Travelling with ski boots

I spent a very interesting summer many years ago working as a baggage handler at Belfast airport. Ever since, I have never put a bag into the hold of a plane without all the zips being padlocked, and I would never put anything breakable into the hold of a plane. I have no reason to doubt that what went on there happens at all airports :-(

Macski,

Your post is VERY interesting. Spill all, or some of all.

Macski wrote:I spent a very interesting summer many years ago working as a baggage handler at Belfast airport. Ever since, I have never put a bag into the hold of a plane without all the zips being padlocked, and I would never put anything breakable into the hold of a plane. I have no reason to doubt that what went on there happens at all airports :-(

My father, an aircraft engineer at Heathrow in the sixties and seventies was threatened with getting knee capped when he stumbled upon some baggage handlers riffling through bags in the aircraft hold.

I'm sure Macski doesn't want to say too much in public.

Trencher

What does everyone do with their skis?

Going on my second ski trip in January and will be putting my boots in my luggage. However, I will have my own skis. If I put them in a big and wrap them in clothes will they be ok?

Any tips with skis on a plane?

My father, an aircraft engineer at Heathrow in the sixties and seventies was threatened with getting knee capped when he stumbled upon some baggage handlers riffling through bags in the aircraft hold.

I'm sure Macski doesn't want to say too much in public.

Trencher

I can well believe that!

I wasnt aware of anything organised as such, it was more a case of opportunity.
I should point out that I'm not saying that all baggage handlers are dishonest- far from from it, I met many decent and honest people when working there. There are unfortunately bad apples anywhere.

If you are travelling in a larger plane where the bags go into a container (Boeing 767 etc.) then there is very little chance of anyone having enough time to open your bag un-observed.

In a smaller plane (737 for example) there are generally 2 people inside the hold loading or unloading the bags. One at the top of the belt and one stacking bags further into the hold. The person stacking bags is out of sight of everyone except for the person at the top of the belt. If they are so inclined they could open a bag and if there is anything worth taking in plain sight .......

There is a lot of pressure to load / unload quickly so they will probably not try to open a bag that is dificult, even a wire tie twisted through the zips will probably be deterrent enough.

Please note - I'm not saying this practice is rife or that it goes on everywhere. But it does happen.

In terms of breakable items - lets just say that some people don't have as much respect for other peoples property as they should have.

I should also point out that my experiences were 15 + years ago, security may have improved

Chuffy wrote:What does everyone do with their skis?

Going on my second ski trip in January and will be putting my boots in my luggage. However, I will have my own skis. If I put them in a big and wrap them in clothes will they be ok?

Any tips with skis on a plane?

Put them in your pocket, of course.

Chuffy wrote:What does everyone do with their skis?

Going on my second ski trip in January and will be putting my boots in my luggage. However, I will have my own skis. If I put them in a big and wrap them in clothes will they be ok?

Any tips with skis on a plane?

They should be fine just as you describe.

I usually wrap something around the bindings and I've never had a problem. I should say that I get my monies worth out of the ski carriage charge :) I put lots of things in my ski bag - day pack, shovel, spare shoes cloths etc.

Ive heard some people say that they have been challanged at check-in when doing this but its never happened to me.

In my experience as long as you've paid for ski carriage the check-in staff don't care what the bag looks like and the people working at the outsize baggage check-in dont work for the airline!

Get a decent quality bag too - I'd worry more about the quality of the material than whether the branding matches your skis )

What would be a good quality ski bag ? Am umming and ahhing about buying a hard bag but not sure.