[Leica] Re:Hong Kong xray

[leicachris at worldnet.att.net (Christopher Williams)]

I wonder about the "locked" luggage thing. When flying to Ireland we stopped
at JFK. There were 2 musicians on board to checked their equipment in. I saw
them pick up their luggage(looked like guitar cases) at the baggage terminal
at JFK. All cases had 2 masterlocks on them. TSA says do not lock your
luggage because they will break the locks.

How does one seem to get around this??

I myself would just feel safer using Fedex, but sometimes that's not
possible.

I have 2 NY weddings in September and I'm just going to give one camera bag
to my wife and have me hold the other one.

Chris

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael J Herring"
Subject: Re: [Leica] Hong Kong xray


> Ted,
>
> You are (unfortunately) absolutely right. I am an American and I am
> embarrassed by the manner in which the TSA people treat our equipment.
> They
> bashed my equipment around and had absolutely no regard for the value of
> said equipment.
> I can only imagine what people from other countries think of this blatant
> disrespect.
> They smashed my Arca-Swish ballhead, even though I had wrapped it in
> cushioning which should have protected it from virtually any fall. I am
> quite certain they removed the foam material and deliberately smashed it
> onto the concrete floor, just to see what would happen to it when they
> treated it this way!
>
> I have also encountered this type of treatment when I purchased audio
> equipment from both Canada and Singapore. In one case the metal chassis
> was
> completely smashed in on one side and  when I sent the photos of the
> damage
> to the manufacturer he told me he did not think it was possible to create
> this kind of damage unless the unit had been deliberately smashed. It took
> literally 3 months to have this hand-made vacuum tube CD player rebuilt
> and
> returned to me (At the manufacturer's expense).
> The other piece was a custom vacuum tube preamp I had made in Vancouver,
> by
> Space Tech Labs(Wonderful people). TSA lost the item for 3.5 weeks before
> it
> mysteriously showed up.
> At this point in time, the poor manufacturer was ready to replace the unit
> because he thought they had stolen it.
>
> Sorry for the ranting....The world has changed.....and NOT for the better
> !
> ! !
>
> Take care and good luck when you travel,
> Mike