In early-June, I'm flying into Anchorage, Alaska for three weeks of dayhikes, photography and fishing in the surrounding areas.

I'll take certain non-banned items in my carry-on bag: GPS, digital camera, handheld transceiver, PSK etc.

But what to do about my knives? Taking nothing exotic: Alox Farmer SAK, Leatherman Super Tool and a Bark River 4-in. fixed-blade. Past threads have talked about occasional problems with items "disappearing" from checked luggage. Fearing they might be an attractive temptation to someone inspecting my check-in bags, I'm reluctant to pack them. I'm considering, as has been suggested, mailing them to Alaska in advance, and back the same way.

Am I being too paranoid? Too cynical? Or just prudent?

Appreciate input or shared experiences.

Dan

I can't remember where I heard this, maybe this forum, but I like this idea: Take a digital photo of all the contents spread out before putting into the case. Then print it out, add a note saying "All contents have been recorded" or words to that affect. Hopefully, it will add something to think about to the handlers and TSA snoopers before deciding to snag something.

Have a fun trip in Alaska.
Jason

Take a gun...

Seriously. Put a small pistol or revolver in your luggage (no ammo, though) Then, you declare that you have it at the airport. They search your luggage IN FRONT OF YOU, and then lock it. Nothing gets stolen.

Of course, this assumes that you have a small pistol. You do not even need a permit to carry in Alaska (of course, local regulations may override this).

** EDIT **
Airlines have special rules about this, though. You need a hard-sided case with a lock on it. Look up the regulations of your ariline.

I have a simple trick to prevent anyone from doing a quick snatch of things from my checked luggage. I put a small steel cable thru the lanyard hole of the various items and lock it to the inside of my luggage. They can see and inspect each item, but can not remove anything without cutting the cloth tab to which the cable is attached. Cut the tab and the cable comes apart. Obviously easy to remove, but it stops the "quick palm" trick.

Or just avoid the baggage hassle completely and ship the stuff ahead of yourself via FedEx or UPS (to a shipping store or perhaps the hotel or a relative). Your stuff will be insured and you'll have less to carry out of the airport and fewer worries.

Fewer worries = enjoy the trip. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I do a similar trick to Nomad's, but instead of a steel cable I just zip-tie my Leatherman Wave and SWK to an inside strut of my checked baggage. I've done this on 7+ flights with no problems.

-Mark

I checked a .44mag (declared) both ways when I flew to AK. My other bag got lost, but not the one with the gun in it.

YOu can normally have your bag inspected in front of you before it gets eaten by the airline, that way you can lock it with a NON Tsa lock. One word of caution: one of the inspectors showed me how easy it was to open a locked zippered bag and close it again with no sign of entry, if you are really worried use either hard side case or one of the steel mesh bags made for backpacks. Or the best solution: we could vote in a honest and rational congress! Better get the hard side bag till then.

My experiences iwth Fedex and UPS in Alaska have been unversally bad. They always take several days longer than they say, and sometimes they manage to lose the package.

UPS is doing far better than they used to, though. Fifteen years ago, they used to take a package for shipment to Alaska, sit on it for a month or two, then return it to the sender and say that they didn't go to Alaska (which was mostly true, then). Of course, you'd been billed and been wrangling with the vendor for weeks by the time they got it back.

The situation is better today, but Fedex and UPS are so high priced and so unreliable that I don't do business with any vendor who won't ship U.S.P.S.

Nels

I stand corrected. Thanks for the good info!

My experience has been with using UPS and FedEx in the lower 48. Of the two, I prefer FedEx (cheaper, faster).

Ironically, the stuff I send out U.S.P.S. here tends to get lost or misplaced for weeks.