Theft and Lost Luggage

[pjones]

Theft and Lost Luggage, It happens...
I am planning a trip to Australia and it is going to involve 7 plane rides, That is 7 chances to have my luggage lost and hotels for it to be stolen in. I am insured for health by DAN however I do not yet have insurance on my gear. It seemed to be quite expensive when I typed in a couple items for a quote by dan. Are there cheaper companies to go with? How many of you get insurance when traveling to cover theft and loss?

Your opinions and comments are appreciated
Thanks.

 

[Doc]

Worry about "lost baggage". Prevent it by tagging your bag three different places (and inside) with your routing itinerary, as well as your ultimate destination. Make a lost or delayed bag find you.

Theft? It is a great idea to insure your gear, but thinking that regulators and BC's are a target of luggage thieves is a widely held urban myth. Check them through, but call your insurance agent and see what your homeowners covers... or what to add.

 

[KeithG]

I second the "check your home owners" for insuring your gear (or anything). Our important gear is permanently covered by our homeowners - no need to do it trip by trip.

We also purchase trip insurance for all of our dive trips. This is done via our local travel company (Squba Holidays) and is less costly than DAN and covers way more stuff. 2 tri[ps ago they covered the $700 water taxi trip plus extra hotels when we where 1 day late due to a snow storm for our live aboard trip.

But all this is meaningless if you get there with no gear. We carry all essentials: prescription masks, computers and camera gear. We can get by with rentals for the rest (we may not be happy, but we can get by).


But

 

[knowone]

Tell everyone you are a travelling DEMA mannequin unless you are being led away..

 

[vladimir]

Theft and Lost Luggage, It happens...
I am planning a trip to Australia and it is going to involve 7 plain rides, That is 7 chances to have my luggage lost and hotels for it to be stolen in. I am insured for health by DAN however I do not yet have insurance on my gear. It seemed to be quite expensive when I typed in a couple items for a quote by dan. Are there cheeper companies to go with? How many of you get insurance when traveling to cover theft and loss?

Your opinions and comments are appreciated
Thanks.

It is very expensive for what you get, but I'll spare you that rant. If your luggage gets stolen enroute, does a check for its value two months later compensate you for your real loss: the ability to enjoy that expensive dive trip to Australia? Does trip insurance reimburse you for the price of a liveaboard because your luggage didn't make it? What if the baggage gets delayed and makes it a day after your boat leaves? You may be paying a lot to cover the wrong risk.

I would (do) save the money on insurance and take care with my connections. The fact that you have 7 connnections makes me think you may have taken the budget route or used frequent-flyer miles. (Or is it a trip from Vancouver to 7 different destinations and ending in Australia? Cathay Pacific will get you from Vancouver to Cairns with only 1 stop, in Hong Kong: $2002.) Take the insurance money and put it towards direct flights and try to stay on the same airline as much as possible. Nobody wants a 5-hour layover, but a too-short layover will increase the chances of lost or delayed luggage. I try to schedule an extra day at my detination if a liveaboard is involved. And follow Roatanman's luggage tagging suggestions. I have never had luggage lost or stolen; I've only had it delayed once.

My other strategy is to make up my mind in advance that lost luggage will not ruin my trip. The time my dive gear was delayed (to Bonaire) I dived rental gear for a couple of days until my own stuff got there. It didn't affect my diving a bit.

 

[Garrobo]

WOW. Seven different flights to get from BC to OZ. That's unbelievable.

 

[pjones]

Sorry I should have been more clear, I am flying to sidney on day one and traveling each part of Australia from there. We will be stoping in 5 different areas during our stay and figured that flying is the most time efficient method to go about traveling point A to point B, etc... flight # 7 will take us back home. Schedule as follows

Leave YVR to Sydney, 2 nts SYD
Sydney to Cairns 5 nts
Cairns to Brisbane 5 nts
Brisbane to Melbourne 5 nts
Melbourne to Adelaide 5 nts
Adelaide to Sydney 5 nts
Sydney to YVR

Thanks for the heads up on the home owners insurance. I didn't know that could cover my gear during my travels. I'm going to look into that shortly to see if or what mine includes and change it if need be.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Watch out for the weight limits on those domestic Aussie flights. Some of them are 20 Kilos (44lbs), not 50lbs and they do sometimes weigh your carry on. I learned the hard way.

 

[pjones]

Watch out for the weight limits on those domestic Aussie flights. Some of them are 20 Kilos (44lbs), not 50lbs and they do sometimes weigh your carry on. I learned the hard way.

Oh thats good to know. I'll have to look into that. I assumed there would be baggage fees along with bringing our own gear. As long as I can pay for the extra bag than I will be happy. I figure the cost will balance itself out (or close to) with the fees we would have been paying for rentals. I would have a problem on my hands though if they told me they wouldn't be able to bring it on the flight.

Traveling with dive gear adds a whole new aspect to traveling, adding complication and limitations. Having never been to Australia before I do appreciate the advice from those with experience to help make it an enjoyable trip.
Thanks

 

[vladimir]

Watch out for the weight limits on those domestic Aussie flights. Some of them are 20 Kilos (44lbs), not 50lbs and they do sometimes weigh your carry on. I learned the hard way.

Good point. Something else to be aware of is that Qantas enforces a carry-on limit of 7 kgs, as do other carriers in the region.