Airports and checked baggage?

Blue Jays and Lone Hunter, thanks for the tips. Great ideas.

Why didn't I think of that. DOH!!
 
Hi,

When I travel with my INFI-coot I lock it within the suitcase. I put a small ring in the lanyard hole and had it welded closed; the ring is on there for good.

An inspector can see that it's a knife, even take the sheath off.

lock.jpg


Mike
 
danroot said:
hey, anyone know what the laws are like in china? im going there in june for a week and a half, and i dont want to go that long without my knife. any forseeable problems?
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I don't know what the laws are but I haven't had a problem carrying a Climber SAK in my pocket or fanny pack the two recent times I've been there. I wrap it in a sock and stuff it in my extra pair of shoes in my checked bag.
 
I've started using a small cable lock through the frame of my suitcase and the holes on a couple of Spyderco folders.

Best regards.
 
I travel internationally frequently. Most commonly to Bangkok and Central America.
I have "lost" knives several times when travelling through Miami. Never had a problem at any other airport worldwide.
Traveling the eastern route to BKK thru London, security asks if I have any weapons checked, including knives. When I say yes, they ask me why I need them. "for my work" suffices as an answer, and never a problem.
I do not carry anything that is difficult to replace, however. IIf you can produce receipts, most airlines will reimburse up to $600.00. (I generally pack a SAK Soldier and an SnG.)
 
DDGator, they don't have to inventory what they take, or even let you know they've taken anything. I've had the note in my bag that it was inspected, but seen plenty of footage of TSA workers at airports in Dallas and Boston taking items from bags and putting it in their personal bags. That's why the TSA settled with a few people over "missing" items a while ago so that they could get some of the heat off. Like I've read elsewhere (in the Boston Globe especially), usually it ends up that the TSA either claims governmental impunity w/regards to confiscating items, or they blame the airlines for missing/stolen items. The airlines, rather conveniently, get out of paying for missing/stolen items by claiming that the TSA must have taken your property for some reason, or by stating that because you didn't lock your luggage (which you CAN'T do anymore) they aren't responsible for your lost/stolen property. They tell you not to bring anything you don't want to lose with you, and I guess that sadly if you want the "convenience" of air service that is the mental state you must have. So... do SOME TSA people make a bit on the side by stealing your stuff? Well, does a Bear s#it in the woods?

Sincerely,
Anthony
 
usually it ends up that the TSA... or they blame the airlines for missing/stolen items.
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I have never once seen TSA blame the airlines. In fact, TSA can't legally blame the airlines. When TSA took over, the airlines were rightfully concerned about theft issues and so they made TSA legally agree, sign on the line, that TSA is responsible for all missing items -- period, end of discussion. So, I would be very surprised to see TSA trying to scapegoat the airlines.

I will not say that TSA employees are 100% squeeky clean. But, statistically, reported theft from airline luggage is DOWN under TSA.

As I often have to when this topic is discussed, I have to rise to defend the TSA and object to sweeping generalizations that seek to paint TSA as a den of thieves and all TSA employees as dishonest. There probably are some bad eggs, but the majority of TSA employees are honest blokes just trying to earn a living.

I also always have to point out that inspection of checked baggage does NOT date back to 9/11. It dates back to the Lockerbie bombing. Since that time, a fraction of checked baggage has been x-rayed and/or hand-inspected on domestic US flights. What is new post-9/11 and TSA is 100% inspection of checked baggage.

Finally, I always have to point out that luggage locks were never intended for security in the first place. All Samsonite hardside suitcases, for example, open with one of just two keys. You can buy both keys at any luggage store. The purpose of luggage locks is not and never has been security. The purpose of luggage locks has always been to keep the latches from popping open if the bag got caught on handling equipment.

So I will ask again the question that I always ask in these TSA-bashing threads: how can you loose something you never had?

Me? I've lost one knife from checked luggage while traveling. The culprit was British Airways in Heathrow. I know that because it was not a case of the knife disappearing from my baggage. The entire bag disappeared. I was able to finally talk to one BA agent who was honest with me. And I was really not supposed to have talked to him. To talk to him, I had to call Heathrow's general number and ask the Heathrow operator to transfer me to BA's baggage handling room itself. This guy was a bit surprised to be talking to a passenger. But he honestly told me what the computer records showed. The bag was scanned into Heathrow's baggage handling system and never scanned out. The same pleasant fellow explained to me that once a bag is lost for more than 48 hours in BA's Heathrow operations, the chances of ever seeing it again are virtually zero since they get sent to "the warehouse" and no effort is ever made to catalog them much less reunite them with their owners. Other BA agents doubtlessly looking right at the very same computer screen variously blamed me, British customs, American Customs, Heathrow Security, Heathrow Lost and Found, and Horizon airlines (the regional carrier that took me between Portland and Seattle). The lady I talked to in Heathrow Lost and Found told me that BA frequently blames them for lost luggage but that they have nothing to do with luggage and only handle items left in the public areas of the airport, a lot of umbrellas, that sort of thing. So, why did BA have me call them? It's just part of their standard run-around I guess. When finally confronted with their own computer records, BA finally agreed to pay me 600-something dollars, their maximum liability under international law, for a bag that contained, among other things, a $1500 W.D. Pease knife.

My guess is that the American air carriers are equally as honest about these things.
 
Can you "insure" your checked baggage? Like if you have something valuable that might be stolen, but have to have it with you so you can't ship it? Its one thing when somthing gets broken, but when its stolen, you don't really even have proof that it was in the bag, do you?
 
Yes, you can insure checked baggage. It's callled "excess valuation insurnace." I've done this before.

As I recall, I paid something like $65 for $5000 insurance on a flight from Atlanta to Portland once. $5000 is the maximum they'd allow. That's a pretty steep rate for insurance when you consider that the insurance was only in effect for about five or six hours. By contrast, $500,000 worth of home owners insurance for a year is perhaps $650 and that's in effect for 8766 hours.

I also found that most airline ticket agents don't know how to sell excess valuation insurnace. The first I talked to had never heard of it until I pointed it out in the fine print on their brochure. His supervisor recalled having heard about it but didn't remember how to get the computer to sell it. Finally, I was hussled off to the one agent who knew how to deal with it and even he sort of starred at the screen in several places and said, "Hmmmm.... I think this is right.... (clickity clickity clickity).... No, that didn't do it. Let's try (clickity clickity clickity) Ok, that worked...." but he couldn't figure out how to get the computer to add the cost to my bill, so he billed it separately as Misc. and hand-wrote on the receipt what it was for. And after looking in quite a few drawers, the policy statement that was to be given to me was found, but the special tag that was supposed to be attached to the bag could not be found so one was made by hand.
 
When I reported my stolen knives to my insurance agency, I was reimbursed the full valued amount minus the deductable from my homeowners plan. I did have to show thenm that I had filed a plolice report, and show proff of replacement cost of the knives. This was easy to do, as one was a custom, and the other had been bought from a well-known internet dealer who were both happy to provide the proof. I assume that the insurance company then took it up with the airlines, but I don't know for sure.
 
Homeowners insurance covers lost airline luggage? I never thought of that!
 
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