flying with scuba gear..

[Storm]

While I have yet to travel with my dive gear, I have travelled with my fishing and golf gear. (No they wouldn't let me take my clubs on for free.) Usually I set it up so teh bulky gear is sent ahead via insured cargo. It's cheaper than trying to push it through as extra baggage, and there's no hassle of with keeping the trunk locked.

Then, once I arrive, I pick it up at the cargo office. I figure the cost of the extra shipping into my vacation budget. Judy and I do not travel all that often, so when we do plan on a vacation we tend not to micro budget and just look at is as part of the cost of the vacation.

If you figure that you're spendng anywhere from two to three thousand on the travel and accomodations, one thousand to fifteen hundred for added expenses, the extra 300 hundred or so to get our gear there, is really not expensive when compared to the total cost of the vacation.

Now for those of you who travel often on dive vacations I can see how this extra cost would be viewed as a real pain.

 

[SStrecker]

The legitimate secret to living within the 50 pounds per bag limit (as is the case on American Airlines) is "proper load balancing". Keep the weight in each bag down to just under 50 pounds (to allow for scale errors and possible damp gear upon return). The technique I employ is to use a reliable scale and weigh myself (holding the heavy bag over my head), then I subtract my weight (without the bag). Accuracy and a safety margin are important. I have found that a good scuba bag can hold far more weight that you will possibly be allowed. So, I primarily use the scuba bag for bulky but somewhat lighter items. The high value, more portable items go in your carry-on reg bag and the rest has to fit into your normal checked luggage (sometimes like a tricky three dimensional jigsaw puzzle). Remember to use good identity tags and TSA locks on all of your luggage. Remember, you have to repeat your packing arrangements on the return home. This is where most people will caught and surcharged.

 

[BigBill]

I am going to have to think about this one for my July trip to the Bahamas, on US Air no less. What's worse, is that when I go home to Denver for the holidays, people are transporting their skis and other gear, and I have never seen the airlines gripe about this type of equipment.

Bill

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

Just checked the Skyservice website. They will take scuba equip, golf equip, bicycles, ski equip, snowboards, and hunting equip for free. They don't allow you to pack your regs in checked baggage.

 

[Buoyant1]

Here's a question...are you FLYING to one destination and then driving here, there and everywhere? OR flying here, stayting for a month, flying there, staying for two etc?

If you are flying to ONE place then driving, you should check into shipping (everything but your computer, regs, mask DIVE LOG! etc...the hard to replace, personal stuff)

That may be easier to manage, you still get to carry clothes, and usually the better carriers are a little more respectful of your packages! Some dive shops may even accept your package, or the other alternative is to use a UPS store, who will accept and hold a package for a few days (usually for a small fee)

2 Years huh? God bless!!!

 

[LGF]

Every time I travel with my scuba regs the security folks go crazy. You would think that they have never encountered scuba divers before. The check my bag so thoroughly that I am afraid that they are going to go for the cavity search next. Has anyone else experienced this while traveling with their regs etc.?

 

[skippy77]

lgf i have the same problem as u i do a lot of travelling and when they find my regs/ comp
they look at me like i am some srt of alien like u said it is as if they have nver seen diving gear before i had 1 security officer take my regs away once and wanted to dismantle it so i kindly asked him if he was a mares reg tech he siad no so i said u can not take it a part u are not qualified not had any other trouble since

 

[aedavidson]

Last month I was flying out of Dulles with five other divers. We had a 6am flight so we were there when security opened. We were all carrying on regs, lights , camera housings and even a nasty looking battery for a can light. They did not open even one of our bags, which actually made me worry a bit. I have had tsa look through my carry on but never found it to be a big deal.

 

[scubaaaronh]

Here is a statement on continental,

"Continental does accept one dive bag containing equipment used in the scuba-diving sport as part of the free baggage allowance."

We only had a bag opened once and it was about five years ago when the TSA agent couldnt make out the dive camera and the x ray wouldnt shoot through it. He opened the bag asked how diving was and that was it.

We always take our gear we just dont announce what is in the bags and have never had a problem.

 

[darylm74]

I am flying US Scare-Ways from Pittsburgh to Miami for my Key Largo trip in March. My LDS takes at least 2 trips a year to Key Largo and no one has had any issues with the dive gear or paying extra. I bought an aluminum backplate to help keep the weight down though. I am curious how many kitchen sinks it takes to get to 50lbs. Guess I will find out when I get it all packed, but I hope to take my reg, logbook, BP/W in my carry on. The only piece of that I'm worried about fitting is the wing but it folds in half nicely if you don't crush it down.