Baggage

[Cybes]

Back to work tomorrow.
It's not all bad. The boat I'm working on is in refit in Genoa. Which isn't far from Portofino...
So I'm taking my dive kit with me. The marine park looks good for a splash.
This is the first time I've taken my kit overseas and I'm more than a little nervous about the possibility of losing my bags in transit.
Flying to Milan.
I'll be based in Genoa for 2 months and all going well should be able to dive most weekends. It's to good an opportunity to miss.
I'm happy, sort of, but expecting a slap if that makes sense.

[smileydiver]

What are you looking for in terms of tips? What to pack, how to pack, how to secure etc? For what it's worth, I travel with my kit all the time and never had a problem yet *crosses fingers and touches wood while saying this*

[Aqua Maria]

Enjoy!

[Cybes]

I travel a lot so have gotten used to travelling light, 10-12kg for a 2 month trip. Hauling so much luggage is strange for me.
I'm using one of the army deployment bags that I've seen recommended here. Looks good, light but strong.
I've put my drysuit and wing, fins, gloves etc in this bag.
Backplate & harness, reels etc in a small north face holdall.
Regs, torch and compass are in my carry on.
I suppose my only real concern is security and theft. Expensive kit. Both hold bags are fabric.
Both bags are fairly plain. No scuba tags or bling showing.
Do you have additional insurance for your kit when you travel?

[smileydiver]

I just have standard holiday kit when I travel, no expensive cameras etc.so don't buy additional insurance. I also always take my regs, mask, camera, swimsuit, rash vest, flip flops, pair of shorts and a t-shirt in hand luggage, then if hold luggage got delayed, at least I have a few essentials ;). I have seen a lot of people use the bags you mention without issue. I have used fabric bags also. I put a padlock on the zips as a bit of a deterrent but all been ok so far. Enjoy!

[Ian_6301]

If you pack the delicate stuff inside padding such as clothes or undersuits, you'll be fine for damage. Probably.

As for theft, you pays your money and takes your chances. The things that are likely to go missing, I guess, would be small but valuable/desirable - computer, torch, etc. I just can't see it being all that likely that someone would make off with your drysuit...

If you want to buy insurance, go ahead. Be warned though, that many many insurance firms out there don't actually cover your kit other than in transit through standard airline type scenarios. for example, if you have your bag rifled by the hotel staff while they are taking them up to your room, you may struggle with a claim, as they were out of your control. Some are much better, but you tend to pay a lot more for meaningful cover.

IIRC, our house contents insurance, which also provides basic travel insurance, covers theft from bags in transit and that's about it. On the basis that it's free and that cover that includes kit lost/ditched while diving costs approaching as much as the replacement cost of the kit, I leave it at that.

YMMV

[Ron MacRae]

I just can't see it being all that likely that someone would make off with your drysuit...

Had exactly that from the quayside in Weymouth where Tango berths. Some people will just lift a bag and check the contents later. They probably then just dumped it as worthless. :(

[Ian_6301]

Had exactly that from the quayside in Weymouth where Tango berths. Some people will just lift a bag and check the contents later. They probably then just dumped it as worthless. :(

The buggers!

Yes, I guess that is the other option, albeit possibly less likely in the airport scenario...

[Ron MacRae]

The buggers!

Yes, I guess that is the other option, albeit possibly less likely in the airport scenario...

Not sure that's true either. Yes baggage handlers have time to look and just leave, if worthless to them, but while things are being moved about, or left for 5 mins, someone can still just come over, collect a bag and walk on.

[Ian_6301]

Are you having a bad day, Ron?

[Cybes]

I'm probably being overly cautious. You'd hope that airport security would do it's job in the friendly world we live in.
A more realistic problem would probably be lost baggage. Saying that Italy is far from the back of beyond so the issue is probably all in my head. Mostly 😰

[matt]

I took my rebreather and all my dive kit packed into the APD crate to the Philippines as xmas. No one is just lifting this and walking out!

Never a problem it's been around the world. Takes about 30 mins to pack, weights 32kg.

Matt.

[smileydiver]

One other good tip. Put something recognisable on the bag like a coloured ribbon, painted shape or something that makes your bag easily identifiable so that others with similar bags don't confuse it with theirs!

[Cybes]

Jollop.
Bollocks.
Put it in my hand luggage instead of my hold bag in case it popped open and leaked everywhere.
More than 100ml etc. Binned.
Give the security man his due he was very polite.

[Cybes]

I use knotted braid instead of padlocks. As the bags are fabric they are easy to cut open. If they were to be rifled then perhaps they'd cut the chord instead of the bag? Hopefully I'll never find out.
I use coloured braid and put a decorative knot on the end of it.

[rivers]

I've travelled with my kit a few times in the past year and will be again soon. Regs, torches, backplate/wing, masks, dsmbs, and other small bits get packed in my hand luggage. My regs always get a look at security. could be because there are 3 sets all coiled nicely in my bag, but whatever. Drysuit, fins, and undersuit go in checked luggage. drysuit is normally packed in the centre of the bag with fins on top, and clothes and such underneath for protection in case someone decided to slice open my bag. hope that helps

[Allan Carr]

Just make sure that anything fragile is well padded. The amount of abuse that bags get is dreadful. We haven't had anything stolen in our many trips but on each of our last four big trips, we've had one suitcase wrecked. If your case is damaged, make sure that you report it to the airline - they have to repair or replace it. On our trip to Jamaica last December, the frame on my mask was broken even though it was packed in a mask box (also cracked) and padded with socks. On the return journey, our extra tough hard shell case arrived with a big fold in it and was eventually replaced by BA after some tough negotiation.

Coming through Cairo, because my wife needs a wheelchair at airports due to the distances you have to walk, we came i n through the baggage handling area. We saw baggage handlers using suitcase like trampolines, jumping several feet down on to them.

[Woz]

You can open a zip with a biro then close it undetected. I wouldn't bother with a lock.
My hard cases have a vinyl sticker from work on them. Same ones you get on cylinders.

[Joe Narvey]

Dive trips good from St margherita. May be too early at the moment but there is a lagoon area that all year.

DWS is British or British strong British influenced. Good local knowledge and help with logistics. A well known centre there does the captive DM/IDC which ethically isn't nice to dive with. U must dive the Christ in the abyss

[Tim Digger]

One other good tip. Put something recognisable on the bag like a coloured ribbon, painted shape or something that makes your bag easily identifiable so that others with similar bags don't confuse it with theirs!

This is well worth it you kind of assume, " it looks like yours it is yours". I went home with someone else's dive bag from Gatwick once only thought its light when I got home checked some one elses. I put a bottle in it as an apology and drove it back to Gatwick the next day. Nice lady who looks after a large room of similar happenings there said, " well at least your bag looks the same we have people come back bringing stuff that's nothing like what they collect." Always wondered who it was if it was you feel free to post calling me an idiot.

[Cybes]

Everything arrived as it should.
I expect I'm just a little paranoid. I've spent years travelling light with not much to lose in the hold. I've always felt this was way to go.
A couple of years ago I was based in Montenegro. Everyone that flew there lost their bags. Average time to them turning up 2-3 weeks.
I'd like to say the problem was at the former eastern bloc end. It wasn't. Paris Charles de Gaule, what an airport.
Rome is rumoured to be as bad. I don't know Milan Malpensa which is where I flew into.
I suppose it helped that there were no connecting flights to confuse the baggage handlers.

[Baron015]

Rome airport managed to make a hole in my Rimowa solid aluminium cabin bag sized wheely case the one time I checked it in the hold. Looked like they had skidded across it with a pneumatic jack hammer. Amazing.

The German manufacturer replaced it under a lifetime guarantee. They sounded unsurprised when I told them it was Rome that had done it.

[Cybes]

Rome was famous because you could see the bags falling off the baggage trolleys as your bus took you to the terminal.
They were left where they fell.
That was a few years ago but I've avoided the place ever since.

[Garspeed]

Be careful of locking your bag if full of dive kit. I have been pulled out of the passport control queue to go back to security to open my padlocked bag as they wanted to pull out and check my dive gear. This could easily have resulted in me missing the flight so I now leave my bags unlocked but ensure that you find nothing interesting just by sticking a hand inside

[sharpw]

I've had too many experiences with Rome airport, and the best comparison is a Roulette. You never know what disaster will beseech you. One time the handle was cracked, another time the bag was soaked in some kind of lubricant/oil, and another time it came back with a few scuff marks.

...and if you stand close enough to the chute of the conveyor belt you can hear (or see, when you get a damaged chute flap) the bags being chucked on the belt.

Eeeek.

[Allan Carr]

Because we were flying throug the US and US territories a lot on this tip, we had to use TSA locks, of which there only seems to be two keys which fit the lot of them so from a security point of view, they are useless. I was given advice to use cable ties to secure the bags and carry nail clippers to cut the ties off when needed. Two bags were secured with cable ties and two with TSA locks. On almost every leg, TSA opened the bags secured with cable ties. It wasn't anything to do with the contents because I switched the locks/ties between bags and it was always the cable tied ones that were opened. You know TSA have been in your bags because they leave a leaflet in it when the open them.