23-Sep-2016, 15:43
Well, here's what happened:
Turned up at the airport and check in staff (who, unlike what I was told on the phone, were third party SATS staff and not from Singapore Airlines) had no real idea what to do with the declaration of excess valuation. I said I just wanted to fulfil my part of he deal by declaring the value and then they could charge me or whatever... just as long as they realised I had made the declaration and they might be on the hook for increased liability. The duty manager likewise could not work out what they could do, and ended up having to call in an actual staff member of Singapore Airlines, of which there were apparently only two (of his type?) in the whole airport. This guy was friendly and reasonable, and apart from the generic response of trying to put it on the travel insurer (who wouldn't cover increased value) and not knowing what policy (if any) they had in this situation, he did recommend that a comment be added to my reservation listing and this being used in the unlikely event of damage to the speakers. I was happy with this as it acknowledged my declaration. They wanted to see receipts for the value (which I luckily had electronically on my phone through DropBox), and plastered the box (I did a good pack job and also got it luggage-wrapped) with fragile and priority stickers.
The speakers came through OK, with no obvious dings on the corners or sides of the box, but haven't had a chance to unpack and test them yet (need a universal power strip to convert the UK plugs to US!). So in the end my international relocation seems to have gone fine!
Turned up at the airport and check in staff (who, unlike what I was told on the phone, were third party SATS staff and not from Singapore Airlines) had no real idea what to do with the declaration of excess valuation. I said I just wanted to fulfil my part of he deal by declaring the value and then they could charge me or whatever... just as long as they realised I had made the declaration and they might be on the hook for increased liability. The duty manager likewise could not work out what they could do, and ended up having to call in an actual staff member of Singapore Airlines, of which there were apparently only two (of his type?) in the whole airport. This guy was friendly and reasonable, and apart from the generic response of trying to put it on the travel insurer (who wouldn't cover increased value) and not knowing what policy (if any) they had in this situation, he did recommend that a comment be added to my reservation listing and this being used in the unlikely event of damage to the speakers. I was happy with this as it acknowledged my declaration. They wanted to see receipts for the value (which I luckily had electronically on my phone through DropBox), and plastered the box (I did a good pack job and also got it luggage-wrapped) with fragile and priority stickers.
The speakers came through OK, with no obvious dings on the corners or sides of the box, but haven't had a chance to unpack and test them yet (need a universal power strip to convert the UK plugs to US!). So in the end my international relocation seems to have gone fine!
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Stereo Devialet Silver Phantoms via Dialog.
Stereo Devialet Silver Phantoms via Dialog.
