shaft damaged on airline

berlowmj

berlowmj

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I packed my cues in my hard case & packed the case in my suitcase & checked it through to my final destination. My Universal shaft is severely damaged. I called the airline & they were less than responsive. I plan to deal with them personally when I get home.

Has anyone had a similar experience? How did you resolve it?
 
I'm curious as to what type of damage happened to a shaft in a "hard" case. What type of hard case? What type of damage?
 
It is a hard vinyl case with individual holes for each butt & cue. The case was not damaged so the shaft must have been removed. It has 2 dents near the joint which look like marks from forceps or pliers & about a 4inch crack originating near these marks.
 
Did you wait to see the TSA inspect your baggage? Sounds like they tried to take the shaft apart in a search. In fact, the more I think about this, the more I'm certain the case was searched after you checked it in. It was probably broken and put back by the TSA staff.

You have to file a claim ASAP and save your baggage claim stub. unfrortunately, the airline may not be responsible since there was no damage to the outside of the case.

Chris
 
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That's horrible. What, they think you're packing something *inside* the shaft itself? If anything, I'd assume the butt would be the best place to put something. Not that I've ever put anything inside the butt of a cue for safe keeping ;)
 
Last time my wife flew Delta Her Luggage was damaged by TSA, or a baggage handler. She had the proper color coded TSA locks which all TSA inspectors have keys for. When the luggage came back all 3 locks were missing and the zippers/lock loops on the bags were trashed. Looks like someone went at them with a crow bar.:mad: Long story short, she went around and around and finally got $80 from Delta in the end.

On another flight from Atlanta to Daytona She was standing on the tarmac waiting to walk up the stairs to a small commuter plane. She looked over to another plane where 2 guys were loading the luggage, and both of them were rifling through bags, and one guy was stuffing CD's into his pockets. When my wife asked her flight attendant WTF is going on over there, the lady just shrugged and walked away.!:rolleyes: So, my wife never the one to hold her tongue, hollard at the 2 guys "HEY IDIOTS, if your going to steal peoples stuff, try to do it out of sight!" needless to say it got enough attention to warrant them to stop.


Living in Florida we see stuff like this on the news all the time. Just last week a TSA inspector got busted for stealing ticket vouchers out of luggage. I feel it's open season on your stuff as soon as it goes on the conveyor belt!

Gerry
 
Varney Cues said:
I'm curious as to what type of damage happened to a shaft in a "hard" case. What type of hard case? What type of damage?
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Just a guess - Security may have opened the case to look inside. Maybe threw it off to the side or even bumped it with something.
 
About 4 years ago I check in a pressure calibrator that had a heavy metal air pump with it (6 inch long tube). Moments after I checked it in a loud alarm went off and I saw several cops running to the back section where baggage is sorted. When I got to my destination, my baggage was a mess inside.
 
berlowmj said:
I packed my cues in my hard case & packed the case in my suitcase & checked it through to my final destination. My Universal shaft is severely damaged. I called the airline & they were less than responsive. I plan to deal with them personally when I get home.

Has anyone had a similar experience? How did you resolve it?
Click to expand...


Here is the URL to the TSA's Claims Division:

http://www.tsaclaims.org/

Hopefully this will help you get reimbursed for your damages. I cannot for the life of me figure out why these morons would try to disassemble your shaft looking for contraband....a simple pass thru the x-ray machine would have revealed any foreign objects.

This is exactly why I will never fly with my cue. I would rather spend the money and ship via FedEx Overnight, or Super-Saver 2nd Day to my destination. If you have access to a car (rental or otherwise) you can even have your cue(s) held at the local station for pick-up as opposed to delivery to say, your hotel. At least with someone like FedEX, where you can declare value, you will receive full reimbursement for any damages or losses. I used to work for FedEx, examing damaged packages, and they do reimburse...and fairly quickly too.

I actually had a nightmare once where TSA tried to completely disassemble my cue while I watched in horror!:eek:

Lisa
 
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What's the problem? You don't want another 9/11 do you? How can you be so selfish to consider a cue worth more than 3,000 lives? Do you think the govt is there to protect your property? The guy next to you could be the one. You are the guy next to someone else, ya know. Next, you'll be complaining that you're thirsty and want water. They let you carry 3 oz of shampoo, for gawd's sake, what more could you want? Geez!

Give up liberty for "safety" and you gets what yous pays for. Good night and good luck.

Jeff Livingston
 
The Dept. of Homeland Stupidity damaged your cue, not the airline. The latter will disclaim responsibility. I'm afraid I can't point you to the proper authorities at DHS. There aren't any.
 
TSA (Transportation Security Administration) is resposible for the damage claim. I just checked into this. I also just sent them an email asking them to use a bit more common sense in their searches regarding something like a pool cue. A simple pass through an x-ray machine will reveal more than them attempting to disassemble a cue....freakin' morons!

Lisa
 
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Do you think they were just trying to remove the shaft from the case? With my case and shafts, it's pretty difficult to do without either using the butt pin or a joint protector. Hmm, maybe this a good reason I need to invest in more joint protectors....
 
ridewiththewind said:
TSA (Transportation Security Administration) is resposible for the damage claim. I just checked into this. I also just sent them an email asking them to use a bit more common sense in their searches regarding something like a pool cue. A simple pass through an x-ray machine will reveal more than them attempting to disassemble a cue....freakin' morons!

Lisa
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TSA contracts searches to private firms who hire the morons.

I'm tellin' ya, no one is in charge. But someone will pay for your shaft - taxpayers. :rolleyes:
 
1hit1der said:
Do you think they were just trying to remove the shaft from the case? With my case and shafts, it's pretty difficult to do without either using the butt pin or a joint protector. Hmm, maybe this a good reason I need to invest in more joint protectors....
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Yeah, probably, or they dropped it. At least they could have put a note on it and said "sorry". Too much to ask I guess.

This is a pretty rare occurance. I deal with thousands of travelers and we almost never hear of something like this. Things were much, much worse in the few months after 9/11.

Chris
 
It sounds like they opened the case, then dropped that shaft, and it hit god knows what on the way down. Morons.:mad: :mad: :mad:
 
xidica said:
That's horrible. What, they think you're packing something *inside* the shaft itself? If anything, I'd assume the butt would be the best place to put something. Not that I've ever put anything inside the butt of a cue for safe keeping ;)
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I'm guessing that the piezoelectric fiberr used inside the shaft looks like electronic circuitry on a scan machine. They were probably checking to see if it was a bomb.


Eric
 
On a similar thought, Ken Onion of HI, a famous knife maker and designer, had about 30K worth of knives (12 knives)stolen somewhere en route from HI to CA.

Only good thing is that these knives are so unique that someone will have a hard time selling them.

Anybody that is flying with expensive items that need to be checked in should ship the items FEDEX insured.

Really best to to ensure your stuff isnt stolen.
 
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