Any frequent fliers in here? Multiple luggage question.

I have fly do a little flying in a couple months. I was going to ship some equipment (ground freight to meet me there) but I may have to check it as extra luggage

Wondering if anybody have any good experiences out there? Probably at least three extra bags.

Looks like United, US Airways, Delta & American Airlines are my choices.

You are going to pay a FORTUNE in fees for three extra bags..Thats assuming they allow that many. I think I recall seeing that USAir that I flew on, only lets you check so many bags period. I would definitely check into shipping it before hand...

So far, I've only called Delta. They have a "media bag" policy for up to 25 bags @ $50 a bag! They said I qualify (I'm a still photog, not news media).

I may not have time to wait for three days for freight shipment so I might need to take it with me.

Good thing the client is paying for it. Yikes! Just remember they are awfully rough on bags too.

it's ONLY the cost for shipping the bag

what happens if the lenses are lost?

I'm going to carry on as much of the camera stuff as possible.

Wasn't that way before they started jacking up prices

But I may not be have to time to wait for freight. So I might have to go to plan B - taking it on the plane with me.

:shrug:

you are required to take your electronics/photo equipment as carry-on, they are NOT responsible for checked electronics/optical equipment

you need to overnight or otherwise ship insured any equipment that is above what you can take as carry-on

as far as i know, this is the same policy for all legacy airlines, not just delta, but i know for SURE it's delta/northwest/klm policy

carry it on or ship it by some air freight business that insures the equipment in question


unless you're a delta silver or higher (or another elite on the other airlines) you will pay for checking bags, but you will not be allowed/insured for the bags at ANY price if you have in them certain items including cash, jewelry, electronics, VALUABLE OPTICAL/PHOTOGRAPHIC EQUIPMENT!!!!

a 50 pound bag, if lost, on delta, is covered for a max of $600 of used clothing and lost make-up, that won't even pay for a single lost professional quality lens

and this is not just delta, it's any airline

when you talked to delta, did you make it CLEAR that you were shipping optical equipment/electronics??? because they make it damn clear when you check in for your flight that those items are NOT guaranteed in check luggage and you will be clicking on a screen that agrees that those items are NOT insured if lost/damaged
if you want it, carry it on, since you CAN'T carry three bags, you need to use some kind of insured guaranteed shipping service

i'm not joking

My conversation with Delta wasn't too enlightening which is why I'm soliciting advice here. The CSR was basically reading the same stuff I found on their website. I got the feeling she wasn't all that informed and also not on this continent.

I just read their (very)limited liability clause. Pretty shitty. I was hoping other airlines were better. That's probably wishful thinking, huh.

I'm hoping to be able to ship everything UPS or Fedex and avoid all of this.

Thanks again for your help.