Can I take speakers on an airplane?

Pack them well, mark them as fragile, and hope...

 

If they're not small speakers, you'll pay an arm and a leg for air freight.

 

They'll almost certainly be subject to x-rays. The TSA can open any package, without cause, for closer inspection and the wiring and magnets inside may lead them to do so. If they do, will your brother repackage them at the airport? If they decide you can't ship them, will your brother miss his flight? Leave the speakers at the airport?

 

It's simpler to use a parcel service: UPS, FedEx, DHL, USPS, etc.. Their flights don't carry passengers and aren't subject to those stringent security measures.

Just ship Fedex. Letting them travel through the airlines, is like lending a drunk friend your girlfriend, or car. You may get them back, you may not, but they will end up damaged or gone forever.

Totally incorrect about the TSA opening them up, just because they have magnets, etc.. Tons of electronic equipment travels as baggage for companies on passenger airlines, and no further inspections are done to them, as they are done for other baggage.

Now if you want to piss off the TSA, take and make a Peanut butter sandwich, then place in a baggie. It shows up the same as explosives made with Peanut oil., Then add in a loose coil of wire and a 9 volt battery, they will go nuts, when seen on x-ray.

There are restrictions on magnetic materials on aircraft. http://www.intemag.com/shipping_magnets_by_air.html If you're stupid enough to pull a stunt like that you deserve the five years you'll get at Club Fed.

I used to work for the airlines, and speakers do not meet that criteria. Try again Yoda.

And as for the Peanut butter sandwich joke, it is just that a joke. Geash lighten up sometime. Prople like you tend to take stuff way too serious and cannot see the humor sometimes.

And again, speakers and other electronic equipment is shipped all of the time on aircraft, and do not meet the criteria that you pulled off the web.

I took satalites in my carry-on luggage once. The guy watching the screen called over his supervisor and asked what they were, supervisor said "looks like speakers, theyre okay." and i went on my way.

Tell that to speaker and driver manufacturers who have to deal with the matter first hand. I was made aware of the issue by speakerhardware.com, who has had driver shipments rejected by airlines when they did not meet maximum flux leakage requirements. And airline security is never a joking matter. I lost friends on 9/11. Did you? Or is that a funny subject too? Hey, how about having some real fun, let's all go down to the nearest shopping mall wearing masks and carrying fake M15s!
Edited by Bill Fitzmaurice - 12/13/12 at 8:46am

Agree 100% Bill.

The other element being ignored is the layered security. The TSA folks managing the passenger scanning lines aren't the only layer, and they certainly aren't always aware of the less frequently encountered items like those potentially containing magnets. A lot of airline employees don't know the details either.

You read stories weekly about people clowning around in the airport, getting pulled by security and at minimum going through a lot of unnecessary hassle while disrupting the rest of the traveling public. You'd think people would realize it isn't a joking matter.