Has anyone here LOST dive gear due to baggage theft/loss?

[k374]

Has anyone here lost a bag containing dive gear or had items stolen from their bags? Did the airline compensate you for your loss? I recently read that sporting goods, which includes diving equipment, is not covered at all.

 

[Allen Herron]

I had a suitcase full of gear lost/stolen coming back from Dominican Republic. All the gear was less than 2 years old. USAirways gave me a wopping $380 which they said was their max responsibility for international flights. This was in 2003 I think. My homeowns picked up most of the rest. I now carry insurance with DEPP.

 

[fellowtraveler44]

If your homeowners policy picked up most of the rest, why did you purchase other (duplicate?) insurance?

 

[RICHinNC]

Never lost anything but then too my bags are totally non descript .....have no dive logos on them at all. In fact, they are covered in tape and look like crap. Dont advertise what is in them for sure.

 

[DandyDon]

Has anyone here lost a bag containing dive gear or had items stolen from their bags? Did the airline compensate you for your loss? I recently read that sporting goods, which includes diving equipment, is not covered at all.

Airlines have much lower liability limits on checked luggage on International flights even for breakage and negligence as well as loss...

For international travel to which the Warsaw Convention applies (including domestic portions of international travel), Continental's liability is limited to approximately $9.07 per pound up to $640.00 per bag for checked baggage and $400.00 per customer for unchecked baggage.

For international travel to which the Montreal Convention applies (including domestic portions of international travel), Continental's liability is limited to 1,131 SDR (Special Drawing Rights) per customer for checked and unchecked baggage. Exchange rates are available online at imf.org.($1738.49 USD)

And some airlines like Continental disallow liabilities on some items...

Continental is not liable for damage to Scuba diving equipment.

Excess Valuation may not be purchased for Scuba diving equipment.

Anything breakable or valuable: See list but expect computers, cameras, and the like to be disallowed.

Trip insurance can provide some coverage but there are deductibles, depreciation, claims hassles, limits per item, etc. I rely on State Farms PAP to cover all my cameras, electronics, etc that ever leave the house - anywhere, any risk, no deductible or other BS. See http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ba...t-find-better-camera-gear-insurance-than.html Much better than DAN or DEPP and preferable to Homeowners riders I think.

If your homeowners policy picked up most of the rest, why did you purchase other (duplicate?) insurance?

To avoid losing your home coverage perhaps...?

 

[TSandM]

Bob Sherwood had a bag with ALL of his dive gear go missing -- None of it was insured, and last I talked to him, he had not gotten any reimbursement for it. I gathered there's a time limit you have to wait before the airline admits it's gone, but the reimbursement is minimal.

 

[DandyDon]

Bob Sherwood had a bag with ALL of his dive gear go missing -- None of it was insured....

How horrible...! :shocked2:

Well, many members say it is cheaper to self insure if one can afford the loss. I couldn't...

 

[liuk3]

Bob Sherwood had a bag with ALL of his dive gear go missing -- None of it was insured, and last I talked to him, he had not gotten any reimbursement for it. I gathered there's a time limit you have to wait before the airline admits it's gone, but the reimbursement is minimal.

I think that the limit the airline was willing to insure was $3k, but the bag contents were in significant excess of that value. I believe that the run around to collect is pretty painful as much paperwork needs to be filed and reviewed, and then the airline has to go through it's own investigation to attempt to locate the bag which could take months. Fortunately, Bob was just reunited with his bag and dive gear, but it has been about a couple of months since it was lost by the airline.

 

[TSandM]

Oh, I'm glad to hear he got it back! He hadn't as of two weeks ago, when he was up here teaching Tech 2, and he lost it what, three months ago or something?

 

[gypsyjim]

Wow! Now I realize how lucky we were last year. My daughter's gear bag was lost coming home threw MIA, with only a few weeks till our Bonaire trip.

I was on the phone a lot, but got the airline to agree to pay for rental gear if hers was not found in time, which it was not!
My LDS set up 8 day rental price for everything, using all new replacements, which they agreed to credit toward purchase, if her gear should never be found, and need replaclament, which in the end is exactly what happened.
Airline only paid a discounted value on all the lost gear, of course, being used gear, but with the rental $ credit I negotiated, and a decent discount from my LDS on the gear, we ended up replacing everything with new upgrades, at very little out of pocket expense on my part.

It wasn't fun, it wasn't easy, but it was possible to work out a compromise, and do the Bonaire trip without having to rely on resort rentals, and then own the new gear when the originals never showed up.