Flying with scuba gear

On Fri, 30 Dec 2005 19:01:09 -0800, Alan Street wrote:

>
> € I wasn't aware that there was such a thing as 'TSA approved' locks.
> € Maybe I should look into getting some.
> €
>
> http://www.eaglecreek.com/41027.html

TSA approved locks are about as secure as twist ties by now.

Alan Street wrote:
> Yes, they're rugged, but they don't prevent theft against anyone even
> remotely serious (including in your hotel room )

So, do you think that someone, like a maid or other hotel staff, could
easily break into a padlocked Pelican case and take whatever they want?
How would they go about that? Do they walk around with bolt cutters in
their pockets? :) No, someone really serious, like a burgler, might try
to take the whole case, but that wouldn't be too easy with the case
cable locked to the room.

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. It happens all the time in many
places. Leaving valuables, like a backpack with $10K worth of camera in
it, laying around a hotel room is just plain stupid. People that do
things like that are just begging to get ripped off, and they do, and
they deserve to.

The rooms in some hotels have lock boxes for valuables, but I've never
seen one large enough to hold my camera backpack.

> , and they don't offer any more protection than most alternatives like hard sided luggage > and coolers.

Again, I have to disagree. You could drive a truck over this case
without hurting it, and you couldn't cut it open quickly with anything
short of a power saw. Most hard sided luggage is made from thin
aluminum, which can be crushed easily and cut open with a small pocket
knife. A duct taped cooler might provide a little more protection from
crushing (if it doesn't just pop open), but they certainly wouldn't be
difficult to break into, and how are you going to get a duct taped
cooler through baggage inspection? If TSA cuts open the cooler to
inspect it, are they going to duct tape it back up for you?

"Mick" <micknewton@direcway.com> wrote in news:1135965906.418610.13450
@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:

> 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?

Note that the limit is 50 lbs PER BAG and you're allowed 2 bags. The TSA
locks work well, but as in any luggage lock, they're only intended as a
deterrent. Anyone who really wants to get into a bag will do so, and
quickly. I just noted that Home Depot was selling TSA locks for about $7
each, which is a lot better than most places.

-- Geoff

In article <1136010612.036920.179180@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups .com>,
"Mick" <micknewton@direcway.com> wrote:

> nospam@all.please.net wrote:
> > TSA approved locks are about as secure as twist ties by now.
>
> What makes you say that?


The master keys are in circulation.

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!"



-hh

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

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.

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?