[Leica] What would you do if this happened to you?

[tedgrant at shaw.ca (Ted Grant)]

What would you do under these circumstances?

You use a black heavy duty plastic foam filled Halliburton case to carry 3
M7's and a half dozen M lenses.

You are not allowed to lock the case because the TSA security staff may want
to look inside. And if you do use locks they'll cut them off anyway! So to
make life easy you I didn't lock the case, but run black duct tape around
the edges as I kind of feel good safety thing. Very easy to open by pulling
the tape off, flipping two catches, that's it into the case and equipment.

You cross your fingers & wave the case good bye as it's checked along with
your other bag. Landing in Seattle from Victoria bags were claimed, through
customs, then turned over to baggage handlers for the connecting flight at
which time the black tape was intact.

Arrival in Phoenix we pick-up case and bags, black tape is gone and silver
duct tape replacing it. Obviously the case was opened for TSA inspection.
That's cool I'd rather have them check things as I'm a million air miler and
I'd like to make it two million.

However, upon opening the case and attempting to load the cameras, two of
the M7's were damaged beyond use with the shutter releases jammed right into
the body of the camera. Nothing could be done at all. Those of you who use
M7's know there's a shutter release lock to avoid accidental release and the
camera shutter can't be tripped until the switch is moved to release it.

So OK lets think about what happened here as all three cameras were in
perfect working order when packed in their foam solid cut out positions
where they'd traveled more than a few air miles previously without any
damage.

One of the cameras didn't have the lock on the release and it was OK and
functioned perfectly. The other two ? Well lets put it this way I screwed-in
a soft release and tried to pry the shutter release up out of the body, it
wouldn't budge. I mean it's just hammered right in there. The other body I
managed a slight lift up, and that's it! Solid jammed in the camera body.

Now those of us who've flown with our carry on bag have seen air security
officers look through an SLR, trip the shutter and as it goes click that's
cool for them and  makes it a real camera. However, we're talking about M7's
with shutter release lock and there's no way you can make it go click
without releasing the lock out.

By the same token I've seen them hold up M7's and M6's sort of look through
the view finder releasing the shutter to go click because the lock out
wasn't on. So what do you think they did with the two cameras they couldn't
make go click?

I mean these two cameras are really done and on their way for hopefully
repair and not replacement. Yep they're covered by warranty, I hope under
these conditions. But that's not the point because if they aren't, I'm in
for a big-time repair bill.

You might also be interested in the wording on a neatly printed card left in
your bag explaining the opening of your bag and what responsibility they
have if any damage is done. :-(

Quote from "NOTIFICATION OF BAGGAGE INSPECTION":

"If the TSA screener was unable to open your bag for inspection because it
was locked, the screener may have been forced to break the locks on your
bag. TSA sincerely regrets having to do this, and has taken care to reseal
your bag upon completion of the inspection. However, TSA is not liable for
damage to your locks resulting from this necessary security precaution."

This of course means they would not be responsible for any internal damage
to the contents in the case. Because how could one prove they were in
perfect working order when packed?

Let me make it very clear, the case was not locked and quite easy to open by
pulling off the tape. They did this and replaced it, as I said previously,
so it was a piece of cake to open it.

But what happened to the cameras during their inspection handling?

ted