Just Another Air Travel Warning:

[bmattock]

Don't check your camera equipment if you can possibly avoid it.

http://espn.go.com/action/surfing/blog?post=3854467

AirWay Robbery
Photographer Robbed of Gear in Transit
January 23, 2009, 9:26 AM

There is some good advice there, but unfortunately, I'd bet that he won't be compensated for his loss the way he thinks he will:

I have been told that the normal claim resolution is between 30-90 days. Since we are still waiting on our resolution, I cannot tell you how this will end for me. I have been told that UNITED AIRLINES should write me a check for the original purchase price of my stolen goods, especially since I gave them all the receipts and serial numbers for my stolen stuff.

Oh, I don't think so...sadly...

http://www.united.com/ual/asset/FO460_Dec08_revision.pdf

Please Note
United is not liable for loss of money, jewelry, computer/computer equipment, cameras, VCR’s, electronic/video or photographic
equipment, negotiable papers or securities, heirlooms, antiques, artifacts, works of art, silverware, irreplaceable books or
publications/manuscripts/business documents, precious metals and other similar valuables or commercial effects.

He is hosed.

Don't be hosed.

Don't check your camera equipment.

If it gets stolen, you lose.

And check your homeowner's insurance - sometimes it covers theft when the airlines don't. So, a glimmer of hope. But really, don't check your camera gear. The airline baggage handlers have a lot of crooks, and so does the TSA. My opinion.

 

[Beemermark]

Homeowner's (and renter's) insurance generally covers theft from anywhere - car, hotel, walking down the sidewalk.

 

[Bob Michaels]

A positive note: while going through inspection at Memphis airport a few days ago my camera bag showed something on the scanner that caused a hand inspection.

I was assigned a young blond attractive female TSA agent for the hand inspection. She was very pleasant and asked me to help her with the buckles on my Domke bag. She asked if there was anything special she should do in removing my Mamiya 7 and ZI rangefinder from the bag. She swabbed the bodies, a few lenses and several rolls of film then did the normal explosive test on the swabs. Then she asked if I would repack everything saying she was sure I had some special way I put everything in the bag. I commented that I should have asked for a hand inspection of my film. She replied that I had a right to do so and they always complied when requested. (Note: I have previously been hassled unmercifully when I requested such and finally gave up)

I have a very low opinion of TSA agents from previously dealings. But it is good to know that there is at least one pleasant one out there.

 

[Bob Michaels]

another story from the same trip. When departing Orlando, I was standing in line for TSA inspection when I realized I still had an expensive pocket knife in my pocket. I went back to where I checked my bag (clothes only) and asked if they could retrieve my bag so I could put my pocket knife in it. It was too late.

The airline ticket counter person asked what was in the big bag on my shoulder. I told her it was cameras, lenses and film.

She then told me to just put my pocket knife right along side one of the cameras in the bag. She said "Those TSA people are dumber than sh*t and won't find it". (her exact words). She was right.

 

[Al Patterson]

A positive note: while going through inspection at Memphis airport a few days ago my camera bag showed something on the scanner that caused a hand inspection.

I was assigned a young blond attractive female TSA agent for the hand inspection. She was very pleasant and asked me to help her with the buckles on my Domke bag. She asked if there was anything special she should do in removing my Mamiya 7 and ZI rangefinder from the bag. She swabbed the bodies, a few lenses and several rolls of film then did the normal explosive test on the swabs. Then she asked if I would repack everything saying she was sure I had some special way I put everything in the bag. I commented that I should have asked for a hand inspection of my film. She replied that I had a right to do so and they always complied when requested. (Note: I have previously been hassled unmercifully when I requested such and finally gave up)

I have a very low opinion of TSA agents from previously dealings. But it is good to know that there is at least one pleasant one out there.

My experience was the opposite. I knew that what the TSA saw in my camera bag was, so I tried to open the bag. The young gentleman tersely told my to sit down and touch nothing. Twenty minutes later, when the supervisor came over, I told him where the $3.25 worth of Denver mint mark State Quarters were hidden in my bag, and he found them in 30 seconds.

Since then I have assumed the TSA usually hires clueless idiots, but your story shows that they inadvertanttly hire some that can actually think.

Generally, I've decided that if my camera equipment doesn't go on the plane, neither do I. So, I never take cameras on a business trip.

 

[jke]

I was in Heathrow and asked for a hand check of film. I had some 800 ISO film in the bag, and while that was probably okay, I had never had any problems asking for this before. The guy there took the bag of film from me, looked at it, and then tossed it straight into the xray machine.

I mean, I guess I got what I asked for. 🙄

 

[wlewisiii]

My homeowners policy with General Casualty will cover all theft or loss of camera gear with a $500 deductible. That coverage is good anywhere - in my house, in my car, on an international vacation, etc. I was going to add a rider but our coverage is such I didn't feel the need. And the deductible is such that it keeps the costs low.

As far as the dufus in Bill's post, well, it s*cks to be him ...

William

 

[35mmdelux]

Sure, here is my Leica and my ASPH lenses for you to stow. I wouldn't give them my camera gear anymore than I would hand over my Rolex. For this reason I travel light; one or two cameras, one or two lenses in a small domke or small daypack.

Was it Roger who said while he was getting on a bus the guy stowing the camera bag underneath disappeared...with the bag. Lesson learned.

 

[wyk_penguin]

Cameras and computers always travel with me sitting in a backpack in front of my legs in the airplane. Anything that might not be familiar to x-ray machine operators also goes along with me, so at least I get to look at them fumble with it. Truth be told, even nowadays one can get a lot of stuff past TSA without them even knowing. My Horizon always gets a swab, strange that my 30D never turns an eye. I guess "honkin' big camera" equals safe and "that thing with lots of gears" means explosive. I wonder if the TSA people ask themselves the question why a bunch of gears is a security threat. Gears don't explode, battery packs do.

Truth be told, why all the security checks when one day I decided to fool around and pocketed one chopstick past the security check. I could stab someone real bad with that piece of wood. If people had successfully hijacked planes with steel knives that they used to give out with the meals, I don't see how a pair of chopsticks which I so easily pocketed would be any worse for the task. Not that I have any reason to hijack a plane, but I could see someone doing it just as easily with all the added "security" nowadays as they could 10 years ago.

Conclusion, if it isn't going to make it safer, then you are wasting everyone's time and money.

 

[35mmdelux]

They should have been checking before (ie, before) 9-11 when the jerks caught the American security agencies with their pants down. I dont mind it; they just need to get it right.

Just dont screw with my Leica.

 

[sjw617]

As per the OP.... a pro with an EOS 20D??? Only 8.2MP for a pro is kinda unlikely these days, in my opinion. Also sending an unlocked Pelican case full of photo gear to checked luggage? There are TSA locks that they can open and re-lock. An unlocked Pelican case screams STEAL ME!!!!! Lock it and FedEx it home.
He is not going to get much for a used 4.5 year old camera, used lenses and a used splash housing. Sending the unlocked case make me suspicious.

 

[bmattock]

There are TSA locks that they can open and re-lock.

It has been my experience that they often cut those expensive locks instead of opening/relocking them. When I used to travel for a living, my wife gave me some of the TSA-approved locks as a gift - they were expensive! Both were cut off and left inside the bag. Complaining to TSA did no good, either. Too bad, so sad. I never got a reply to my official 'complaint' form I sent in, either. I got a response that said they were 'processing my complaint' and 'working through a backlog'. That was in 2003.

TSA are thugs, liars and crooks. The person who was interviewed said that the TSA just as often cuts the TSA-approved locks as they open them, and that has been my experience, too.

Sending the unlocked case make me suspicious.

When you go through check-in, they ask you to unlock the bag if you do not have TSA-approved locks on them. No suspicion, the airlines actually ask you to do it.

 

[sjw617]

I am wondering what was really in the case. If you spend hundreds on a waterproof, crushproof case and do not use it as a shipping case but check it in unlocked, somethings strange. I would have given them my clothes and kept the cameras with me. The case shouldn't have been very large.
Maybe he is niave and really trusted airline employees. I do not even give them suitcases anymore. Learn to pack well or ship via FedEx/UPS.

 

[bmattock]

I am wondering what was really in the case. If you spend hundreds on a waterproof, crushproof case and do not use it as a shipping case but check it in unlocked, somethings strange.

Perhaps you don't fly much. They ask you now to unlock your checked bags. The TSA asks you to leave your checked bag unlocked, or to use TSA-approved locks (which they cut anyway, the bastiches).

I would have given them my clothes and kept the cameras with me.

I agree.

The case shouldn't have been very large.
Maybe he is niave and really trusted airline employees.

Naive to trust the baggage handlers or the TSA, in my opinion. Buncha crooks.

I do not even give them suitcases anymore. Learn to pack well or ship via FedEx/UPS.

Agreed.

Of course, although the victim should have known better, that does not make the TSA or the airline baggage handlers any better people. Muggers are still muggers, even if mugging victims should have known better than to go out at night, you know?

The take-away here, I think, is what you said - don't check your camera equipment if you can possibly avoid it.