Damaged gear due to airlines....any luck?

[Tigerman]

My gear is insured. Just like every thing else I own. It is ALL covered by my normal home owners content insurance. Nothing special about scuba gear. It is covered the same as my hockey, golf and curling gear. And the pots & pans & cutlery in the kitchen. And my socks, shirts & underwear.

No need for "extra" DAN coverage if you already have Homeowners insurance for your possessions.

Before relying blindly on that you better make sure it covers what it needs to cover and where it need to be covered..
Homeowner insurance and travel/dive/photo insurances may have rather different coverage depending on the items, where you are and what happens to it. My home insurance sure as heck don't cover several thousand dollars worth of photo gear being flooded or dropped into the sea while on vacation, but it does cover fire damage while at home - my specific insurance for it however does cover all of those cases...

 

[KeithG]

Before relying blindly on that you better make sure it covers what it needs to cover and where it need to be covered..
Homeowner insurance and travel/dive/photo insurances may have rather different coverage depending on the items, where you are and what happens to it. My home insurance sure as heck don't cover several thousand dollars worth of photo gear being flooded or dropped into the sea while on vacation, but it does cover fire damage while at home - my specific insurance for it however does cover all of those cases...

Agreed. Make sure you check your coverage details and amounts.
If you are grossly under insured then you will not likely be successful if trying to claim a $10,000 camera accident.

you can also get special riders on your home owners insurance for specific high value items. This will most likely be cheaper than buying a third party policy.

I have all perils rider on my camera gear. It is basically stupidity insurance. I can drop the camera overboard and it is covered. Used it once due to a faulty port. Once the camera has aged a bit I will cancel the rider.

But the rest of my scuba gear is all fully covered with no "extra" costs (since I am already paying for insurance on the full value of my possessions.)

 

[sanityassassin]

Maybe you should get this guy to do a scuba video for your damaged equipment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

I absolutely hate checking bags. Most rampies (ramp agents, bag throwers) don't get paid that much and they don't give a rat's a$$ about your bag. The golden age of aviation has long passed--tickets are relatively cheap--people use wal-mart bags as carry-ons--and your bags are not in good hands.

I used to work as a mechanic at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, NC. Every single day I would see people's bags get run over, kicked, thrown, and generally mistreated. One time I saw a bag get thrown off the baggage cart as the driver was making a turn--he looked back and saw that it had gotten thrown but didn't care and kept on driving--then a truck behind him ran over the bag--that driver looked back and kept driving. I rescued the bag and tried to give it to one of the baggage handlers but no one would take it as it was severely damaged (and the bag obviously belonged to a soldier coming back from a combat zone).

It just pisses me off thinking about it. Moral of the story, don't check if you don't have too--but if you do--be sure you get insurance on your belongings. I rarely check bags but the last two times that I did, my bags were delayed by more than one day.

---------- Post added April 23rd, 2014 at 12:39 AM ----------

Case and point..in the news today:

Air Canada apologizes after bag handlers were caught dropping gate-checked luggage 20 feet into bin | Fox News

 

[ScubaND]

I second the comment on using Dive Caddy. The bag does get a little heavy but it works and you know the gear is in your possession at all times