A Sneaking Suspicion
Over the span of the last few months, I’ve had several pieces of my camera kit disappear on me. Not bodies or lenses. No, not that. Instead, it’s been ancillary gear. Two of my favorite Gitzo monopods, a tripod ballhead, and a bunch of my HonlPhoto speedstraps and snoots. At first, I thought I was going out of my mind. I’ve never misplaced gear. Well, that’s not strictly true. I’ve misplaced my fair share gear, but it’s always come back to me in the form of it having been hiding somewhere in a bag or the corner of a closet.
This time, it hasn’t been coming back out of the woodwork. I’ve never misplaced so much gear so permanently before. Certainly not monopods and ballheads. At this point, I’ve looked everywhere.
After calling up hotels, double cleaning out my car, and triple going through everything in my storage closet, I’m starting to think that it’s not me. You’d think that if I had suddenly developed a knack for loosing things, I’d lose lenses, memory cards, and hard drives too. And while I do misplace my memory cards or the like now and then, I usually find them within an hour or two or three. Most of the time, it happens after I chill out and let my brain noodle on where I put them last.
Then it hit me that there was a common theme behind everything that was missing. The last time I’m sure that I saw any of these items was when I closed them up one piece of baggage or another and then checked it on an airline.
Now, I have to say that I fly with gear a lot. Cameras and computers always come with me. But things like tripods, monopods, and sundry lighting equipment are just too much to go carry on. Who wants tripods, monopods, and strobist gear anyway? Seriously, I’ve never had this kind of trouble before. Not until now. Then the next thought hit. My flying habits have also shifted around quite a bit of late. I’ve been flying Southwest more and going in and out of SJC and LAS more. Southwest is great for pricing and ticket flexibility and being able to take a straight shot from PDX to LAS or SJC is really nice. Both of these, however, are changes from my previous trouble free routine.
Is that it? Is it airport related, airline related, or some combination? It’s hard to say for sure. You can be sure that I’ll be doing a better job inventory tracking my gear after a flight from now on.
On the other hand, maybe I’m just losing my marbles. That could be it too.
22 Comments
Yeah, you should never check anything expensive on a plane. The baggage handlers and TSA screeners are big time crooks. The TSA guys get to x-ray your bags in private and see what's inside. Taking only one item is a great way to make the victim think that they just forgot the item.
Travel with a flare gun! It's legal to have in all 50 states, you declare it like a firearm, and you get to (actually HAVE TO) put a real non-TSA lock on your hard case.
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Mark, I've thought about the travel with a flare gun technique many times. But, it's only been recently that I've had a problem. At this point, I may be leaning towards other solutions, such as FedEx of a locked Pelican case or the like.
As far as slinging a tripod over a shoulder, I typically am already pushing the carry on limits with what I've got on. There's simply not any more room or space there.
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It's probably TSA or airport personnel.
Are you locking your bags?
If you're traveling exclusively within the US (I assume so, since you mention Southwest Airlines), have you considered the starter-pistol gambit?
Finally, unless you're talking about huge tripods, it's not a hassle to sling your tripod over your shoulder diagonally and take it on the plane. Snoots and so forth can easily be put into a bag or attached to the outside via straps.
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that's "lose" not "loose"
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If it truly is the TSA, it's a shame that we're subjected to this type of treatment at airports in the name of "security".
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Scott, I've had the TSA cut off my "TSA-approved" locks and dispose of them rather than use the passkey that they all have. Bah.
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I wonder how hard it would be to rig up a SSD video camera (e.g. Flip) as a "spy camera" that would automatically start recording when the contents of the case were exposed to light.
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Yup. I had a tent taken out of my bag between checking it at the airport and retrieving it at baggage claim.
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I "lock" my bags with inexpensive nylon zip-ties (the kind electricians use). I use colored ones rather than the default white or black stuff, as it is less likely someone pilfering from my bags would have one handy to replace mine if they cut through to my bag. This won't protect against theft but will allow you to detect tampering with your bags, and thus has deterrent effect.
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Fazil, the problem with zip-ties for me is that I often get the "TSA notice" in my bag. Tho, interestingly enough, when I get the TSA notice, everything is there. It's the trips where I didn't get that notice that I suspect something might have happened.
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Fazil, that said, securing things with zip ties does sound like a reasonable thing to do. I used several zipper pouches to organize things inside my bags and I'm thinking that zip-tying each of those might be a way to slow down rummaging. Of course, then somebody could just grab a full pack I guess. /sigh/
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You might be better off shipping your camera gear via UPS or FedEx to your final destination. Depending on the airline, it can be cheaper too.
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I've stopped checking baggage due to theft. Southwest was a particular problem and I try to fly Delta as much as possible. However, even that has been a problem. I've honestly thought about shipping luggage items via FedEx or UPS when I absolutely have to have something more than I can carry on. Its a horrible problem.
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Bryan, in this case, Southwest has been one of the big changes I've made. In a dozen or so years flying United, I never had a problem with baggage with them. But yes, I think I may be leaning towards shipping in the future. Ugh.
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Some baggage handlers are thieves, especially in NYC.
I suspect that many are honest, but given the amount of stuff I have had pilfered, I am starting to doubt.
What I find dreadfully amusing is the claim that the airlines cannot afford to put video surveillance in. So what protects us from actual terrorists? The background checks that produced the paragons we have now?
Scott
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Scott, indeed. It doesn't take many bad apples... And yes, I too find it suspect how much things can be tampered with on the ground, yet we're supposed to be all concerned about security.
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Can I make a serious suggestion?
a) Write 2 inventory lists of your bags before you travel, and put a copy in the bag. Possibly take video/images as you pack your bag if it's happening a lot.
b) Write a letter to the CEO of Southwest and tell them about the problems you're having. I wouldn't expect them to compensate you for your losses but clearly something needs to be investigated. You're not the only person these people are stealing from.
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dbt, both good suggestions. I've been thinking about making photographic records. Putting a copy in the bag is a good idea.
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In addition to taking an inventory, you could weigh the bags yourself before you check them with one of those small handheld scales. Then, when you collect them after the flight, you simply weigh them again and will know if something is missing.
I'd love to hear what solution you find works (FedEx, I imagine…).
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I lost my entire camera bag to airport security after a big family vacation. Not only did I lose the body, lenses, and misc. parts, but also a week's worth of data on the memory cards.
I don't know what I'd do if I had to carry as much gear as you.
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I've had a consumer camera stolen from my luggage (an older Nikon Coolpix). I don't pack real gear in my luggage.
Years ago as a grad student I was consulting for a venture capitalist about a point-of-sale cash register for fast food chains that featured a primitive ethernet for automatic upload to a "server" and added anti-theft mechanisms. When I was on the phone to the VCs (in NYC), one of them started to laugh and said, "can you imagine the stupidity of this company." I responded "?". "Yeah, reducing theft. Don't they realize that that's part of the business model for fast food chains? They don't want to pay a decent wage, so they budget for 15% theft by cashiers. They can justify the 15% as theft, but not 15% for wage increases."
I suspect this is how TSA works. They pay out a few million a year in "lost item" claims. Better that than salaries.
http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/customer/claims/index.shtm
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The last time I travelled from SFO, I had an entire bag disappear. According to two levels up the management hierarchy, they don't actually track bags in any way and had no record of it past my receiving the baggage tag at the counter. This reaffirmed my impression of how much TSA has actually done for security...
Basically now anything other than books and [cheap] clothing goes carry-on or fedex.
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