Charing for Travel Time

[Mike Cohen]

80% of our shoots are out of driving distance. We always travel with our gear – always carry camera, tapes and batteries on the plane as carry on. Check as little as possible – you can rent a light kit in most large cities.

We have all had occasion to not get our checked gear when we land, so we leave enough time in advance of shoot to give airline time to find our stuff. If we have a 6am call time, we should fly out as early as possible the previous day.
TWA lost our heavy duty luggage cart which we never got back. It must be useful to whoever absconded with it.

Come to think of it Panasonic once lost my hard shell camera case when I shipped them the camera for service – got the camera back in a cardboard box with foam peanuts – maybe Panasonic has hired baggage handlers to run their shipping and receiving department!

[Mark Suszko]

I’ve read that it is very common for a theft from your baggage at the airport to be covered-up by deliberately misrouting your bag, so that by the time it is recovered and returned, the trail is too muddled to know at what point something was taken out.

[Dan Brockett]

Hi Steve:

Who is your policy with? Have you ever had a claim? How was their service? How much coverage and at what approximate cost? I used to have a producer’s policy that covered everything, including E&O, rental, etc. but it went to about $12,000.00 per year so I dropped it as it was too expensive.

I typically fly with only about $10,000.00 to $15,000.00 worth of gear, just tryng to figure out the most economical way to go. I also have about $250,000.00 worth of gear total at my office so I should get a policy that covers everything, burglary, theft, accidents, etc.

Thanks for any tips.

Dan

Providing value added material to all of your favorite DVDs

[John Baumchen]

Interseting.

If thieves can get by security to take things out of your bag, who else can slip through the security system to put someting IN your bag, on the plane? In a car, going to Maine.

Can you say increased taxes for ‘better’ security?

[Steve Wargo]

We have Hartford for our basic company insurance and Firemen’s fund for our rental company. We have $500k in equipment covered and our policies cost around $6k per year with a $2500 deductible.

A lower deductible was a lot more money.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD .

[Steve Wargo]

Uh, John. The airport personnel are the thieves, not someone sneaking by them. This has been covered on a number of TV programs and the prosecutions have made national news.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!

Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD .

[Walter Biscardi]

[Steve Wargo] “Uh, John. The airport personnel are the thieves, not someone sneaking by them. This has been covered on a number of TV programs and the prosecutions have made national news.”

Yeah, a buddy of mine had a 24″ computer monitor stolen from checked in luggage. It obviously happened before the plane left the ground because he released the pressure valve in the case before opening it and the monitor was gone. so it was taken by someone in baggage handling.

He was never reimbursed for that by the airline.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

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