I brought my telescoping Leki hiking poles and checked them. I was (overly) nervous about them getting bent or broken so I bought one of those "noodles" you use in the swimming pool to help float. I cut the noodle into six pieces across and then one cut vertically on one side to protect all the parts and used duct tape to connect all the pieces. The longest piece covered the pole from the lower edge of the handle to the part that is shaped like a circle. Then I attached them to my backpack using its various staps and do-hickeys as well as using a long piece of velco, a put the whole thing into an Osprey backpack bag and checked it. It worked really well for me. This system protected my sticks on planes, trains, ferries, buses and taxis from the US to France, Spain, Morocco, Spain, France and home again. I shipped the noodles ahead to Santiago with other stuff to avoid carrying them on the camino. You will need extra duct tape for post camino. This exercise was probably overkill but I got the peace of mind I needed in this category. It cost me less than $5.