they're A-holes. All of em

real classy statement,,, maybe to you they are,, had my share,, but nope not all of em

Just one small tip I could add.
I make tripod cases out of lengths of 150mm PVC sewer pipe with screw on end caps. Jam blocks of foam in at both ends. Alternatively you can buy expensive tripod cases that are very rugged. My home built ones invariably get smashed but they're cheap and the contents have survived.
For aircaraft travel and packaging the most important thing is to avoid snag points, any locks or handles that protrude and can get caught will get smashed off and possibly cause further damage so keep the outside really smooth. Keep in mind that your items may have lots of other stuff piled on top of them.

Bob.

Tell you what...I'll concede that they're likely not *all* a-holes. Given the roughly 120,000 miles I've flown this year and similar numbers in years past, I've just not had the fortune to stumble across one that isn't. I'll revise my statement to "The majority of them are...."

Kind of like dealing with a very pissed off dog, don't look into their eyes, don't act aggressive, be very submissive, and you'll do better.

One tip I failed to mention, and it's important.
If you've decided to hand carry anything on the flight, be sure to not leave the inspection area until you have 100% everything in place. Belt, watch, wallet, shoes, jewelry, camera bag re-assembled, etc.
This will often tweak either another passenger or a TSA agent (particularly at ATL, LAX or DFW), but if you leave prior to being sure you've got everything, chances of recovering anything left behind are essentially nil.

Another tidbit; most airlines have what is called a "negotiated media rate" where they'll ship additional baggage for lesser cost (or free) if you can demonstrate you're with the media or a media-related traveler. Having a Time-Warner ID, an AP ID, or even just a business card makes all the difference in the world for that third bag. It also assures special handling on some airlines.

yeah, I sound jaded. Given that we've had two laptops, four cameras, easily a dozen cables damaged, and several small items simply disappear, I believe I've earned the right. A fellow camera op recently carried a camera on, and the TSA agent REMOVED HIS LENS, and swiped the sensor. Travel with gear anywhere outside the US is fairly easy. Inside the US, it's a nightmare. FedEx is often the better option, and occasionally cheaper.

Given the job that those guys have to do and the rates of pay I'm hard pressed to understand how they'd not become somewhat obnoxious.

Bob.

Bob,

Don't you know that Security is a minimum wage job?

Of course this is only in the U.S.

In Europe, they are well paid and well trained, even to the point where airport security personnel don't get to even see a passenger until after 3 months of solid training, and then only under experienced supervision.

In the U.S., the majority of airport security screeners leave within 3 months when they have finally found a real job, flipping burgers or whatever, anything but the TSA. Their training? After one week of warming a classroom seat they are deemed capable of being responsible for the security of our airports.

No wonder the GAO found their testers could get 75% of their bomb parts through TSA without any inside connections or access to secret information.

TSA's response? "The tests were difficult and designed to trip up screeners." Let's hope Al Qaeda puts their bombs in orange suitcases marked "BOMB" in big letters on all sides.

So was this 75% pass rate just the result of a bad day at the office?

No, it's much worse than that. GAO found that a TSA insider had distributed an internal memo (subject of a congressional hearing Wednesday) that gave physical descriptions of the GAO testers and details of HOW they were going to try to pass.

So without this memo, the miss rate could have been 100%.

This is such astonishing performance that we should reassign all staff to full time prayers for Divine Intervention to keep our airline system safe while we build up a new department from scratch, with not one single employee picked up from the ruins of the old.

They could perhaps get some competent help from President Bush's former Head of Faith-Based Initiatives (he left of his own accord, referring to the attendees of White House cabinet meetings as the "Mayberry Machiavellis," which I thought was both funny and spot on.)

The L.A. Police has, on their own initiative, gotten security training from the best in the world, the Israelis.

Israel is the only place in the world where I have seen truly 100% top security. Their guys are not minimum wage guys, and they get real respect. Man, they're good!

One VERY important item to look into is how many bags you are allowed to carry on. Your airline may say one thing, foreign airport security may say something entirely different. You leave the U.S. on United with two carry on bags allowed, only to discover you can't leave Heathrow with more than one, regardless of which airline you're on.

EU countries have differing rules. Leaving England we were only allowed 1 (one) single carry on bag. That includes a purse, bag of lunch-munchies, gift for a friend or your flight bag with camera. Not knowing this in advance, we had to do a massive repack on the floor of Gatwick terminal when we flew to Tunisia. A real PITA.

Tunisia back to England -- two bags o.k. England to U.S. -- one back only.

Sounds like a wonderful trip to Kenya. Illegitimati non carborundum at the airport.

JackW

I was amazed that on my trip last summer to France from Portland Oregon, as I went through the security checkpoint with my FX1 in its camera bag, stuffed with several Minidisc recorders and a couple of the biggest Sony L-series batteries, my equipment was never physically inspected (the bag was never opened, just passed through the scanner). Not at Portland, not at Paris on the return flight.

Maybe I just looked totally harmless.

Tell you what...I'll concede that they're likely not *all* a-holes. Given the roughly 120,000 miles I've flown this year and similar numbers in years past, I've just not had the fortune to stumble across one that isn't. I'll revise my statement to "The majority of them are...."

I don't know about that. I am sorry, but I fly more than most, in fact I fly a lot more than most pilots, and this simply isn't true. The majority of them are helpful, but often ignorant and insecure. They know they are being watched by you, their superior and every Fox and CNN reporter in the country. They have the right to be nasty at times.

Oh, and every single time I've seen a conflict between a passenger and TSA personell I wanted to go shoot the passenger in the head. You know, for the good of mankind. Make sure they don't procreate and stuff. Seriously.

Oh, and yes, I fly a lot if you wondered. So far this year my busiest month was August when i flew 70,000 miles on AA and other One World carriers (I accrue a good bit of miles on United/Star Alliance, but not as many as on AA/OW, company policy). I qualified for AA Executive Platinum before end of March.

I drag my HV20 with me most places, but I probably do not have the amount of "problematic" luggage that DSE has.

Other than that. DSEs advice is good. Smile. Be nice to them. Appologetic is good too. DSEs final advice is also good, and I use that for all my professional gear (which is not video related). If I travel with small personal stuff, I carry it on. When I travel with bulky professional stuff, I use Fed Ex. Every time. We have big plastic containers, 5x2x3ft or so, with inches and inches of foam in them, and those go Fed Ex each time. Even over night can be cheaper than on the plane.

Oh, and never, ever, ever if you can avoid it, fly through Heathrow. It is a nightmare.

They could perhaps get some competent help from President Bush's former Head of Faith-Based Initiatives (he left of his own accord, referring to the attendees of White House cabinet meetings as the "Mayberry Machiavellis," which I thought was both funny and spot on.)

I thought he was the guy running the TSA now. Works on the same principle as a church: Get as many un-educated, gullible and superstitious people to come listen to your BS and then pray to some imaginary man in the sky with a beard that nothing bad happens.

EU countries have differing rules. Leaving England we were only allowed 1

This is a Heathrow (all UK airports really, but who goes elsewhere) rule and applies to that only. Mostly though, if you connect in Europe, you'll be going through Heathrow. Avoid it like the plague. It is by far the worst nightmare you can have if you travel these days, unless you travel business class or better. Amsterdam or Frankfurt is far better.

There is definitely a lot of BS that goes on there. Flying out of Ontario (California) a week ago, the TSA agent grabbed my parachute rig and started messing with it. I calmly explained to him that he was required to call over a supervisor, or someone trained in the inspection of skydiving equipment. He proceeded to tell me that I not only was wrong about that, but that I couldn't even carry it on the aircraft due to FAA regulations.
I asked him to specifically cite the FAR that said I couldn't carry a parachute onto a commercial aircraft. He couldn't, just that he "knew" the law.
I reached into my backpack and pulled out the FARs related to skydiving and commercial air, and a copy of the TSA's own regulations regarding inspection. He still denied me a supervisor. Fortunately, another officer saw what was going on and called a super over.
2 mins later, I was on my merry way. With my explosive charge built into my rig completely intact.
What's more humorous is that the TSA people don't recognize that I'm the one in their training video regarding parachutes/skydiving rigs. :-)

TSA Complaints Surge.... New Article Reveals Shocking Truth:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119552040947398609.html?mod=mktw

so yep, they basically suck.

It would be great to get well-trained Israeli-quality security folks at TSA instead of burger-king refugees, thiefs, rudenicks, and incompetents... but that's not gonna happen.

Gotta love travel. Oh and by the way NEVER Fly USAirways. Laughably incompetent and never on time. I had to sit THREE Friggin hours IN a plane on the tarmac at Phoenix last weekend on the way to speak at a trader's expo...

None of the 4 flights I had to take were on time, and they were a bunch of keystone cop types, the whole USAirways outfit. Rude, incompetent, slow and bad apples. I thought Northwest was the "northworst"... but now my raspberry "never fly 'em again" award goes to "US Scareways".

My wife says JAL is great, for going to Japan... and I've heard Singapore airlines (?) is nice, with pretty hotties instead of grumpy middle aged old women like we get on american planes... though I've never flown 'em..

-k

I used to travel a lot in my last job. Regarding the abilities of security people in the US, I found it varied a lot from one airport to another, but, in general, I had little trouble with them. I suppose in some airports you could refer to them as "BK refugies", but most seem like regular people to me.

Yes, it is definitely important to get your packing plan worked out before you go. We typically would carry multiple laptops for for presentations and demos. One time our packhorse guy was told he couldn't carry two laptops onboard and would have to check one. Well, with no bags to put it into he was forced to check it in its regular case. Yup, you guessed it, when he got to the destination the laptop was dead.

Travel thru Europe? I find Heathrow to be a lot better than Charles de Gaulle -- Paris is a nightmare. The French seem to often favor form over function and that airport is a classic example of a disfunctional, but visually satisfying, design. Definitely go thru Frankfurt or Amsterdam if you have a choice.

Thanks all for the advice. I will look into FedEx. Anybody know of any good tripod rental places in Nairobi? I will be going to Kijabi to the RIft Valley Academy (it is on a mountain side that overlooks the Rift Valley- you can see herds of animals in the valley as well as a giant satellite dish and more stars than I thought were visible in the sky!). We will also be going on a safari as well as to Diani Beach to go scuba diving. I went back in 2001 and always wanted to take my wife and this year we are going. I thought that if I was there, I might as well get some good footage to bring back with me :)

j razz

The L.A. Police has, on their own initiative, gotten security training from the best in the world, the Israelis.

Israel is the only place in the world where I have seen truly 100% top security. Their guys are not minimum wage guys, and they get real respect. Man, they're good!
==========
I for one do not want racial profiling to be accepted practice here in the United States. Better pay and training would work, but that is unlikely to get past the Republicans in the Congress or this President.

JOhn

>>>My wife says JAL is great, for going to Japan... and I've heard Singapore airlines (?) is nice, with pretty hotties instead of grumpy middle aged old women like we get on american planes... though I've never flown 'em.. <<<

All true. Also terminal one at JFK where JAL is, has got to be the best terminal on the planet. Every time I flew, hardly anybody there.
Last time I was the ONLY person in line to go through security. Carried on a guitar, a laptop, a rack with 3 units and a camera, no questions asked, no problems of any kind.

About fedex, make sure you can just fedex it to another country. There are rules regarding customs. For example if these are your peronal items, I think you have to get a broker and take care of that. You can't just ship it, and pick it up over there. Or you could, but they may charge you customs ( pull a number out of their asses like $3000, what do you do then )

I for one do not want racial profiling to be accepted practice here in the United States.

Your assumption is reasonable but incorrect.

The Israelis do not build their security on racial profiling, but on a complete system where every step from the first to the last is carefully thought out and tested.

Better pay and training would work, but that is unlikely to get past the Republicans in the Congress or this President.

With the number of domino pieces falling in the Republican party right now, this may soon be a non-issue.

I for one do not want racial profiling to be accepted practice here in the United States.

Your assumption is reasonable but incorrect.

The Israelis do not build their security on racial profiling, but on a complete system where every step from the first to the last is carefully thought out and tested.
============
It is not an assumption. It comes from avoiding putting any faith whatsoever in American news media accuracy in reporting and instead doing research. In the case of this particular issue not much research is required. It is consistently reported and discussed in the Israeli press which I read regularly along with other international media.

Racial profiling is their primary method of "screening".

Aviv Lavi, "Enemies on the Left," Ha'aretz Supplement, January 30, 2004; "Enemies on the Left (2)," Ha'aretz Supplement, February 13, 2004. See also Tova Zimuki, "The Blacklist of Left-Wing Activists," Yedioth Ahronoth, March 17, 2004.
"An End to Discrimination against Arabs at Ben Gurion Airport?", Ma'ariv website (http://www.nrg.co.il), April 9, 2006.
"The Solution to Complaints about Checks on Arabs at Ben Gurion Airport: A Terminal in Nazareth," Ha'aretz, September 21, 2005.
http://www.amnestyusa.org/racial_profiling/report/rp_report.pdf


====
"With the number of domino pieces falling in the Republican party right now, this may soon be a non-issue."

The news media (as I have said many times) will determine who our next president will be and will minimize the blow to the Republicans in the Congress as they have done consistently.
Ask people how many votes it takes to pass legislation in the Senate. A majority will repeat the falsehood that has been repeated over and over again in the news media to cover up Republicans' filibustering every single piece of legislation that passes in the House - they will say 60 instead of 51. The news media have been repeating that lie ever since last January when Republican minority whip Trent Lott decided that the Republican minority would use it as an obstruction tactic to block Democratic legislation. Then the news media allows the the Republicans to go on national television without challenging them to claim it is the Democrats who aren't getting the people's work done in the Congress followed by polls that show an 11% approval rating of Congress and news media people claiming those numbers are a reflection of only the Democrats. Effective brainwashing at it's best.

Most of you will vote for a Republican for president in 2008 because after the news media is done with you, you will fall into two categories. Those who actually "like" the Republican candidate and those of you who (after watching all the lies and television specials filled with lies about the Democratic candidate that directly match the lies put forth by the Republicans) will say:

"I don't like either one of them, but I can't vote for ____________(insert name of Democrat) after what I've seen and heard".

It is the "lesser of two evils vote". It worked in 2000 and 2004 and it will work again in 2008. As soon as the Republican primary announces it's candidate you will know who will be our next president. The news media will make sure of it and there is nothing any of you can do about it.

John

Media only has to keep it close enough so Diebold machines don't have to cheat on too many votes, keeping it obvious that elections are rigged only to those with an IQ over 50.

How stupid does one have to be to still believe we have real elections, when the president of the company which makes voting machines actually comes out publicly and says: "I'll do everything I can to make sure Bush wins"

And to top it off, all exit polls showed Kerry won, but of course we know what Diebold machines said.

It's become so ridiculous, we need to invent new words to describe it. This country has become a Mac expo.

There is thread on cml-hd-pro relevant o the original question. A guy had a Canon HD lens stolen out of his luggage. The responses tally well with Spot's comments, with additional experiences on theft at airports:

" If anyone in the Charleston or Charlotte area is offered a Canon HD lens HJ11e x 4.7B with the serial number of 00710262...could you let me know please?...I had one stolen on Friday out of a case while flying with US Airways. I was flying from Charleston via Charlotte to Minneapolis. The case was missing for a day however it arrived with the mattebox and filters but the lens has been swiped.

"Theft from checked luggage and cases by airline employees is an ENORMOUS dirty little secret that the industry has been trying mightily to cover up for a few
decades now.

Often, according to news stories, it's one of the security people who x-ray
the bags who tip off the thieves in the baggage handling area as to which bags
contain goodies.

If you've ever had anything stolen from your checked luggage and dealt with
the airline concerned, you already know that they accept responsibility for
nothing (read the agreement on your ticket or boarding pass), and the level of
help they provide approaches zero so closely that for all intents it IS zero.

Bottom line is, if you don't at least lock your stuff with a "TSA approved"
lock to give yourself a fighting chance, sooner or later some item of value
will be taken from your checked bags and cases.
Not a great idea to ever ship lenses or cameras as baggage both for reasons
of impact damage and as happened to theft.

Taking the camera and lens(s) onboard as hand luggage is best, ship Air
Freight ( sometimes more expensive than excess baggage) or Fed Ex/ UPS in
advance to hold at the airport location.

If you check as baggage there is not only the worry of theft, but damage is
very likely. ATA rules allow bags to be dropped off the plane to the tarmac
if the automated conveyors are not working.

A F900 or Varicam and a lens will fit in international carry on size bags if
you remove the viewfinder and wrap it and the lens in a soft protective
wrap. If you must have valuable items in luggage, provide your own TSA
approved lock and see if the TSA will inspect and seal your bag this may be
a deterrent for baggage theft. They require this if you are shipping a gun
so in the US you could put handgun with your gear but that seems a bit much.

Typical nice matching blue soft cases and Pelican cases for gear are well
known signals to thieves. If you are standing with your cases of gear
curbside at the airport, if someone comes up to talk to you, look around
immediately for an accomplice about to grab a case while you are distracted.

You will need a police report for any insurance claim of theft.

Which is precisely why I pay an additional $50 to PortaBrace to have camera
bags made in black. Yes...Portabrace will can make the carry bags in black,
blue and I think burgundy. When I first get the bag, I immediately blade
off all the Portabrace logo patches thereby making the bag look more like a
gym back then a camera bag. The airport thieves are very hip to Portabrace.

I know an ABC cameraman who had his camera strapped to his shoulder while
renting a car. Some dude comes up from behind and smears mustard on his
jacket. Or course he looks at the mess and says "What the..." and takes the
camera off his shoulder. While futzing with the mustard mess, an accomplice
grabs the camera and is off. The camera was gone 10 minutes before my guy
noticed. Old trick.

When I'm doing carry-on with my camera, I ALWAYS put my foot through the
shoulder strap if I need to drop the camera while dealing with airport crap.

Somebody told me that high end racing bikes get stolen a lot and that there
is a kind of LoJoc tracking device available for these bikes. Wonder if we
could get something similar for cameras? I tried to get LoJoc about 10
years ago but they would do it. Must be some systems out there we could rig
inside the camera to track the thieves!!

Serena, nice to read that other "professional travelers" are experiencing what I've experienced.
Flying back from DC, I had an eyepiece on one of my CCM's destroyed by TSA; they put it back in the case upside down, even though there is a sticker on it very clearly saying "This side up."
Gonna cost me around 300.00 to replace. Of course, I've filed a claim. If it takes as long as my last laptop damaged by TSA, I expect payment on the 12th of Never.
19 months after the laptop was destroyed/dropped on the floor, I received a notice from their insurance that they need to see the damaged laptop, because the TSA apparently lost the original pictures and claim. Started the whole process over again, we'll see what happens next. Claim was refiled in May of this year.
Contrast that with the security in Singapore; they have a rubber mat on which the computer is placed for inspection.

BTW, Singapore Air is by FAR the best out there. No one comes close anymore, IMO. And yeah...CDG is one of the worst airports in the world. When their roof caved in, I had hopes that they'd just close the joint and let us fly through Orly. No such luck.
Wish us luck, we'll be in CDG on Friday as we wing to Israel and Turkey.

I for one do not want racial profiling to be accepted practice here in the United States.

I have to totally disagree with this statement, at least after I have broadened a little. Profiling, doesn't matter what kind, is an intrinsic part of any law officers job. If you are not profiling, you are not doing your job as a law enforcer. Profiling is about determining who is a high-risk individual and who is not.

I like some of the stuff Carlos Mencia has done on this, and he is absolutely right. It is ridiculous that we assume Granny Annie is as likely to carry box cutters and bombs onto a plane as is a 35 year old male from specific regions in the world. That is just a reality, and there is nothing wrong with dealing with that particular reality.