I am trying to persuade my brother to purchase said stove whilst he is in the US, but he is worried about bringing it back on the plane,

Is it ok to fly in hold luggage WITHOUT any gas canister with it?

There shouldn't be any problem, especially if the stove is new and unused. I've flown to and from the US with a variety of stoves over the years. If in doubt consult the airline though. I don't know of any that won't carry an unused stove.

Agree with Chris, shouldn't be a problem.

I would also add that it is DEFINATELY worth buying this stove in the u.s. For some reason this is really overpriced in the u.k, (as are quite a few items like MSR kit etc).

The jetboil is a great stove, a bit like a trangia for the 21st century.

I have now used mine on quite a few trips and am amazed at how light, quick and efficient it is. I was concerned at first that the pan is aluminium (which has been linked with alzheimer's) but most researchers suggest aluminium is safe to use in cookware so long as you avoid excessively acidic food such as rhubarb. Fortunately I rarely cook rhubarb when backpacking.

Might also be worth getting some of the accessories whilst in the u.s, such as coffee press and pan support, in case you want to use it with other cookware.

Aluminium has NOT been limked with Alzheimer's disease at least not by the medical or scientific establishments. All peer reviewed, scientific studies to date say there is definitely no link between the use of aluminium cooking utensils and Alzheimer's. In fact Aluminium is still used in deodorants, stomach medicines and burns dressings.

The original idea about aluminium and Alzheimers came about because there is a statistical link between them. It was eventually explained away by the fact that older people tended to use the utensils bought when they first set up home and they tended to be aluminium. Alzheimer's is prevalently a disease of the old, older people use aluminium more, younger people tend to use stainless steel........see where this is going?
The statistical link is between the use of aluminium and the age of people. There is a coincidental statistical link between old people and Alzheimer's. This led to speculation of a link between aluminium use and alzheimer's. There is nothing which says that therefore there has to be a link between aluminium use and Alzheimer's
There was also the fact that the "tangles" and plaques that are present in the brain in Alzheimer's would show elevated levels of alumninium when subjected to spectrolysis. It was later discovered that the tangles and plaques attracted aluminium molecules from the water used to wash them during preparation for analysis.