This article from Undercurrent
http://www.undercurrent.org/ addresses your inquiry, and some other concerns that I suspect you may have had, or will soon have:
[This is my unedited file. An edited version appears in the present (Mar '03) issue of Undercurrent]
"Pretty soon the only way to protect your dive gear will be to wear it on the plane.
Last spring, Undercurrent warned dive travelers about Pelican hard cases being a luggage of choice for rifling by handlers at airports like Miami International (Targeting Pelicans in Miami; Apr '01). At that time, we recommended hand carrying photo gear, or placing the Pelican inside of a well-secured but uninteresting piece of baggage.
However, with the advent of the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) new baggage screening procedures, you are advised not to lock any objects being sent via checked baggage.
If any of your checked items are deemed suspicious as they wend their way through screening procedures, e.g., x-ray, explosives detection, TSA will open them for inspection. In the majority of airports, your luggage will go through these devices in your presence. In that case if they need to be opened youll simply be asked to do so. In those airports where screening takes place within the bowels of the baggage system, and your luggage is locked, one of two things will happen: (1) TSA has some master keys on hand at some locations. These will be used whenever possible, but the agency makes no guarantees, or (2) the locks will be cut or broken open.
Given this situation, seems that to really protect you valuable scuba and photo gear it needs to be carried on. But, given current baggage restrictions, a diver would be hard pressed to get all scuba gear into the cabin of the plane. Most US carriers restrict the passenger to 2 carry on items, including a purse, briefcase, laptop or the like, neither to exceed about 22" x 14" x 9" and 40 pounds. If you may exceed these limitations, check with your scheduled airline to get their exact specifications for carry ons. They must fit into an overhead bin or under your seat.
So, how best to secure your checked baggage given TSAs presence?
According to Heather Rosenker, head of TSAs PR unit, in the near future they will begin providing, free of charge, tamper-evident reddish-orange locks. These are essentially a cable tie that can be snipped off by screeners and the owner. If TSA opens a bag during the screening procedure, it will both place a "Notification of Baggage Inspection" card in the luggage indicating that it was opened for inspection, and close it with a security seal. This seal, also expected to be out in the field in the near future, again will be of the a cable tie variety, although it will be slightly larger and blue in color. Both seals will bear the name of the agency, and will be serially numbered. The seal that the traveler can apply has a tear off tab containing the tie number so that one can determine if the tag they affix (assuming, of course, that it isnt removed by TSA for inspection purposes) is the same one on the bag at the time of arrival.
For the protection of all involved, the agency is also planning on videotaping inspections that take place behind the scenes, although the systems to do this will not be available at all airports until perhaps the end of this year.
Until these TSA locks are available, you may want to consider continuing to lock you baggage and hoping for the best, or at the least purchasing standard plastic or nylon cable ties to secure your bags. To reduce the chance of a thief stealing items from your bag and then replacing the ties with ones from his own stock, use odd colors, or purchase numbered or printed ties from such outlets as American Casting & Manufacturing.
Not surprisingly, TSA is not responsible for damage to locks that must be removed. Issues of harm to actual luggage in the process of removing a lock will be decided through a claims process. If you are missing anything upon arrival, you also must make a claim with TSA, which it will assess on an individual basis. To make the claim process flow as smoothly as possible, you should make a record each piece of gear in your checked luggage, including serial numbers of articles or other detailed description, and the estimated replacement cost.
By the law, TSA has 6 months to settle claims. However, David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association, says that it is not yet entirely clear who will take responsibility in case of theft or harm to luggage the airlines or TSA. So dont be surprised if TSA and your airline point fingers at each other.
Because the agency is so new, and because it makes claims information difficult to access, Undercurrent couldnt find much information on how they were faring to date. However, what dribs-and-drabs we could locate were not encouraging. For example, between Feb '02 and Sep '02, TSA had received 192 claims for damaged laptops, and only two had been settled.
What to do?
Until all of this gets sorted out, we have a couple of suggestions: (1) Carry on as much as you can, ranking items by value and utility. Medications, medical assistive devices, and prescription masks may be more important than a regulator that you can easily rent. Balance the likelihood of missing diving days with the value of your gear; (2) Use the cable ties provided by TSA as soon as they become available; (3) Continue to lock you luggage & hope for the best, and (4) Purchase high quality equipment insurance such as those policies reviewed in the Sep '01 (When a Grouper Eats Your Computer There's Insurance to Cover it) and Apr '02 (DAN Faces off With DEPP on Dive Gear Insurance) issues of Undercurrent.
As regards gear insurance offered by DAN DAN and DEPP, both insure against loss or damage to gear and set premiums on declared value. DAN reimburses for the cost of restoring or replacing your loss, while DEPP, at its option, will either repair or replace your gear. Be aware that some benefits may change because of TSAs procedures. For example, DEPPs Vice President Sandy Hall told us that they are considering replacing insured gear only when an entire piece of luggage is missing after a flight. They would no longer cover pilferage of individual items during air travel. However, any such changes are months off, if they occur at all.
What About film?
Photographers need to protect film from strong x-radiation. Some new carry-on airport scanners are more powerful and more dangerous to unprocessed high-speed film than were older, low-level radiation models, especially with repeated scans. While a number of photographers I know report no problem with these devices, if you can avoid it dont send unprocessed film through them. Checked baggage will be subject to high-dose scanners that almost certainly will harm even low-speed film in a single pass, so by all means avoid this. If the film is in a lead-lined pouch, inspectors may just crank up the juice until they can see through. Don't risk it. Carry it on and request a non x-ray inspection. To make this request more agreeable to the inspector, place the film in clear plastic canisters inside a clear Ziploc bag. And, be real polite.
However, a hand-inspection is only your right in the U.S. Some countries may not grant you such consideration, so place the film in a lead-shielded bag sold by photo retailers and place it your carry on. Before purchasing one, however, ask about its effectiveness with newer, more powerful airport x-ray devices. The lead bag showing on the scanner may trigger an additional inspection. If so, this likely will be done by hand.
Whenever feasible, purchase film at your destination and have it developed before returning home. Alternatively, you can send film via an expedited carrier, like FedEx, but ask if their package examination procedures include exposure to x-rays. Since x-rays dont affect digital camera images or processed film, prints, slides, and CDs, these items can be checked.
You can keep abreast of some of TSA's policies and activities by visiting their website at
http://129.33.119.130/public/index.jsp ."
Hope this proves useful.
DocVikingo
