[LargeFormat] Hand Luggage UK Airports - Suggestions?

[Paul Butzi]

It seems that no matter what you do, attempting to use the airline as a way
to transport your gear from one spot to another is fraught with peril.

I'm contemplating a trip to the east coast (I live in Seattle, on the west
coast US) in the spring.  I'm considering packing my gear in some sort of
fitted trunk, locking the trunk, and then just sending it ahead to someone
on the east coast, by Fedex or UPS or some such carrier.  At least it can be
insured and is in the hands of a carrier that has a track record for
actually delivering packages. 

Anyone checked out this method?

By the same token, I'm convinced that the solution to the film problem is to
order the film and have it drop shipped to my destination, then fedex the
exposed film back.  A friend used this method (at least the drop ship part)
last year and it worked fine.  He had endless hassles with the film he took
on the plane.

I'm more and more glad that virtually everything I want to photograph does
not involve air travel.

-Paul

> -----Original Message-----
> From: largeformat-admin@f32.net [mailto:largeformat-admin@f32.net] On
> Behalf Of Jim Hemenway
> Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2004 7:18 AM
> To: largeformat@f32.net
> Subject: Re: [LargeFormat] Hand Luggage UK Airports - Suggestions?
> 
> Your luggage is now x-rayed.
> 
> If it's worth a lot then it's stolen by the baggage handlers.
> 
> It happened a few days ago to a fellow's Contax equipment in regards to
> a flight from NY to LA.
> 
> The airlines offer only $250 for lost or stolen bags.
> 
> Jim - http://www.hemenway.com