor my sight--the entire flight! the ironic part about all of this was it was actually more than just a flight from la to boston; on saturday evening after my buddy and i got back to our hotel in anaheim after attending the show that day, we get a call from united airlines that our 9am flight on sunday from la to boston was canceled; they re-booked us on a 6am flight which we ended up missing because we got to lax literally FIVE minutes too late to do self-check in and the lines for non-self check in were too long so we missed our flight. the agent for american airlines told us the next flight to boston that had available seating wasnt til TEN o'clock that night--picture two bleary-eyed guys with thousands of dollars worth of cards and such in their carefully packed carryons staring at each other in disbelief over what we were just told--after driving like madmen from anaheim to la at 5am on only three hours of sleep and a night of drinking in la; my initial reaction was "yeah sure, its 530 in the morning and we ARE NOT gonna spend the next sixteen hours at the airport"...but the story only gets worse.....the agent recommended we fly to denver because we had a better chance of getting a flight out of denver to boston...like a couple of fools, we listened to him and flew to denver.....once we got to denver we were told we had an excellent chance of getting on one of like four flights to boston and the four flights all end up being overbooked--we were on standby on all of em and we couldnt get on any of em--after spending like four hours at the denver airport we ended up--u're not going to believe this-- getting on a plane and flying back to la!!!! (because we had guaranteed seats for that 10pm flight to boston). i was ready to kill my friend for talking me into doing this--did i mention that i'm not a big fan of flying??? my initial reaction was "great! i made it from boston to la in one piece two days earlier, and i just made it from la to denver...and now i have to fly back to la again in order to fly back to boston?? we're pushing our luck--now the plane is definitely going to crash!!!!" well, the silver lining was that we got to fly first class from denver to la (barely a ninety minute flight, so big deal)--but i ended up sitting next to a former nfl referee (and frequent flyer; he had a lanyard around his neck with an id card that read "million mile flyer"--no joke) who talked my ear off the whole flight and ended up getting my buddy and i into the aa red carpet club once we got back to la where we ate and drank to our hearts content for four hours away from all the riff raff (i even met the actor robert wagner of "hart to hart" and "austin powers" fame and his wife jill st. john who were also hanging out in the room) while we waited for our 10pm flight that didnt end up leaving la til MIDNIGHT....we got back to boston at 830 am monday morning, just in time for work after getting like three hours of sleep in the previous 48 hours (i cant sleep on planes)--its no wonder i didnt trip over my own two feet and fall on top of my statue while getting off the plane.....now what was your question again????

the moral of this story??? drive--dont fly--to card shows...or better yet, stay home and bid on ebay. after this disaster my friend vowed that we dont go to any more nationals that are further than chicago (oh yeah, we'll be there in '08!)

good night and good luck

yankeeno7

<< <i>ted williams....entombed in bubble-wrap >>



Are you sure you had a statue or did you actually have his entombed body???

storm888

"Are you sure you had a statue or did you actually have his entombed body???"

///////////////////////////////////////////

I knew that one was on the way.

RANDYMOSS84

i just flew to chicago for sun times as i was a dealer, had 2 1000 count boxes full of autos and rookies and took them on board, i also had a laptop bag, your allowed a personal bag and a carry on suitcase, take them on the airplane.

jimq112

<< <i>
I was thinking of using "General Delivery" to the USPS Zip-code that
I am arriving at first. I would rent the car, and drive to the PO and
pick it all up. Anybody ever tried anything like that? >>



Find a small branch post office near the town you are going to, and call the postmaster to make sure it's ok. Explain what you're doing, see if they will hold it for you. Send it a week or more early, send it registered and insured. Registered takes longer but registered is signed for by everybody and it's kept in the safe at all times.

Ask if the safe there is large enough and if they have room for the size shipment you're sending. You might have to send it in several boxes and that can get expensive.

If you know where your first stop is PM me and I'll get you some local post office phone #s to call so you don't have to deal with that stupid 1-800-usps thing.

martyogelvie

You can't lock your checked bags.. they will confirm this when you check them. Don't check your cards. You can bring some on (carry on) but the bulk your gonna have to ship.

Here is what i would do.
I would ship my cards to the hotel that I am staying at. Either have someone ship after you leave or you can ship the day or day before you fly.

As far as booking your airline ticket. You have to book months in advance to get the best price. The later you book the more you will pay. Direct flights are always more expenive so plan on connecting somewhere. The travel sites like Travelocity and Priceline.com have great deals but keep in mind that once you book, your booked and can't change your schedule without paying a penalty.

Have a good trip and let us know how it goes!
: )

XanaduNow

<< <i>You can't lock your checked bags.. they will confirm this when you check them. Don't check your cards. You can bring some on (carry on) but the bulk your gonna have to ship.

Here is what i would do.
I would ship my cards to the hotel that I am staying at. Either have someone ship after you leave or you can ship the day or day before you fly. >>



I'm not sure I would trust hotel employees any more than the baggage handlers. I think the PO is the best bet. More $$ but more peace of mind. (No offense to anyone who is a hotel employee or baggage handler )



<< <i>As far as booking your airline ticket. You have to book months in advance to get the best price. >>



This isn't necessarily true. I've made the Boston to LA (or vice versa) flight many, many times. The three weeks leading up to your departure date will see fluctuations in price, almost on a daily basis. Go to a travel website (I use Orbitz) and play with the dates to see how prices are. Everything months in advance is all locked in at a set price. Then play with some more immediate dates and see the changes. Some will be higher and some will be lower.

I contemplated purchasing a ticket 12 days before my departure date and put it off. They added another flight 5 days before departure date and I saved over $100. Make no mistake about it -- travel is a living, breathing animal. There is no one way to do things right so do like Bruce Lee said, "Be like water."

Arthur

jasonjames1979

storm,

where are do you plan to go on the west coast?

don't bother coming to the SF bay area. the shows suck.

i always fly home to chicago for the "real" shows.


if you do come out this way, i think renting a car and driving would make it much better.
plus, you could always pick up the yellow pages and stop at card shops on the way.

Mickey71

It's all a pain in the rear. I had a bunch of psa cards with me as a carry on on a flight. About 100 cards. I was selected for the extra security as about 1 out of 5 people are. I was taken off to the side where there was a chair and some partitions and they took my bag. I could see only part of the searching through my bag. They took out each card in every little 20 count PSA box. I was nervous and pissed off. Also, everyone around knew I was carrying about 100 vintage star cards. It was just an uneasy feeling-especially when I could only see glimpses of my cards being taken from my bag. This was a bad situation that has happened more than once just not this bad. The other times they searched a little bit. I have heard of stories of people being ripped off by security. My best most honest advice to anyone is "TRAVEL LIGHT" because this could happen to you when you are carrying your Honus Wagner card-and everyone around you will know about it. Mailing registered could also be a good option but I have a story for another day about that , that will blow your mind. Yes registered mail.

Jdurg

<< <i>You can't lock your checked bags.. they will confirm this when you check them. >>



That is simply not true. You can lock any bag that you wish. It's just that if they decide to inspect your bag in greater detail they will destroy the lock. That is unless you are using the TSA approved locks which TSA personnel have a master key for. These locks are able to be opened by TSA Inspectors without any need to break the lock itself. These are what I used when I flew to the UK last fall and I was never told that I couldn't lock my luggage.

cravetopps

you can ship to a fed ex service center in the town you are flying to and have them hold it for pick-up. not sure how much stuff you have to carry on a plane but I wouldn't trust an airline to handle my luggage unless I had no other choice. if you can carry it on the plane, that would be the only other option I would consider. but sending it using fed ex gets your stuff insured and you know it's going to arrive and if it doesn't you're protected.

www.southwest.com.......the best way to fly IMO. lots of flights and as long as you check-in online, you're going to get in the A group and get to board early and hog all the best overhead space.

storm888

Thank you all for the totally excellent advice.