Hard cases for airline travel, and locking luggage

[timbo10ca]

Are these things considered safe for packing gear in and putting into checked luggage? I got lucky on my last trip to the U.S. with my gear in an overstuffed Kelty 3100 carried on, but I don't think the luck will last. I'm considering a rolling Pelican or an HPRC wheeled trunk.

On this previous trip, my brother showed the security guys the contents of his bag and then they gave him the O.K. to lock it prior to checking it- is this the norm? I am nervous about putting valuable camera gear into checked luggage, but he didn't seem to have any issues with locking it up.

Thanks,
Tim

[Eric Rose]

The hard pelican cases are quite heavy. This naturally reduces what you can take to insure you are within the weight limits. You can lock things up to your hearts content, just make sure you are using TSA locks. Of course the bad guys have the keys now too so this doesn't insure you won't loose anything.

[Frank Petronio]

I think you just have to limit the amount of valuable gear you take, especially in checked baggage. For some people shipping it ahead via FedEx might make more sense.

[roteague]

What I did on my last trip, was to put the bag into a camera bag, locked with a TSA lock inside my regular suitcase, which also had a TSA lock. The inside bag was attached to the rails of the main suitcase. It doesn't mean someone could have gotten into it, but it would have taken a lot more time.