> The reason it stood out was that he was flying himself to the meeting, so why did he ship the package separately if it was so important?

It wasn't an iPhone you can just stick in your pocket. The thing weighed almost 150 lbs and looked something like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair_8800

I wouldn't want to be seen in an airport with the 3 other people you'd need carrying that thing around.