Moving..Luggage...Dish Barrels

Not sure about the Home Depot boxes, but even though the dimensions for the U Haul boxes are slightly off, they will be still accepted (at least ours were). You can also cut done the box, but if I were you, I wouldn't. U Haul also has an "electonic goods" size that is very sy if you don't happen to have enough stuff for a full box....I know that's a rarity, but it can happen!!

I can share my two years' worth of experimenting from North America to KSA with the whole cut or don't cut issue...

When we flew Lufthansa for our relocation in August 2011, we traveled with 10 Dish Barrel Boxes, all cut down by 2 inches. Took forever and was so hard to do because these are super strong boxes. We discovered at the airport that Lufthansa didn't measure anything on these boxes except weight. All that physical effort amounted to a big Homer Simpson "Doh!"

So, based on that experience and what we'd heard from other expats, when we flew from the US to Dammam on Delta/KLM in August 2012, we didn't bother to cut down the seven U-Haul DBBs we brought. Like Lufthansa, KLM didn't give a hoot about the dimensions of the box. They only cared about the weight.

As far as strength of one brand vs. another, I haven't tried flying with anything other than U-Haul DBBs, but I can mention that they hold up pretty darned well. For our most recent trip, one box was gouged into somewhere en route and opened, but this was before Dammam, and it looks like a fork lift sort of gouge but not big enough to have trashed the box or contents. At Dammam, customs didn't even open or look into one box this year. The first year, they peeked inside one and waved them through.

Based on our experiences, we will always choose to use U-Haul dish barrel boxes, and we will not cut them down. We will, however, make sure we come in at least two pounds under with our scale at home before arriving at the airport. We had to do some last minute repacking at the airport counter this summer and it was nerve-frazzling and embarrassing. (We unknowingly had a few boxes over what their scales read as 70 pounds, and were told by Delta that, while Delta didn't have a problem and would just charge excess weight, that KLM absolutely would refuse them at transfer.) If you think you might be cutting it close with weight of your boxes, I advise bringing a tiny pair of scissors (those are allowed now right?!) and a roll of packing tape in your hand luggage in case you have to deal with opening sealed boxes and reshuffling at the counter. The retape job at the Delta counter with their supplies wasn't as good as our original job at home, and barely held through the journey.

It is amazing how much more STUFF you can fit into a DBB than a suitcase. I'm glad we learned about them prior to our relocation. Great idea. When we relocated, we used DBB exclusively for checked baggage and sent our suitcases to KSA in our sea shipment.

I talked to the KLM rep. and he said "You can take the U-Haul ones...and it all depends on the person who helps you..either they will follow the book and ask you to cut the box to match the specs...or let it go". Thus, I decided to go with the Home Depot boxes which measures to 61". I figuered if they are designed for moving, they can handle some clothes and toys..and also I will wrap them at the airport.....

So excited...

KH78