I am taking a short trip with my wife to my parents soon. They live in the middle of nowhere. I was going to hit up the local stores and see about finding some sets. We are flying Southwest, so our bags fly free (as they should!) and we are only taking two bags, meaning we have two to spare. I know how hard the handlers are with baggage and there is no way to stop them from putting the box on the bottom of everything else. Has anyone done this and what what your experience? Thanks!

I carried 16 minecraft sets in my checked luggage back in Nov. rolled my clothes and used them as a buffer all around them. so the sets were in the core of the luggage. also made sure no liquids were packed in the luggage and nothing hard in the front pockets hat would squish or crease the sets. It was taking a risk, but it paid off as everything arrive well. You could get one of those clam shell hard suitcases for extra protection. Mine was just the bargain basement variety of soft suitcase with crap plastic in the canvas sides for shape.

For every 1 success story like goodfellows I bet there will be 100 horror stories. You are just asking for something to happen to your sets putting them in your suitcase. My $.02

I agree, I would avoid this like the plague. You could do ok with a few small sets, but I wouldn't risk much more than that.

I was thinking of boxing them. My parents just moved and have plenty of cardboard and packing materials. I figured I probably could not do bigger sets, but thought I could fit a bunch of smaller sets in the 16" square boxes. I guess if the price is low enough, it might be worth the gamble. Maybe I can find a couple of those older hard suit cases for dirt cheap!

I do this almost every week with LEGO and various other items. I travel constantly, and I almost always bring an extra suitcase along. I have never had an issue. I almost always fly AA, so I have status with them, which means I can check two bags for free. It's not uncommon if I know that I'm going to a really obscure place to check 2 empty bags and take 1 carry-on with my stuff and come back with them completely full! If you're going to do this invest in good luggage. Luggage is supposed to be designed to protect its contents. None of my luggage is softside...it's all hard shell. I have never had an issue with baggage handlers damaging anything in my checked luggage and I've literally done this hundreds of times. A bigger risk is that your luggage is lost or delayed. I've never had anything lost or stolen, but I have experienced delays.

***Update*** I was not able to find much while shopping. I managed to find two of 7965 at Walmart where they had left the pre-Christmas price tag up for $99.99, which they honored. I also found 25 Star Wars polybags that they had priced at $5.88, but rang up at $1.50. I stuck them all in my large suitcase with cardboard above and below with clothes around the edges. Our luggage was transferred once from plane to plane. Both sets arrived in perfect condition. I guess it all comes down to how well the sets are packaged.