Friday, September 15, 2000
Fliers powerless on baggage rules
Airlines limit their liability for loss
By James Pilcher
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Two jewelry dealers lose a case filled with $1 million worth of merchandise. A filmmaker tells of broken, misplaced and stolen equipment almost every time he flies to location.
They illustrate a dilemma confronting air travelers every day — what to do with valuables that don't fit in overhead bins when shipping is not an option.
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BAGGAGE LOSSES
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Here are the top-ranked airlines for lowest baggage incident rate for 1999 (rates are reports per 1,000 passengers). An incident is when a passenger complains of a lost, delayed or stolen bag. Ratings are for U.S. airlines with at least 1 percent of total domestic scheduled-service passenger revenues:
1999 rankings
1. Southwest 4.22
2. Delta* 4.39
3. Continental 4.42
4. America West 4.52
5. Northwest 4.81
6. US Airways 5.08
7. American 5.21
8. TWA 5.38
9. Alaska 5.75
10. United 7.01
Rankings for January-March of 2000
1. Alaska 3.54
2. Continental 4.00
3. US Airways 4.21
4. Southwest 4.60
5. Northwest 4.72
6. Delta* 4.92
7. TWA 5.34
8. American 5.37
9. America West 6.60
10. United 6.77
* Does not include Comair statistics, which were not immediately available, according to a company spokesman.
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Aviation and Proceedings
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Experts say there's not much fliers can do to protect valuables while traveling by plane other than insuring for future loss. And with air travel becoming more prevalent, they say an increasing number of people trying to travel with valuables are at the mercy of carry-on regulations or baggage handlers.
“Airlines do not show a lot of flexibility in these types of things and, in all candor, they need to,” says Darryl Jenkins, director of the Aviation Institute at George Washington University. “This is an issue no one talks about, but it's out there.”
Cindi Kurczewski, a spokeswoman for Delta Air Lines, says the airline industry is in the business of shipping people, not valuable goods. “We try to work with people as much as possible, but there are a variety of ways to get things from place to place,” Ms. Kurczewski says. “People take that risk if they aren't insured. We can only do so much.”
In 1999, the airline industry reported 0.508 percent of all passengers reported their baggage delayed, lost or stolen. Through March of this year, that rate was 0.511 percent.
The policy of most airlines, including Delta and Comair, is to offer a maximum of $2,500 for a lost or damaged bag.
That amount doesn't come close to covering the value of the specialized gear that underwater filmmaker Roger Roth of Montgomery carts around the world with him.
In May, Mr. Roth missed out on a week's worth of shooting in the Red Sea because his equipment didn't arrive when he did.
The equipment eventually showed up but not in time for the shoot, forcing the 48-year-old to eat the $4,000 he spent for the trip.
“I had insurance on the equipment, but not for the time and expense I lost,” Mr. Roth says. “You want to carry it all on with you, but there's just no way. ... You cross your fingers and take your chances.”
That's what the Jason and David Jones, brothers from Birmingham, Ala., did Tuesday. The jewel dealers say they checked two bags filled with $2 million worth of jewelry at the gate of their Comair flight from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Cincinnati.
Only one case arrived. (Thursday story)
They had insured each case for $250,000, but violated the policy because they let the bags out of their possession by gate-checking them. The brothers paid $300,000 wholesale for the missing jewels, which Frank Jones estimated were worth $1 million retail.
“We never should've gotten on the airplane the first time when they told us it would be a problem,” Jason Jones says. “But ... we needed to make the trip and the sale. What are you going to do?”
Authorities have not located the bag.
A spokesman for Comair said the company is trying to track the case, but would not comment further.
On Thursday the brothers' company, Jones Bros. LLC, offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the bag and its contents.
Travel experts say a call ahead to an airline may result in special arrangements for valuables absolutely necessary for the trip, but it's not likely. Instead, they recommend insurance.
“Even if you check it, you never know; and even if you carry it on, there are horror stories about things being filched,” says Ed Perkins, retired editor of the Consumer Reports Travel Letter,who recommends insuring everything, including laptop computers and cameras.
Hyde Park travel agency Victoria Travel owner Vicky Mary says reviewing the carry-on restrictions before arriving at the airport also helps.
“By the time you arrive at the gate, it's too late,” Ms. Mary says. “Those people have the least amount of flexibility.”
Other options include hiring a courier or shipping the items, but both can be prohibitively expensive.
Mr. Roth says sending his gear ahead is unsafe and impractical compared with taking it with him on the plane. He says his fellow photographers try to disguise gear by putting it into beat-up ice chests, or wrapping it in clothes.
“You pack something in a new dive gear bag and it just says, "Steal me!,'” he says. “But camouflage doesn't always work either.”
Jason Jones says the brothers usually don't fly because of the security risk, but Cedar Rapids was too far to drive. They say they try to maintain a low profile, although they say they are armed while on the road.
“We don't put locks or handcuffs on the cases or anything like that,” says Mr. Jones. “But I've got a hidden compartment in my briefcase for my 9mm (handgun).
“I guess we'll be going back to that now.”
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