Don't check your gear at the airport

[shawn patrick]

I don't know if this was already posted or not. I looked around but didn't see it. TSA found one of their agents stealing camera gear from checked baggage. He was caught when CNN found one of their cameras on Ebay.
Yahoo link

Look at the items listed in his ebay feedback- Ebay

[Truckman]

Dang! Business was good for a while wasn't it...Ben

[dhphoto]

This is really sad, especially for those traveling constantly.

[CaptainTom]

There's always a story about someone stealing from checked luggage.
It's a shame that they can so easily get away with it.

[picman]

I wonder if they will go through his ebay sales and recover the stolen items?

[ka5txl]

Just another reason why if I need to fly then I don't need to be there. I guess they didn't fix the problem by making them goverment employees and putting them in spiffy new uniforms with bus driver shoulder tabs

[gbux61]

If it were a choice between bringing my camera gear as carry-on vs checking it, I would leave it at home and bring a point and shoot. No way I am letting my gear out of my sight.

[Rson]

Been there, done that.

It is still under investigation.
http://www.texasphotoforum.com/forum...&highlight=tsa

[Kohnfoto]

That's just terrible. No way would I check my gear anyway.

[110240]

10 years of travelling, no worries apart from a few minor dramas. One bad apple doesnt make a barrel.

[Wes]

When I saw the title of this thread the first thing I thought was, "Well DUH!" I'd no sooner check photography gear than a laptop computer. If I'm traveling somewhere and had too much gear to carry on I'd probably ship it via FedEx or something.

[lscottpht]

That's horrible, but I would never even think about checking in my gear, especially the way the baggage is handled.

[PhotoPunk]

Yup....been traveling to shoots for clients for 7 or 8 years...I *never* let my photo and laptop gear out of my site...they stay on the plane with me.

In the worst case, I will check my studio strobes...they're Travelites...so they're not exactly steal-able because of their size and weight...also the reason I can't take them on with me...180 lbs of lighting gear doesn't quite fit in the bins...;)

I've also used Contintenal Cargo if I need a lot of my lighting gear. In this case, when you're there sending it, you can have them check through it for security in front of you...then you can lock it...which is nice.


I've never checked gear, mainly because of how rough they are while loading/unloading...even with properly packed Pelican cases I don't trust those idiots.

[darktiger]

I never let my gear nor my laptop out of my site.