Travel with SS BP

[Pyrofish]

Just a word of advise in the era of TSA. If you really like your SS back plate, and decide to take it with you, it may be delayed. I lost my luggage twice on a recent trip, and both times, when I got my bags back, the back plate was on top of all my other gear instead of under neath. A sure sign they took it out and examined it. The first time, it got stuck at Heathrow (whatever the UK baggage authority is) and they lost it for 6 days, along with all of my clothes. The second time, they lost it for a couple of hours going through Philly. It's funny, going through Philly they stopped my bag with the SS BP, and let the one with the two unlabeled bottles of home made wine, my regs, and electronics inside a hard case go through untouched. If I were an inspector, that's the one I'd be looking at! Anyway, I'm going to buy the Kydex BP from DSS for next time, maybe that won't show as harshly on their scans.

Just a word of advise,
Jason

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Ever looked at an x-ray of your baggage?

An SS backplate shows up as a humongus black shape. No telling what else may be concealed beneath or 'within' that shape. They'll check it out virtually every time.

Hint: your checked luggage is weighed...max US is 50 lbs per bag (currently).

Your carry-on is NOT weighed. So long as it meets dimensional criteria, you can carry it on. Theoretically it could weigh 100 lbs and so long as its the right size it can be carried on.

An SS backplate fits within the dimensional measurements......

Think about that for a minute.

The reason why they let your other suitcase go through unopened is because they could tell what was inside it from the x-ray. With that SS bp in your bag, they had no clue what was in that bag.

If you load your bags so they don't need to unpack everything "on top" of your backplate to see what the hell that huge black blotch is, then they don't need to go through and repack all the rest of your trash before buttoning up your suitcase. They can just send it down the line unopened, instead....

Why order another backplate when simply changing how you pack your trash may make all the difference?

Best,

Doc

 

[CIRE320]

Has anyone had similar problems with an AL BP? I'm trying to decide between a SS and an AL BP, with travel being one of my concerns.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Dive with what you need to dive with.

A standard SS bp weighs 6 lbs. Most aluminum plates weigh less than 2 lbs, for a variance of ~4 lbs.

Under current regulations you can carry two checked bags @ 50 lbs each, plus one carry-on at X lbs, but certainly 50 lbs could be done if you pack it densely; that's approximately 150 lbs of dive gear padded with a few T-shirts, a pair of shorts, a toothbrush, and some sandals. UNLESS you're a photographer at the National Geographic level, 150 lbs of crap will likely work for your basic caribbean vacation.

The 6 lbs of a SS bp are essentially unimportant either way (unless you are going to some remote location on a very small airplace...in which case you already have other issues going on...)

Figure out what dive equipment you need to dive safely and effectively. Pack that, whatever it is. (Packing it intelligently helps.) With 150 lbs to work with, the difference between SS and aluminum bp with respect to your luggage is generally zip.

Doc

 

[Quarrior]

Like Doc said, put the plate on top, not on the bottom and you'll not have a single problem.

Personally, I do not put reg's and electronics in checked baggage. TSA may have some honest folks inspecting bags, but I guarantee you that isn't the case with the handlers. Putting that expensive stuff in checked baggage is a good way to have it go missing.

 

[Pyrofish]

Unfortunately, I flew out days after the UK terror plot, through Gatwick (and Heathrow but that's another longer story) and on to Malta, which meant no carry ons. I had planned on carrying it all, I don't trust baggage people either. I had bought the hard case just for carrying on, and then couldn't use it. I had my regs and computer, camera and other delicate or pricey goodies in the hard case.

I did get to free dive in a tuna farm while there though. The guy that took us said some of them were over 1500 pounds. Really wild diving down 20 or so feet and seeing a tuna that big just swim by your face.
Jason

 

[BurBunny]

Do be aware that some locations, not even that remote, do have carry on weight restrictions as well. But usually if you don't look like you're struggling, they don't care too much.

That said, since my toiletries now need to be checked, will move those out of my carry-ons and put my BP in. Seems a fair trade-off.

As a rule, put all dense materials (books, shoes, large pieces of molded steel, chocolate and cheese) at the top of your bag. Will save lots of hassles with bag openings and riflings.

 

[Dive-aholic]

40 lbs is the typical carryon weight limit. I've never had my carryons weighed, though. I carry my bp on with me, too. It's much easier to explain in person.

 

[victor]

Unfortunately, I flew out days after the UK terror plot, through Gatwick (and Heathrow but that's another longer story) and on to Malta, which meant no carry ons. I had planned on carrying it all, I don't trust baggage people either. I had bought the hard case just for carrying on, and then couldn't use it. I had my regs and computer, camera and other delicate or pricey goodies in the hard case.

I did get to free dive in a tuna farm while there though. The guy that took us said some of them were over 1500 pounds. Really wild diving down 20 or so feet and seeing a tuna that big just swim by your face.
Jason

Jason

Did your dive gear make it through Ok?
How was the diving off Malta?

 

[Scared Silly]

As others have stated there are carry on weight limits. However, my trick these days is to weigh my bags then as I carry them over to the TSA drop off I stick all the stuff I had to take out so the were under 50 lbs back in.

The other thing to do is to stick around while the TSA xrays your stuff so if they have to open your bags you can be present. Some inspectors get a litle testy if you ask them to pack stuff in a particular manner. One made the comment to me that they do this all day long, implying that they knew how to repack my bag. My response was that it was my vacation they were messing with and if stuff was broken in transit I knew which inspector would be responsible. Needless to say they followed my request.

Just another reason why I request that my bags be inspected in my presence and not in some black whole.