Air New Zealand and Air Qantas ground Handlers at Brisbane Air Port. Did they Still my luggage?

>>the other a black 1127 Transit Case made by Underwater Kinetics,
>>dimensions being 27.0 x 18.1 x 10.9 inches also with a DAN Sticker on the side.

Sorry that your vacation got pooched. But you made a big mistake,
never, never, ever travel with luggage that can possibly identity what
may be inside. Instead of a DAN Sticker and an UK case you might as
well have put a big sign on your luggage that said "Steal me - dive
booty inside". All of the manufacturers of dive specific dive travel
bags are boneheads.

I walked up to a guy once at the airport with a spiffy dive travel bag
and just asked him about his dive trip. He looked at me in under stock
when I told him I knew he had been diving just be the bag. I suggested
that he buy a big duffle and stuff that thing in it for his next trip.

Using a big cheap duffle does two things - one make your bags non
descript, two gives it some protection from the "elements" This paid
for itself on a non dive trip when a mule pissed on my bags.

Allen

<unita@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:1127945706.809816.180670@g49g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
>>>the other a black 1127 Transit Case made by Underwater Kinetics,
>>>dimensions being 27.0 x 18.1 x 10.9 inches also with a DAN Sticker on the
>>>side.
>
> Sorry that your vacation got pooched. But you made a big mistake,
> never, never, ever travel with luggage that can possibly identity what
> may be inside. Instead of a DAN Sticker and an UK case you might as
> well have put a big sign on your luggage that said "Steal me - dive
> booty inside". All of the manufacturers of dive specific dive travel
> bags are boneheads.
>
> I walked up to a guy once at the airport with a spiffy dive travel bag
> and just asked him about his dive trip. He looked at me in under stock
> when I told him I knew he had been diving just be the bag. I suggested
> that he buy a big duffle and stuff that thing in it for his next trip.
>
> Using a big cheap duffle does two things - one make your bags non
> descript, two gives it some protection from the "elements" This paid
> for itself on a non dive trip when a mule pissed on my bags.

Quite frankly, I think that's just bullshit (or mule piss, as may be the
case).

The big giveaway has never been the baggage, but rather the flight tag. The
professional thieves who work the bags for various airlines know what they
are doing. They're pretty good at solving itineraries, sorting out which
flights may have what they desire, and catching on to the slick "packaging"
maneuvers travelers think will save them.

There's no fooling these people. They see, pickup, handle and manage bags
all day everyday. They've got damn good knowledge of what flights will have
what type of gear and what kind and size of bags the travelers are trying to
hide things in.

When we check bags we are trusting them to the honesty of the workers, or
lacking that, the integrity of the airlines oversight policies. Your gear is
no safer from theft in a cooler with duct tape or in a cheap duffle, than it
is in a US Divers scuba bag or 1620 pelican case with fluorescent paint
saying "Expensive Photo Gear Inside This Bag".

The best way to secure your checked bags is to avoid airports with bad
histories.....DCE at Curacao (in the old days it was ALM at Curacao), Qantas
at Brisbane, Air France at Madrid (or actually anyone anywhere in Spain at
all :^), SAETA at Guayquil (when they were flying), US Air in Philly (which
covers an awful lot of flights) etc.

I would agree that the pros behind the scenes are the major problem for
air travel. But also using non descirpt bags is not just for in the air
travel but for all travel. There are thieves at all stages. So the more
you can do to not advertise what you have in your bags the better.

Allen

<unita@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:1128004763.357384.180160@g47g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
>I would agree that the pros behind the scenes are the major problem for
> air travel. But also using non descirpt bags is not just for in the air
> travel but for all travel. There are thieves at all stages. So the more
> you can do to not advertise what you have in your bags the better.

I can only speak for myself, but when traveling, the airlines are about the
only time I let any of my baggage out of my hand or sight. I'm not
particularly anal about it, but I do tend to keep everything hand touch
close except when checked into an airline. And I do that for more reasons
than just theft. I just don't want people having easy access to anything I
will be carrying or checking later on.

Don't get me wrong. It's not that I think there is something wrong with
using an old duffle, it's just that I don't think there is anything
particularly helpful about it.