Cue handling in airport

[Hail Mary Shot]

My wife works for UPS, and my buddy worked for FedEx up in Ohio. They worked in the warehouse loading and unloading trucks. Both have told me how packages get handled. In other words they are rushed to get everything unloaded and loaded. They don't care how they do it, and they don't look at every box to see if it is fragile or needs to be placed right side up, etc, etc.

In short they both told me about stuff getting broken, and stuff actually getting repacked because the box came apart.

In other words if the box comes apart they repack it and send it anyway. So your items might not be in the same box, or they might not even all be in the box.

So for all of you that think these shipping companies handle your stuff with care, think again!

I just heard of a story at UPS where a guy got fired for opening packages and taking items out. It was jewelery or perfume or something like that. He was only taking one out of every box, but all they could do was fire him. The merchandise wasn't returned.

In other words anything that can happen on a plane, can happen with UPS or FedEX, etc.

I would much rather take them with me on the plane cause I already paid for it anyway.

Just insure it through the airline, and be smart enough to have a packing list and pictures of everything you are taking with you. That way when you are fighting with the airlines you have proof. Like someone else said your home owners insurance will pay you for it with the right proof.

If you are taking more that $5000 worth of cues with you then in my opinion you are insane! I understand liking good cues, and having them with you, but I don't think I will ever travel with $5000 or more worth of cues. (I will probably get a lot of flack for that one!)

Besides how many have actually lost things on the airlines in here? I have only had one instance in my whole life that something was sent to the wrong airport, but I got it back with everything in tact. The reason it was sent to the wrong airport is because I had to change my flight, so I wound up going to a different airport. I have been at airports where you can see them loading and unloading the planes, and to tell you the truth they don't handle it all that rough in my opinion. Not compared to the shipping companies.

I thank you for sharing your experiences with regards to item transport. I'm truly grateful that I haven't been in a situation where I lost or damaged some of my items sent and delivered. and I hope that it won't happen. items with value are with added fees for safety and has some manifests along with it for reference. luckily the place where I work has an own Fedex delivery branch and is a regular client of Fedex. because of this, the delivery service knows what type of materials they are transporting, which are breakable materials and for large-scale commercial distribution. so they handle them with extreme care. the only thing that we only have to worry about are dishonest personnel.

 

[CrownCityCorey]

When all is said and done, I believe the best way to travel with your cue is to check it in as baggage. I use an inexpensive Porper travel case with a sturdy TSA approved lock (the TSA inspectors can open them) with my Justis case inside it. I took it all through China and many other places. When you check in, be sure that the airline tags put on your case show your flight number and destination (yes, they can hand out the wrong ones at the airport).

Cues get lost in shipping and can get stolen at your hotel too. The amount of airline baggage that's permanently lost is miniscule. Depending on the airline, your baggage is covered for up to about $1500 if lost or stolen while in the airline's possession.

Chris

Just do what Tate tells you. He is well seasoned in this regard.

I travel with my cue in an Instroke 3x7 inside a Porper Travel Bag w/a lock. Just check it and sit and wait for it to go through security or give to the skycap. Never had an issue.

The Porper travel bag does have a lifetime warranty as well (came in handy when the stitching started to open up).

Make sure your name & contact info are on there (just in case).

 

[Flex]

If you check in late that is your fault. Every flight I have ever been on in my life, the luggage rides with you. Unless, you get put on a different flight. Then they won't switch the luggage over.

Easy way to solve that? Don't be late! Get to the airport way early and be very careful about checking the luggage tags.

I'm not talking about actually arriving late, just say within 45 minutes or so of flight time.

A friend of mine recently flew on standby and so his luggage didn't travel with him, and arrived late, quite a bit later, which really complicated things for him.

A word to the wise...

Flex

 

[poolplayer2093]

I am going to a tournament next month in Minnesota and I have to fly to get there. We all know how the airports handle our cues and cases since we can't have them as a carry-on anymore. Is it better to ship my cues to the hotel room in advance or what? Let me know something people!

i would deffinetly ship it. i've been lucky so far but i won't be rolling the dice on it again. i bought a really tough metal case for my most expensive cue and when i opened the bag to check on it there was a decent sized dent in the case

 

[Fatboy]

i bought my own jet and havent had a problem since.....

Seriously I use Fed-X all the time and havent had a problem. I have shipped some kinda big $$$ cues, never once have theyh been late or had a box come in that looked banged up, perhaps its luck, We just send them priority and fragile and I insure them for $2,000 or $3,000 more than the cue is worth.

 

[poolplayer2093]

That's the way i normally try to ship the,. insure them for a lot, i think there's a smaller chance something'll happen to them. i really try to do that when i sell a cue so me and the buyer get our cash back if something goes wrong

 

[cuechick]

I believe that if you purchase your ticket with certain credit cards like American Express, there is some travel insurance included.

 

[uwate]

Last November, I flew to Atlanta to play pool. I thought long and hard about what to do with my cue, a Gus Szamboti. I ended up choosing Fedex and had it shipped to a Kinkos/Fedex place about 3 miles from the tournament on Wed night..standard overnight service for Thurs. The cue no shows on Thurs. Its not there on Friday morning and they finally find it Friday afternoon around 6pm. I had to play my first match with a borrowed cue. The whole time, no one at Fed ex seem the least bit concerned about the cue and it really mattered nothing to them that it was insured for a high dollar amount. As far as the staff at Fed Ex were concerned, it wasn't their problem.

I decided after that to travel with a Scruggs titlist conversion. I dunno if I want to go through that kind of stress level over a cue again.

 

[Hail Mary Shot]

Last November, I flew to Atlanta to play pool. I thought long and hard about what to do with my cue, a Gus Szamboti. I ended up choosing Fedex and had it shipped to a Kinkos/Fedex place about 3 miles from the tournament on Wed night..standard overnight service for Thurs. The cue no shows on Thurs. Its not there on Friday morning and they finally find it Friday afternoon around 6pm. I had to play my first match with a borrowed cue. The whole time, no one at Fed ex seem the least bit concerned about the cue and it really mattered nothing to them that it was insured for a high dollar amount. As far as the staff at Fed Ex were concerned, it wasn't their problem.

I decided after that to travel with a Scruggs titlist conversion. I dunno if I want to go through that kind of stress level over a cue again.

I see that you had some misfortune. anyway, it won't hurt if you would file a report or complaint with regards to what happened. you're the customer and you are entitled to report on what service that has not been duly served. systems aren't perfect, that's why there are suggestions and complaint departments which handles these particular problems. unless nobody complains, that kind of practice will just keep on going.