Just back from a two week paddle in Glacier Bay.
Flew my Klepper via Alaska Airlines in two check in pieces well padded
with dry bags, clothes, life vests etc.
No incident in terms of damage or loss flying up, and was even pleased to see
them accepting the luggage routinely with little attention paid.
The trip back was a somewhat different story however.
An individual checking luggage in Juneau, Tom, accepted our first bag without
incident, and had even sent it down the conveyer when he weighed the second bag
and gleefully announced we were a few pounds over weight and would be penalized
50 dollars. Not having the luxury of a scale when we packed (a little wet as
it had rained when we broke the boat down)...we kept some items near the top
that we could easily remove if we had gone over weight. We offered to do this,
which only seemed to insense Tom who trotted down the conveyer line, pulled our
other bag and announced we would be paying the overage no matter what, the
oblong bag was "oversized".
This vindictive attitude was totally unprofessional, and we reluctantly handed
over the fifty dollars even though this very bag has been accepted without
questions dozens of times over the years....many times by Alaska airlines.
Tom made sure our bags were scrutinized by the TSA guys, so I stuck around to
watch. They didn't seem too interested in their jobs, passed the swabs around a
little after having untied the bags and then dragged them over to the conveyer.
The problem was that in the case of our boat bag the TSA inspector untied the
lace, and after a brief inspection, simply grabbed the bag by the lip dragging
it and opening it wide in the process as the lace loosened through the
grommets, causing the contents to start spilling out onto the conveyer belt! He
turned away unconcerned and only stopped the conveyer after several seconds of
loud protests from me on the other side of the barricade.
I wasn't allowed to come over to retie the bag, And from a distance I had to
instruct him how to tie the knots that would secure the bag again ( after
restuffing the items that had now littered the conveyer belt back into the
bag). Obviously irritated, he slowly tied one overhand knot after another,
glaring at me before finally dropping the bag and starting the conveyer back up
again.
I'm certain I would not ony have lost contents from this bag, but very well
would have had the boat damaged by the obvious negligence of these bag
checkers. I strongly reccomend that you be present through the entire course
of the examination if you want some semblence of confidence that your luggage
is going to all arrive in one piece with you at your destination. Had this
happened on the first leg of our trip without my intervention, our travels
would have been ruined. I'm currently in the process of protesting the over
charge and reporting the TSA incident to the airlines...any feedback would be
appreciated!
Scott Hoffman
Big Bear Lake
California

As a hedge against this, have you ever considered sticking the boat bag inside a heavy
duty zippered duffle?

LOKESH wrote:

Just back from a two week paddle in Glacier Bay.
Flew my Klepper via Alaska Airlines in two check in pieces well padded
with dry bags, clothes, life vests etc.
No incident in terms of damage or loss flying up, and was even pleased to see
them accepting the luggage routinely with little attention paid.
The trip back was a somewhat different story however.
An individual checking luggage in Juneau, Tom, accepted our first bag without
incident, and had even sent it down the conveyer when he weighed the second bag
and gleefully announced we were a few pounds over weight and would be penalized
50 dollars. Not having the luxury of a scale when we packed (a little wet as
it had rained when we broke the boat down)...we kept some items near the top
that we could easily remove if we had gone over weight. We offered to do this,
which only seemed to insense Tom who trotted down the conveyer line, pulled our
other bag and announced we would be paying the overage no matter what, the
oblong bag was "oversized".
This vindictive attitude was totally unprofessional, and we reluctantly handed
over the fifty dollars even though this very bag has been accepted without
questions dozens of times over the years....many times by Alaska airlines.
Tom made sure our bags were scrutinized by the TSA guys, so I stuck around to
watch. They didn't seem too interested in their jobs, passed the swabs around a
little after having untied the bags and then dragged them over to the conveyer.
The problem was that in the case of our boat bag the TSA inspector untied the
lace, and after a brief inspection, simply grabbed the bag by the lip dragging
it and opening it wide in the process as the lace loosened through the
grommets, causing the contents to start spilling out onto the conveyer belt! He
turned away unconcerned and only stopped the conveyer after several seconds of
loud protests from me on the other side of the barricade.
I wasn't allowed to come over to retie the bag, And from a distance I had to
instruct him how to tie the knots that would secure the bag again ( after
restuffing the items that had now littered the conveyer belt back into the
bag). Obviously irritated, he slowly tied one overhand knot after another,
glaring at me before finally dropping the bag and starting the conveyer back up
again.
I'm certain I would not ony have lost contents from this bag, but very well
would have had the boat damaged by the obvious negligence of these bag
checkers. I strongly reccomend that you be present through the entire course
of the examination if you want some semblence of confidence that your luggage
is going to all arrive in one piece with you at your destination. Had this
happened on the first leg of our trip without my intervention, our travels
would have been ruined. I'm currently in the process of protesting the over
charge and reporting the TSA incident to the airlines...any feedback would be
appreciated!
Scott Hoffman
Big Bear Lake
California

--
Regards

Brian

As I say in each thread such as this, Print their contract of carriage
from the web and highlight the portions that pertain to your bag. They
really hate to have the rules waved in their faces. And they are not
going to stand there and read them. They normally don't know all the
rules about sports equipment. This really helped me taking my Klepper to
Tahiti.

LOKESH wrote:

Just back from a two week paddle in Glacier Bay.
Flew my Klepper via Alaska Airlines in two check in pieces well padded
with dry bags, clothes, life vests etc.
No incident in terms of damage or loss flying up, and was even pleased to see
them accepting the luggage routinely with little attention paid.
The trip back was a somewhat different story however.
An individual checking luggage in Juneau, Tom, accepted our first bag without
incident, and had even sent it down the conveyer when he weighed the second bag
and gleefully announced we were a few pounds over weight and would be penalized
50 dollars. Not having the luxury of a scale when we packed (a little wet as
it had rained when we broke the boat down)...we kept some items near the top
that we could easily remove if we had gone over weight. We offered to do this,
which only seemed to insense Tom who trotted down the conveyer line, pulled our
other bag and announced we would be paying the overage no matter what, the
oblong bag was "oversized".
This vindictive attitude was totally unprofessional, and we reluctantly handed
over the fifty dollars even though this very bag has been accepted without
questions dozens of times over the years....many times by Alaska airlines.
Tom made sure our bags were scrutinized by the TSA guys, so I stuck around to
watch. They didn't seem too interested in their jobs, passed the swabs around a
little after having untied the bags and then dragged them over to the conveyer.
The problem was that in the case of our boat bag the TSA inspector untied the
lace, and after a brief inspection, simply grabbed the bag by the lip dragging
it and opening it wide in the process as the lace loosened through the
grommets, causing the contents to start spilling out onto the conveyer belt! He
turned away unconcerned and only stopped the conveyer after several seconds of
loud protests from me on the other side of the barricade.
I wasn't allowed to come over to retie the bag, And from a distance I had to
instruct him how to tie the knots that would secure the bag again ( after
restuffing the items that had now littered the conveyer belt back into the
bag). Obviously irritated, he slowly tied one overhand knot after another,
glaring at me before finally dropping the bag and starting the conveyer back up
again.
I'm certain I would not ony have lost contents from this bag, but very well
would have had the boat damaged by the obvious negligence of these bag
checkers. I strongly reccomend that you be present through the entire course
of the examination if you want some semblence of confidence that your luggage
is going to all arrive in one piece with you at your destination. Had this
happened on the first leg of our trip without my intervention, our travels
would have been ruined. I'm currently in the process of protesting the over
charge and reporting the TSA incident to the airlines...any feedback would be
appreciated!
Scott Hoffman
Big Bear Lake
California