Flying with scuba gear

In article <{NOSPAM-rm_to_reply}rec-scuba2005-2634F5.09284731122005
@news.verizon.net>, {NOSPAM-rm_to_reply}rec-scuba2005@huntzinger.com
says...
> IIRC, there's a San Juan PR baggage handler who got caught in 2005 that
> had to have had TSA keys to steal the items. The thief listed the
> stolen stuff on Ebay, but it just so happens that the owner was looking
> for the kind of unique stuff that he had just lost...and "gotcha!"

On a group trip to Bonaire, one guy's bag with dive gear did not make it
home to Charlotte. When it didn't show up after a few days, we assumed
it was stolen in Miami.

About a week after we got back, I was in the dive shop that arranged the
trip talking with the owner when a young teenager whose dress and manner
were not consistent with your typical diver walked in with an Aladin
computer he wanted to sell. He had no idea what it was worth, and asked
the dive shop owner what he would give for it. We turned it on and
scrolled through the dives, and immediately recognized the profiles. The
owner told the kid it was worth a lot of money, and he would go in the
back, look up its value, and get money from the safe. He went in the
back and called the police, who were there in 3 minutes. One of the
responding officers was on the trip with us. They took the kid out in
back of the dive shop, and in minutes had names and the address where
the rest of the stuff would be found. Within an hour all of the gear was
recovered and 3 young men were in custody, including a USAIR baggage
handler. Not the brightest of thieves, eh?

Lee Bell wrote:
> You weren't listening when we said that we carry our sensitive stuff on with
> us.

I was listening, and I think that's the right thing to do, but you
can't carry everything on the plane with you. Shouldn't the things that
you can't carry on be protected too?

I always carry my camera backpack and a small carry-on bag containing
necessities (clothes, passport, etc.) in case they loose my checked
luggage (it has happened to me more than once.) Everything else goes in
checked baggage, including all of our scuba gear.

"Mick" wrote

> I was listening, and I think that's the right thing to do, but you
> can't carry everything on the plane with you. Shouldn't the things that
> you can't carry on be protected too?

Not particularly. We're talking about rubber fins, a cloth BCD/wing, a
snorkle and your clothes. What's the risk.

> I always carry my camera backpack and a small carry-on bag containing
> necessities (clothes, passport, etc.) in case they loose my checked
> luggage (it has happened to me more than once.) Everything else goes in
> checked baggage, including all of our scuba gear.

The last time I flew for dive travel, my camera went into a Pelican case,
was locked and was checked. If I were to do that today, I'd put the TSA
locks on it and ensure everything.
My clothes always get checked. My important dive gear never does.

Lee

"Lee Bell" <pleebell@bellsouth.net> pounded away at his keyboard
resulting in:
:My clothes always get checked. My important dive gear never does.

My carryon contains my passport, bathing suit, mask, regulator, camera
and toiletries. Credit card is in my pocket.

I have had the checked luggage arrive later the same day (puddle
jumps) so that was never too big a deal. I have seen other people
have there luggage not arrive the same day and the dive
shop/liveaboard always loaned them the necessary dive gear.

Dan Bracuk
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.

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On 30 Dec 2005 10:05:06 -0800, "Mick" <micknewton@direcway.com> wrote:

>I just got off the phone with a United Airlines reservation agent. I
>told her that I had one bag that was going to be over the 50 pound
>limit for checked luggage, and I wanted to know how much extra it was
>going to cost me to check it in. She said it's going to cost me an
>extra $100 for this one bag! On United's web site it says overweight
>bags costs $25 extra. So I told her that, and she says it's $100
>because I'm going to Mexico. Why the hell does it cost 4 times as much
>to fly an overweight bag to Mexico compared to everywhere else in the
>world?
>
>Also, she says that I can't lock the bag! WTF is up with that? I can
>understand them wanting to verify the contents of the bag, but for her
>to insist that I leave my property open to thieving baggage handlers is
>simply outragious. Can't they just x-ray the damn thing? How do you
>guys fly with your scuba gear?

I use the TSA locks. Ty-wraps work but TSA doesn't replace them. If
the bag is going to be opened it's going to be at the start of the
trip. That means the bag is going to remain unsecured until you see it
at the destination carrousel. By that time anything could have
happened. At least with the TSA locks the inspectors will re-secure
you bag if they had to do a hand search. All this really does is keep
your bag secure from casual theft. All the real travel theft is done
by insiders anyway.

As for the weight limit, split the load as others have suggested and
carry on the more fragile/expensive stuff like cameras, regulators and
computers. I carry on extra lamps but put lights and flash units in a
box inside the checked bag. I have never lost a flash or light to
handling yet.

Geoff wrote:
> At least with the TSA locks the inspectors will re-secure
> you bag if they had to do a hand search. All this really does is keep
> your bag secure from casual theft. All the real travel theft is done
> by insiders anyway.

Protection from crushing and casual theft is all I'm looking for. If
someone seriously wants to steal the stuff, they'll probably just
take the case.

> As for the weight limit, split the load as others have suggested and
> carry on the more fragile/expensive stuff like cameras, regulators and
> computers.

I just got off the phone with the place that sold me the Pelican case.
I'm exchanging the 1660 case for a 1650 case. It's a similar case,
only about half the depth and weight. It should still hold all of our
stuff and still make it under the 50-pound weight limit.

I have a Tenba DB15C backpack that holds all of our camera gear and a
laptop. That always goes on the plane with me.

> I carry on extra lamps but put lights and flash units in a
> box inside the checked bag. I have never lost a flash or light to
> handling yet.

Just out of curiosity, are you talking about an underwater camera? What
type of camera equipment do you use (bodies, lenses, strobes, etc.)?

On 2006-01-01 03:25:55 +1300, -hh
<{NOSPAM-rm_to_reply}rec-scuba2005@huntzinger.com> said:

> "Mick" <micknewton@direcway.com> wrote:
>>
>> Please understand, I'm not trying to prevent theft by a really serious
>> thief. I'm hoping to prevent casual theft by someone who sees an easy
>> opportunity to make a few quick bucks...
>>
>> The rooms in some hotels have lock boxes for valuables, but I've never
>> seen one large enough to hold my camera backpack.
>
>
> Have you seen the "metal net" bags with locking cables? They're
> designed to go around objects like a backpack and then secure it to
> something.
>
>
>
> -hh

Those can be cut with a normal pair of wirecutters. They don't really
do too much if someone wants to get in and has more than 10 minutes
access to the bag...

OTOH, they can discourage a casual thief...

Dan.

> Also, she says that I can't lock the bag! WTF is up with that? I can
> understand them wanting to verify the contents of the bag, but for her
> to insist that I leave my property open to thieving baggage handlers is
> simply outragious. Can't they just x-ray the damn thing? How do you
> guys fly with your scuba gear?

Use TSA locks, according to TSA the airlines have keys to open them if they
need to. On a recent trip to the Bahamas, they told me to unlock the
checked bags and they locked them back up for me.

Jay

Irene wrote:

>
> I'm actually trying to find a way to also carry on the canister lights

I wouldn't recommend it. I used to do that and I would get stopped for
long periods at each security check. Two opaque bricks and a bunch of
homemade wiring sets them off every time. Now I check mine and I've got
a nice little collection of cards from the TSA that say ``Notice of
Baggage Inspection.''

news wrote:
> Use TSA locks, according to TSA the airlines have keys to open them if they
> need to. On a recent trip to the Bahamas, they told me to unlock the
> checked bags and they locked them back up for me.

If you had TSA locks, why did they ask you to unlock them? Also, did
the security people in the Bahamas have keys to open the TSA locks on
your return flight?