Need some international travel advice.

[In The Ten Ring]

Planning for the Asia trip again and I have some questions, hopefully someone here has used cargo for their bags.

It sucks that I have to put things into cargo but I that's the rules. Do you put a lock onto bags going into cargo?

I have a set of wrenches I want to give to my GF's dad.....apparently hijacking planes with a 10 inch box wrench is a thing these days so these things have to go into the cargo hold. Ditto on my straight razors.

[mongocanfly]

Id lock up everything...even thats no guarantee....my dad found out about checking luggage with tools in it a couple yrs ago....they flagged him because he had a hammer.....they're group was on a mission trip....

[jkk]

I travel international for a living work n Iraq I never lock my checked luggage they are going to scan it if the see something they want to look at they will cut the lock etc. Customs in the US will leave a card in your luggage telling you it was seached

[In The Ten Ring]

No lock eh?

How many times does checked luggage (I call it "air cargo") get checked (scanned)?

I found out my credit card insures luggage, I plan to take a pic of everything going in there along with a receipt copy, just in case.

[truckster]

You can get TSA-compliant locks. TSA can unlock them but baggage handlers can't (at least in theory).

[Grumpy old man]

Ship the wrenches and razors fed ex and avoid all the hassles

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by Grumpy old man

Ship the wrenches and razors fed ex and avoid all the hassles

I do that for my long bike trips but it makes more sense here.

[cypressbog]

Anyone can get into almost all of the modern luggage that uses a zipper. Poke the zipper with a ball point pen to separate the lugs of the zipper and viola! Great videos on YouTube.

I'd ship the tools.

[In The Ten Ring]

You know, I would never have thought about that! I just called FEDEX and although I couldn't give them anything more than approximate dimensions and weight, the damage looks to be about $180.00 although I can check with the local hub office this week.

It would only take about a week to get there, that's encouraging.

I might even ship the straights also although both straight razors and tools are approved by TSA (have their email stating so) for checked (air cargo) baggage.

[meenaggie]

I like DHL much better for Asia, especially China. I always had trouble with customs clearance for items sent via FedEx. Never had any issues with DHL. Also, never had issues with my checked luggage when I worked and lived in Asia and I never used locks. Just my $.02.