Hear, hear everything so far said about hand luggage ... .. but I'd agree with Neil's hard case instincts if there's ANY risk of pipes being consigned to the hold and, thus, the awesome destructive power of baggage-handling machines. Anyone who's ever witnessed a rucksack or ski/boot bag get snagged to a halt, by a strap or handle loop, on a luggage carousel belt (only to be pummelled mercilessly by the relentless tide of following suitcases) will have an inkling of what I mean. In this situation, whilst hard cases erode your weight allowance, I'd regard them as de rigueur. And the more resilient the better (e.g. fibre-glass probably stronger than wood). Nor forget to pay particular attention to cushioning the contents against prolonged mechanical vibration whilst in the hold (even to using dirty laundry on the homeward leg ;).
To assess the risk of them not being allowed as hand-luggage, of course, you'd be wise to hit the web and check out the policies of all carriers with whom you expect to travel. Little things like oil, for instance, may violate anti-terrorist bottle rules and require forethought in packing them so as not to jeopardise your pipes' hand-luggage status. Oh, and I loved Matt's gun-case idea which vividly reminded me of a tip for travellers obliged to consign valuable equipment to the hold - "Secure your checked bags -- fly with a gun" (http://www.travelsuperlink.com/forum/topic.php?id=26). All perfectly serious, I assure you ! :p HTH, Steve Collins All hail the much-aliased Law of Universal Cussedness (NPL version) ... Law: In any set of circumstances, where more than one outcome is equiprobable, the least beneficial will always result Lemma: The above Law will always apply except when, by appearing not to apply, it will, in the end, do you greater dirt To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html