So I am looking to fly back east in about a month with my camera and tripod and am looking for shipping options. In the past I have used nail pack cases but I would prefer not to buy one for 450 or so for what is a 1 time trip at the moment.

1) what other shipping/ flight options are there for a tripod, in this case think hotpod.

2) what are the better airlines for avoiding fees or claiming media rate these days. Idealy it would be camera and laptop as carry on and clothing plus tripod checked but I really don’t want to get into paying Americans baggage fees if they can be avoided/ mitigated.