As divers we tend to travel with a lot more in our bags then the average traveler. Usually we can fit our gear into the menial baggage limits that have been placed on travelers (it certainly isn’t a cost cutting measure as the airlines are still loosing money). Sometimes we do make it with in the limits and sometimes we don’t and end up having to pay that overweight bag fee of around $25-80+, or extra bag fees of $70+.
From time to time it is worth it and sometimes it is not. In my case since most of the time I travel with a lot of photo gear I some times have a lot more then what I can check or even carry on. For example on this trip to North Carolina I was carrying my Photo backpack as well as my underwater camera rig and 2 checked bags (1 cloths, 1 dive gear) which is the max under the current guidelines from TSA and the airlines. One side note I was carrying a 3rd carry-on bag but this was dedicated to film only and I had cleared this in-advance with TSA and the airlines, this is a different subject that can be covered at a later date.
Most airlines will allow you to check extra bags for a fee (average is around $50-80 depending on the airline) if you would like but this doesn’t offer any extra protection or insurance as per the standard $9.07 per pound fee they will give you if the bag is lost, and depending on the airline they wont let you buy insurance for the bag, which means if they destroy they can get away from having to pay for what they damage (theft is a different issue).
Depending on what you are traveling with you may want to consider some other options to get the items we need to where we are going. For this you have a couple of options of a traditional shipper or you could use airline cargo service. I have looked into this recently because I have a project that’s in the works that is going to need me to basically take a full photo studio for this project , as renting the gear in the area isn’t a option due to no places rent this type of gear near the location. Just based off the initial data I knew that I would not be able to put all of this in checked luggage (nor would I).
It was at this point that I explored other options for getting the gear to my destination. First I looked at traditional shippers as most everybody knows them and there service. First was the post office but decided that it wasn’t cost effective and delivery timeframe was what I thought it would be for smaller items(from 5-25lbs ) I would use this route but for 250lbs of gear not so much. Then looking at UPS and FedEx realized that they where even more for the same service, and also reading the fine print on the agreements the insurance offered wouldn’t do. It was at this point a mentor of mine said I should look at the airlines cargo services. This looked promising as since im flying to the destination this might be easier to use this. This example is for domestic, for international I would probably go the same route but I would do a cost comparison once I knew the dimension, weight, insurance needed for the gear.
With Airline cargo shipping you have 3 options general freight, Rush/Priority, and NFO (Next flight Out); the traditional equivalents would be ground, 2nd day air, and Overnight/Same day delivery. Basically you pack all of the items you’re going to ship in boxes or containers and bring them to the cargo terminal at the airport (sometimes as short as 2 hours prior to the flight) where they will be logged into the system and taken to airside for loading. Depending on the carrier you may be able to load the items into a container prior to it going airside. Then after its flight depending on the carrier you can pick it up in terminal or at the cargo facility about 30mins after its on the ground. So if your flying it really can be worth it depending on the weight, value, etc.
Here’s a price comparison of various methods (therotical)
Item dimensions 45x30x15 inches weight 200lbs insurance value $15000, pallet load
Dallas, Texas to Raleigh, North Carolina (DFW to RDU) or shipping from Plano Texas to Fisherman’s Inn in Atlantic Beach NC
Fedex
1 Day Freight $856.86
2 Day Freight $608.52
3 Day Freight $566.86
UPS
Next Day Air Freight $904.21
2nd Day Air Freight $741.81
Ground $598.54 (delivery timeframe 5 Days)
USPS
Parcel post $1567.21 *
- Would have to be broken into 70 lb packages with max value of $5000 each and less then 70 linear inches, delivery time 10-14 days. Not effective
DHL
Next Day $550.23
Second Day $323.55
Ground $183.22 (delivery timeframe 6 days)
-package max weight 150 lbs
Southwest Cargo
NFO $315.94 ( NFO = Next Flight out)
Rush/Priority $247.19
Freight $223.81
Customer service emails answered within 2 hours
American Airlines Cargo
ConfirmedFS $508.23
- details hard to get had to contact customer service plus restrictions on size. Its better to fill a complete container for economics but that’s 100 Ft3 which more then I need unless it was all the gear everyone on a SD trip. Customer service answered emails next business day.
United Cargo
- unable to get quote, email sent on july 20th no word since.
Delta Cargo
- unable to get quote, email sent july 21st no word since.
In Conclusion
So using this example Southwests cargo service would be my best option for shipping the amount of gear I need to North Carolina, or DHL if shipping.
In light of the recent events overseas that are going to effect US travel shortly for me air cargo is becoming more of the way I will need to go if I will be traveling by air with any significant amount of gear as security is becoming a 100 ton gorilla.
Edited by Scubatooth, 12 October 2006 - 09:02 AM.
