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[monsterx]

In the end, the samples arrived by courier intact and still frozen .  Only 2 days late.  Panic attack cancelled.   

[inthelab]

In the end, the samples arrived by courier intact and still frozen .  Only 2 days late.  Panic attack cancelled.   

Great news.  And now your intrepid spouse will research ways to bring them onboard with her, even if she needs a disguise for them.  Labelng as biomedical samples wouldn't work?

[gennimom]

In the end, the samples arrived by courier intact and still frozen .  Only 2 days late.  Panic attack cancelled.   

Phew!

[southerntransplant]

In the end, the samples arrived by courier intact and still frozen .  Only 2 days late.  Panic attack cancelled.   

(clapclapclapclapclapclap)

[barred_owl]

That's good news, monsterx!  I've always worried about losing field equipment to the airlines.  I'm glad your story had a happy ending. 

Now--are you or your SO musically inclined?  Maybe you could create a YouTube video that details your frustration with this snafu (you know, like the guy who called United on the carpet for breaking his guitar)!

[terpsichore]

That's good news, monsterx!  I've always worried about losing field equipment to the airlines.  I'm glad your story had a happy ending. 

Now--are you or your SO musically inclined?  Maybe you could create a YouTube video that details your frustration with this snafu (you know, like the guy who called United on the carpet for breaking his guitar)!

I was about to suggest the same; here's a link to his blog

http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/story/united-breaks-guitars/

[monsterx]

In the end, the samples arrived by courier intact and still frozen .  Only 2 days late.  Panic attack cancelled.   

Great news.  And now your intrepid spouse will research ways to bring them onboard with her, even if she needs a disguise for them.  Labelng as biomedical samples wouldn't work?

I don't think it would go over too well with customs if the containers are deceptively labelled.  She also has to worry about getting past those guys in a reasonable time frame as well, and if they get mad they'll just open everything up and thaw it out of spite. 

Although, I suppose you could argue that they are biomedical samples - of plants.  Plants get sick and injured too, you know. 

[monsterx]

That's good news, monsterx!  I've always worried about losing field equipment to the airlines.  I'm glad your story had a happy ending. 

Now--are you or your SO musically inclined?  Maybe you could create a YouTube video that details your frustration with this snafu (you know, like the guy who called United on the carpet for breaking his guitar)!

I was about to suggest the same; here's a link to his blog

http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/story/united-breaks-guitars/

this I will have to share with my wife. 

No harm no foul, I suppose, but I suppose we should get really mad about this.  The problem is, we still pretty much have to fly the airlines that lost these bags.   

[sciencephd]

What is there to get really mad about ?  Next time, I suggest shipping with FedEX, and splitting up the shipment into different batches.

[doctor_torrseal]

No harm no foul, I suppose, but I suppose we should get really mad about this.  The problem is, we still pretty much have to fly the airlines that lost these bags.   

All airlines lose some bags some of the time.  It would be time to get mad if they frequently lost your bags, or if they broke them, or if they took forever to find them, or if they said they would get them back to you in a day and it took two weeks.

Ensuring that something absolutely won't get lost usually means paying more, like paying for courier services.  I suppose the airlines could design a baggage system that absolutely never lost anything, but it would cost a lot more and probably require more time between connections, and very few people are likely to pay for it.

[anon99]

I am glad everything worked out.  If she goes back next year, can she take duplicate samples or split them?  I know it will depend on the work she's doing and the samples.  We split our samples when we are in the field and send back half the sample.  Once that arrives, we send the other half along with the first half of the next batch.  i had a friend who spent the summer collecting and in the last week someone broke into their car, stole a backpack and their laptop...you guessed it the backpack had their samples in it.

[jwormold]

You might want to check the copious threads over on flyertalk to gauge what (if any) compensation has been given to other people for delayed baggage.  Check in the forums for the frequent flier program for the airline you flew.  With some airlines, it's better to email, with others, you get a better response by phone.  You might get some extra miles.  Or squat.

Warning, they can be rather snarky over there-- enough searching will give you guidelines and you won't experience the wrath of the Angry Corporate Drone Who Didn't Get His Upgrade.

[mythbuster]

Glad to hear it all turned out ok. I have to ship bacterial specimens all the time. My word of advice. FedEx is not foolproof, but was good as it gets if you have to ship and can't take it to the destination yourself. Only ship live samples on a Monday or Tuesday. Why? If it get's stuck in transit, sitting on loading dock, inspected by customs etc you are less likely to have it stuck over a weekend! Also, make sure someone who know the packaging rules packs it (most large universities have classes in shipping biologicals). One sticker in the wrong place and it just gets shipped back to you!
   Most of the things that I ship overnight still take 3 days even with FedEX, just because the warning labels get everyone tense and hence, extra scrutiny.

[offthemarket]

I hope this works out, sounds promising.

This is a constant anxiety of mine when I return from fieldwork.  I cannot bring samples on board with the liquid restrictions guidelines, and putting them in luggage has a whole set of risks.

I've decided that it's better to check the samples as luggage than have them shipped by international express like DHL or FedEx.  I think the risks as luggage are lower.  It probably depends on the countries and regions the sample is being shipped from.  Also, it let you walk it through customs personally, so that it won't get caught up sitting in some warehouse until you can bail it out.  I'm always mentally prepared to chain myself to my specimens in protest if they ever get held in quarantine (which would never make sense, but you never know).  To mitigate the risk, I sometimes split my samples into two and put them in separate checked bags.  So at least I'll have half, if one bag disappears.

[inthelab]

In the end, the samples arrived by courier intact and still frozen .  Only 2 days late.  Panic attack cancelled.   

Great news.  And now your intrepid spouse will research ways to bring them onboard with her, even if she needs a disguise for them.  Labelng as biomedical samples wouldn't work?

I don't think it would go over too well with customs if the containers are deceptively labelled.  She also has to worry about getting past those guys in a reasonable time frame as well, and if they get mad they'll just open everything up and thaw it out of spite. 

Although, I suppose you could argue that they are biomedical samples - of plants.  Plants get sick and injured too, you know. 

In that case, can she procure phytosanitary documentation to get her past Customs?  She might be able to label them "biological specimens" and that would not be deceptive.