To lock or not to lock...

[Allison Finch]

[ps: if you do take your reg as carryon, make sure you get to the metal detectors with pleeeeeeenty of time to spare, because it's going to take the screeners quite a while to work out that you're not a terrorist. explosives testing will be involved ^_^]

Well, I travel a LOT and have never had a problem clearing my reg in my carry-on. They either know what it is, or don't care. That includes connection airports far away from any dive destination.

 

[DocVikingo]

You might find my piece from Mar '03 Undercurrent informative:

"Those New Baggage Requirements: How to protect your gear and your film"

http://www.undercurrent.org/UCnow/articles/Baggage200303.shtml

Best regards,

DocVikingo

 

[bridgenet]

We've had our tie wraps cut a couple of times and received the flyer but never any sticker across the bag openning. Thing that is the pits is with the tie wrap removed the zipper can open on large dufflebags. All they do is zip it back up. So far lucky but on long overseas flights with many connections bag could easily open.

We also had our dive knives taken once, filed a claim and that wasn't even worth the stamp.

 

[android]

TSA steals knives from checked baggage frequently. My brother's boss had a nice pocketknife lifted from checked baggage. They must have great collection.

 

[fdog]

All we've used have been tie wraps. At first (when they started the open-the-bags type inspections) they were good about resealing up bags, but lately they arrive, obviously opened and riffled through, no note, no tape, no reseal. Great QC.

Makes you wonder about the quality of the "security" if they can't even do that...

In chatting with others that use the locks, quite a few have been cut by the TSA. Nothing left in their place. I guess by using tiewraps, we're saving the cost of the locks.

All the best, James

 

[cowprintrabbit]

I've been considering getting the locks that have a separate hole for a tool that the TSA has to open them? They come in either combination or keyed forms; and I see them in the SkyMall catalog everytime I fly somewhere.

I wonder if these could be the solution to our problems?

 

[RPanick]

I managed to get my fins, bc, regs and mask into a roll aboard that wasn't bulging at the seams. The main issues are the fins and the BC. My fins are spits that are very flexible so they would bend in the case. The BC is the other issue, if you have a big BC forget it, but the medium to small warm water BCs fit real nice.

I even managed to get a swim suit and t-shirt in the bag in case my clothes didn't make it.

One thing you do need to watch out for is are you flying on a small plane, the roller bags won't work on those planes.

Bob.