Johannesburg Airport Warning

[darrill]

For the second year in a row I have returned from Johannesburg to

find my luggage broken into and vandalised. Two suitcases were broken

into and only 2 high value items were taken: a notebook computer and

a Gitzo tripod. It seems pretty apparent to me that these theives are

pretty organised and perhaps working in concert with someone in

security who is operating the X-ray machinery. We checked 3 bags,

only the 2 with these items were opened. With airlines trying harder

to limit our carry-on baggage weight they need more than ever to

ensure that our luggage is safe especially when they refuse to pay

for the loss of property entrusted to them ($20 a pound for a Gitzo

tripod is hardly a fair payment). So if your are travelling from

Johannesburg be very careful with what you pack and carry your

expensive camera equipment with you on the plane.

[edward_h]

Seeing stuff like this makes me dislike airlines even more than I already do. The solution to stuff like this would most probably be to UPS your bags home, even though the thought is sickening: not being able to use the airline's own services which you've paid for because they're incompetent.

[grahams]

This has been going on at Johannesburg International for a long time now, and yes, it is organised! It's just one small tip of the huge iceberg of crime that has become the norm, and is one of the reasons that many law abiding South Africans like me now live elsewhere.

[redskeeter]

If it isn't in your hands, it's probably already stolen. I have carried everyting but the tripod with me through J'burglar and so far, have made it OK on several trips.

Until the airlines get stuck with the cost of theft, there is no incentive for them to find workable solutions. "Hey! Your problem is YOUR problem!" Seems to be their motto.

My advice is travel light, carry all you can with you, including the tripod head with you.

As to shipping ahead, "fergitabout" the cost is astronomical by fedex from the US to J'burglar. I looked at shipping some film and figured I'd do just as well to buy another seat on the plane, it was almost cheaper...

Don't let the possibility of theft bother you, look at your homeowner policy, many cover this loss if you have separate camera coverage, mine covered a $700 loss on filters that were ripped off out of a hotel room. You may not need separate coverage.

 

Also, find out if the trip you plan needs a tripod, most of the time, you'll find a bean bag works better, at least for nature photography. Oh, yea, and the thieves won't work for beans :)

 

www.wildstate.com

[nutleigh_sivrupp]

Darrill, I'd have to ask "what on earth were you thinking by puting your laptop in your suitcase?!". For goodness sake, this was Johannesburg, it's in a 3rd world country, with one of the highest crime rates in the world. You didn't honestly think it wouldn't be stolen?

 

The really sad thing is that within 24hrs your laptop would have been sold for less than $100. A mate of mine's housekeeper complained to him the other day about being sold a computer which didn't have a screen or a keyboard. She'd been sold a laptop, for R300 ($50). He didn't touch it, and just gave it back to her and told her to take it away. You get into more trouble here for trying to fix crime than for perpetrating it!

 

Bottomline. When travelling in SA keep all valuable or important electronic items (cameras, laptops, cellphones, etc) with you in person. Don't place them in your luggage (especially where it will be x-rayed) don't leave them in your hotel room, and don't leave them in your rental car.

[martin_altmann]

Laptops are extremely sensitive devices, which especially applies to their displays. These may either crack during the rough handling, or be destroyed by micro fractures in the non-pressurized environment in the luggage compartment - someone told me that is exactly what happened with a TFT monitor (not a laptops) of a colleage recently. For these reasons laptops do not count as carry on luggage and are not weighed, etc. Actually a good laptop case is a good place to put in some extras - i always do that.

[jwenting]

<i>Darrill, I'd have to ask "what on earth were you thinking by puting your laptop in your suitcase?!". For goodness sake, this was Johannesburg, it's in a 3rd world country, with one of the highest crime rates in the world. You didn't honestly think it wouldn't be stolen? </i>

 

1) indeed WHAT on earth do you put a laptop into checked luggage for?

That's asking for it to be stolen by some luggage handler on minimum wages!

2) the RSA is no 3rd world country. They have a society and economy not unlike the USA or EU.

3) this would have happened anywhere.

 

Last year at Schiphol (that's Amsterdam, the Netherlands) a gang was arrested consisting of some <b>20</b> workers from the luggage department and a number of others.

They'd steal entire suitcases that seemed interesting, threw them over the fence and had them picked up by people outside.

They would then go through the loot at their leasure.

 

Far safer that way than cracking something open so a colleague might notice something amiss. And the passengers won't know until far later (and if you're careful to take only stuff from foreigners on longdistance flights, days later).

[hendrik]

Sometimes in life, you get punished for being stupid.

 

I have used JHB international hundreds if not thousands of times and never lost anything. I have also always used my good sense.

 

Just arived today from the UK with all my gear - the tripod was checked in.

 

Use a hard case that is lockable for all your travel check in bags.

 

Some points:

 

The airlines do not handle the luggage - the airport services do.

 

All baggage compartments are presurised, not all of them heated - this is in a presurised aircraft.

[kott]

I just got back from Johannnesburg airport yesterday. Very happy to be back in Asia!!!

From our domestic flight out of Johannesburg to Polokwane airport last month, my (sleep deprived)brother had a digital point&shoot in his locked and checked-in backpack stolen. If we were'nt so late for our connection he probably would'nt have checked it in. Guess theft is extremely common there!

[mattshacklady]

talking of insurance...

Can anyone suggest any good camera insurance companies? I will be travelling for a year with a bunch of camera gear, and as we are gone for so long we have given up our apartment here in Canada, so I don't have a homeowners policy to fall back on.

[jws]

Also had a camera stolen in checked bag flying from JNB - December 2004.

[joanne_hermans]

Try this link, maybe only for UK though

 

http://www.eandl.co.uk/uk-photographic-equipment-insurance.htm