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on 12/10/04 6:25 PM, Alexandre Eremenko at eremenko@MATH.PURDUE.EDU wrote:

> I also had enough adventures with airlines and with my luggage.
> In view of all info I obtained from this correspondence
> (thatks to all who replied again!)
> I conclude that I need to buy a good plastic case and to ship it
> with UPS, insured.
> This seems to be the only reliable way.
> If I don't want to risk my sextant seized somewhere in the middle
> of the way. Even if I can sue the airline after that and win,
> this is a small consolation.
>
> Alex.
>
> On Fri, 10 Dec 2004, Jared Sherman wrote:
>
>> The airline industry in the US, frankly,
>> are lying sacks of ____ when it
>> comes to telling the truth about baggage.
>
> That I know very well from my own experience.
> Alex.
>
I have traveled with a sextant for years both domestically and
internationally.  I have never had a problem with it as carry-on, but it
wouldn't hurt to have a book (or a free Celestaire catalog) with it to
explain what it is.  As checked baggage, I usually wrap the sextant in
clothes (overcoat, underwear, etc.) in one bag, and put the box (with
clothes in it) in the second allowed bag.  The worst thing is to have the
sextant in its own box.  Then, if the bag is dropped, the sextant tends to
impinge on the box structure causing damage.  I have never had any damage to
a sextant, but have had some distressed boxes.  I cannot see that shipping
the sextant by UPS would improve the odds on no damage.
The All Weather sextant cases work well (you can drop it 8 feet to a
concrete floor with no damage), and I think fears of pilfering are paranoid.
The thieves can only exit with so much booty, and I think they would choose
cameras, computers and jewelry before something weird like a sextant.

Ken Gebhart

   

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