Hello,
I’m new here and not sure how all this works. So, I’ll just dive in.
I’m doing a trunk show in Texas and will be flying. My jewelry isn’t
small, it’s sculptural. Is there anyone out there who can tell me
what their experiences with carryon and TSA has been? If you don’t
carry it on, how do you get it there?
Thanks, very much,
Valerie
Valerie, you are safest to carry it on, and present your business
license at the security gates. You may be called to open it all up,
but you can allow extra time for that. Last year two of my friends
and I shipped home all our tools, works in progress, and purchases
from France, one person lost everything. My box was in bad shape, but
thankfully arrived. Bags get lost on airlines, too. You can’t replace
the time you’ve invested in your pieces.
Jill
Definitely carry it on. TSA has never even asked questions after
scanning our cases full of jewelry.
Sandy
Chris and Sandy Boothe
I'm new here and not sure how all this works. So, I'll just dive in. I'm doing a trunk show in Texas and will be flying. My jewelry isn't small, it's sculptural. Is there anyone out there who can tell me what their experiences with carryon and TSA has been? If you don't carry it on, how do you get it there?
My wife and I travel around the US and Canada performing Roundtable
events. We visit roughly 30 cities and for most of them we must fly.
The case we use to hold the gems is just slightly smaller than the
standard “carry-on” size bag. Then, using the bag with our items as
the carry-on, forces us to place everything else into the regular
luggage compartment. While this may be an inconvenience at times, we
believe it is the best way.
TSA…
Generally, we have not found the screeners to be problematic. If one
of t he TSA personnel is fussing over your bag, you may as well speak
to them quietly, and discreetly as to what you have with you. I
would state: “I’m a jeweler and I am carrying some inventory”. It has
been my experience they will leave you alone. If, however, one of
them is snooping more than they should, ask for a “private
screening”, and they must comply. This will usually bring in a
supervisor and will bring the episode to a close fairly quickly.
I hope you find this a little helpful.
Roger Dery
Rare Gems – Precision Faceter
Valerie,
Call the airline early and give them the size of your package.
Explain that these are valuables. Ask if you can carry these on
board. If they say yes, get the name of the person with whom you
spoke
and go to the airport.
Make sure you give yourself additional time at the airport. As you
arrive at security, speak quietly to the TSA agent and explain that
you are carrying valuables and request a private screening so you
don’t have to show others that you are carrying valuables.
If (when you first call the airline) you are advised you cannot
carry your package on board, find a friend who can build a crate for
you and ship it. You can actually arrange to get on the same flight
by
speaking with a Cargo Manager or Operations Manager for the airline.
Engineers make these arrangements for the tools they need to carry
when they travel to work at a distant location.
Both options have worked for me. Good luck at the show.
Mary A
Valerie,
Call the airline early and give them the size of your package.
Explain that these are valuables. Ask if you can carry these on
board. If they say yes, get the name of the person with whom you
spoke
and go to the airport.
Make sure you give yourself additional time at the airport. As you
arrive at security, speak quietly to the TSA agent and explain that
you are carrying valuables and request a private screening so you
don’t have to show others that you are carrying valuables.
If (when you first call the airline) you are advised you cannot
carry your package on board, find a friend who can build a crate for
you and ship it. You can actually arrange to get on the same flight
by
speaking with a Cargo Manager or Operations Manager for the airline.
Engineers make these arrangements for the tools they need to carry
when they travel to work at a distant location.
Both options have worked for me. Good luck at the show.
Mary A
Airlines charge now over a certain weight. After carrying my jewelry
on airplanes several times, I now send FedEx 3rd day priority. Rates
are not bad and I have found them pretty reliable. Also makes for a
less stressful plane ride.
Debby
I always take on the plane with me in a nice hard sided carry on.
I’ve never been asked to open it as long as it goes through the x-ray
machine.
Holly
My friend Bonnie is a TSA officer in Colorado. Here are her
recommendations:
If she has a lot of jewelry it will show up very dark in the xray
and blocks the operator from seeing all the way through the bag and
they may want to search it. If she can spread it out where it is not
a huge black clump, it works best. We have several jewelers in this
area that fly all the time and sometimes they just have so much in
their bags we cannot see through it so we do have to search it.
Others have it pretty well figured out as far as “spreading” it out
so we can see through it.
As long as her “sample bag” is small enough to fit under the seat or
to go in the overhead, I would suggest she carry it on. The other
option is that she put it in checked baggage, but that can be a risk
as they do still have problems with theft. If she does that, tell
her to use a hard sided case and buy TSA locks to put on it. The TSA
locks can be purchased at Wally world and other fine stores. If she
uses those locks, TSA has master keys to open them and the locks
will be replaced. Hard sided bags because a soft side can be cut
through by a sharp knife and items removed. You can get some really
good hard sided suitcases, some with built in TSA locks and if she is
going to travel alot, they will be worth it. Another option, if she
has a lot of items is to ship it to herself at the hotel she is going
to, it is probably better in the hands of Fedex or UPS than some of
the airline baggage folks. But then you do run the risk of it not
arriving on time as we all know that it is just sometimes not
dependable.
If TSA wants to search, she can request that they do it in a private
area where the items will not be out in the public, just tell her to
be very firm in her request and if she has to ask for a supervisor
and let them know she has some expensive items and does not want it
to be out in the open in public. Is she going to a big airport or a
smaller one? It can make a difference as far as time in the security
area. Smaller airport may take longer depending on their staffing.
Either way, she needs to make sure she gives herself plenty of time
to get through security.
If she has any other questions, you can give her my email and I will
be glad to talk to her.
I’ve had no trouble with TSA. My bags are packed solid with pearls.
It doesn’t screen. They ask, “Who does this bag belong to?” I raise
my hand. They say, “we need to do a hand inspection.” I say I want a
private screening. They bring me and the bag behind a screen or into
a small room with two agents. They marvel at the pearls. They repack
my bag [never try to help them or touch anything in the bag during
inspection!]. I wheel it away.
Jan
I recently took a case of jewelry in my carry on to Florida. The
X-ray equipment did not like such a heavy concentration of metal. I
suppose it seemed like a weapon. The checking guy opened the case
and lightly stirred through the jewelry and then politely closed it
and sent it through. So, it was a slight delay but not a true
inconvenience.
Jean Menden
I’ve known people to use UPS or a similar service to get things where
they want to go without having to check it as luggage. If you do,
make sure you get the proper insurance, not just insurance of
delivery. Perhaps air freight with the airline you’re flying on?
Mike DeBurgh, GJG
Henderson, NV
Be prepared to ship stuff to yourself that you cant carry on the
plane with you. Or check it in as baggage, either way there are
risks if you cant take it on the plane with you.
Also, invest in some heavy duty containers for this, Pelican Cases
are by far one of the best manufacturers out there and offer a life
time guarantee with their product and have great foam support inside
the cases (normally extra). Pelican also sells TSA approved locks for
their cases, a worthy purchase incase you have to check baggage.
These cases can also withstand the love that both FedEx and UPS
give most packages in transit. Keep in mind some of the larger
cases do weigh a substantial ammount.
For reference, I have a couple of the 1560 cases, this is the
largest carry on cases that they offer to take my jewelry with me,
and to date, work awesome with absolutely no problem. My preferred
vendor for Pelican is caseclub.com, no affiliation, just a happy
customer.
Good Luck,
P@
I have never had a problem with bringing my jewelry on board. Nor my
raw metal either even though the metal in particular could be used
as a vicious weapon. I carry my business license and TSA went, “Oh,
yea…go ahead.”
Do well at the show.
Esta Jo Schifter
Dear all
During our dinner, some of my friends were telling us of their
stories of cross-border shopping. This story really takes the
cake…so be 100% aware of what CAN HAPPEN IF YOU LIE.
A couple who were only allowed $75.00 per person per day while in
the States.They came back home to Canada and were asked how long
were they away…only three days was their answer…but they didn’t
realize that the border crossing booth takes pictures of EVERY car
and license plate going and coming. You don’t lie to either border
guards at the US or Canada booths…
Here is what then followed. They were pulled aside on Canadian soil
and had their car searched top to bottom. The guards found an ATM
withdrawal receipt for $1,000.00 sitting in the front seat of their
car…WOOPS! and a big woops…the guard asked why would they withdrew
so much US money and on US soil? If they were only shopping for one
day this is a big no-no. If the trip was for 3 days…maybe?..here
is the rest of the story.
Their car was then again searched and had their car shipped back to
where they lived at their expense…minus all of their
clothing…"if you want your clothing back, you can pay for it
during the Government border auction in 2 months time" … and
hava nice day!".
One day shoppers beware, “Big Brother IS watching!”…:)…
Gerry Lewy!
Thank you everyone for your insights and suggestions! It sure gives
me confidence to try it as carryon. I’ll make sure to have lots of
business promo stuff in the case also as further “proof”. I feel much
better prepared for possibilities. And thank you also for the good
wishes for the show!
Enjoy,
Valerie
Good to know about crossing the borders…
I would like to share my unhappy story with you folks on Orchid,
just in the small chance you can help me recover a loss. We were
moving back to Washington state for the summer, from our winter
residence in Pismo Beach, CA, near San Luis Obispo. We have made this
trek for ten years, no problems before, ever. This time, on the
second night, while staying at a motel in Redding, CA, all of my
inventory for the upcoming shows this summer was stolen out of our
locked pickup, from the bed. This had a locked canopy on the bed. The
thieves were relentless, they took bags, boxes, plastic bags, etc,
all unmarked, looked like garbage we were hauling. We have done it
the same way for ten years, so we weren’t feeling any differently
this year. I really get that people are more desperate, taking bigger
chances than every before on robberies. Do we have insurance? Sure,
it’s covered under our homeowners policy, and we might be reimbursed
for maybe $3000 total for about $35,000 in clothing, jewelry
inventory, personal items. So, lessoned learned, if you don’t want
something stolen, don’t leave it in a car.
So, I would love for all of you folks to be on the lookout for
anything that might have my name on it as far as handmade jewelry. I
use Riki Jewelry for the name of the company, and have a blog,
www.RikiJewelry.blogspot.com, and a website, www.RikiJewelry.com. If
you look at those, you can see what my items look like. You would
think with the large number of you out there, you might see something
on Ebay, or somewhere else for sale, that might be mine and let me
know. Everything was reported to the police, but they are
understaffed these days.
We are looking in to getting a separate rider on our insurance for
inventory, and loss in transporting. We don’t know if that is
available, but we want to find out. I am scared to death to ship
everything, that gets lost and stolen as well. So, that’s my story.
I’m going to be a busy girl this summer, and friends are volunteering
to help build the inventory back up. I had my first show of the
season this weekend, borrowed items from one of my stores to show.
That was interesting! I’m trying to have a “that’s life” attitude, so
I can get out of this feeling of trauma and move on.
Thanks for listening!
Riki Schumacher
One place you might try is FedEx.
If you are a MJSA member they have discounts for shipping high end
items.
Dave
Recently signed on with G4S for shipping and have been very
happy…may want to check them out. They’re a British security
company which is now in the US and specializes in high value insured
shipping. They utilize both UPS and FedEx with reasonable rates…
Just a happy client…
Jennifer Dewey Designs
Colorado