Airline Carry-on luggage Restriction

<p>I recently flew with Qantas from Sydney and I was totally unaware how strict they were getting on carry-on luggage size and weight restriction.<br>

<br />The weight is limited to 5 kg (Around 10+ lbs)<br>

<br />I and other 8 family members were traveling together to a relative's wedding reception and I was assigned as backup wedding photographer. I carried 2 bodies, 2 pro zooms, 2 medium teles, 2 wides, 2 flashes, tripod, ball head, accessories, cables, all packed in a big camera bag (but still can fit into the plane's overhead cabin). It easily weigh 10-15 kg (20-30 lbs)<br>

<br />The lady at checked-in counter told us to weigh every carry-on luggage. Some of our family members's bags are over the limit and she told us to distribute the excess load to other bags. I barely made the screening as I was standing further away pretending not looking at her and was kinda standing shielding the bag with my legs. Well i know it's useless because my bag is so obvious. Anyway, she didn't notice. Should I travel alone, I will have a problem and I don't want to put some of my gear into a checked-in luggage.<br>

Share your experience traveling with airlines when carrying heavy load. Same restriction?</p>

 

<p>Read the airline luggage policy before packing, and print one out and take it with you to the airport:)<br /> No problem usually in most internationally flughts, though I pack pretty light. The secret is not to have an obvious big looking camera bag. Small but heavy's quite okay...</p>

<p>Once I was switching planes, and getting into connecting plane, second leg of the trip, the hand bag with photo equipment was spotted as possibly too heavy, even though was small within allowed size. They forced me to hand over the bag, and it was tossed on a transporter as a check-in luggage. <br>

I argued that ths first leg trip was OK with the bag on board, but that was not a strong argument. It was just twice the weight limit.</p>

<p>If this happens to you, make sure your luggage will survive the experience of being tossed, dropped, fell off the carousel or transporter, etc.</p>

<p>Some airlines attach a passerger's label to carry on board luggage, so hiding it at the counter like you did, or leaving it a bit farther away, may not work for you. It could be returned at the boarding gate. </p>

<p>I have a jacket made by a company called Scottevest. It has 36 pockets well distributed around the jacket. I can carry two Leica M6 bodies, three lenses, and a couple of books without a bulge. It travels with me always as my emergency carry-on and to handle overweight luggage which in my case is always caused by too many books.</p>

<p>Attitudes to carry on seem to vary by carrier and over time. What I perceive is a tendency not to weigh carry-ons, in many cases not to apply a weight limit to carry-on, but apply a size limit and a catch-all that says you have to be able to lift your carry-on into the overhead bins without help. </p>

<p>But this is a tendency not a rule, and just because something works out on one flight doesn't mean that it'll be acceptable on the next. You simply have to read the carriers current regulations for each flight you book with them- they're on the websites-bearing in mind that sometimes its a small plane with limited overhead storage and different rules apply to that specific leg.</p>

<p>Once you know what the rules are then you get to decide whether to comply or whether you want to squeeze on more. If you choose the latter, then clearly you neet a different set of airline staff and security people every time you board a new plane, so assuming that what you got away with on flight 1 will work equally well on flights 2 onwards has no guarantee attached. If you show up at an airport in breach of rules you should be aware of without some sort of back-up plan then frankly you aren't thinking right . Clearly if its marginal you can take a lens out and put it in a pocket. Or you can split the load with a companion assuming they have some sort of bag with them. </p>

<p>But if you're clearly over a size limit, have too many bags, or a weight limit is being applied and you're way over it, then frankly you have to be prepared to be told that its in the hold or no flying for you today- and its hard to argue that this isn't right. AFAIK there are no special rules for photographers. The OP should have checked the rules applied by his carrier and either complied or bought a Pelican case or similar to facilitate checking the equipment. Just because he concluded he needed all that stuff for a family wedding does not mean that he was entitled to carry it on. </p>

<p>The "sin" here is not deciding to carry too much ( though I might argue that too much can be antisocial and greedy) . The sin is turning up at the airport without knowing what rules are potentially applied and not having a planned way round the problem if you get caught. </p>

 

<p>I fly constantly and have been weighed twice, and only once did they make a problem.<br>

Just explain you are a photographer and don't want to check $20,000 worth of gear. They will usually let you go. I often travel with 20 kgs in a ThinkTank roll-on and never get hassled. </p>

<p>That has never happened to me but I travel very light all of the time. I've seen it happen to other people but generally only on regional commuter flights. With the increased use of regional jets I assume this may happen more often. On an international flight and/or large jet it surprises me that they need to apply such controls, but people have been bringing way too much stuff aboard as carry-on for many years now.</p>

<p>p.s. I once saw a guy vehemently arguing when told to check a carry-on bag. I thought I heard him tell the flight attendent that he was a diamond merchant and had very expensive stuff in his bag. He argued an dargued and then was escorted away by police.</p>

<p>I had a similar experience as Ian's. Once I was singled out and my carry on was weighed for a Thai Airways domestic flight (Boeing 737). My wife politely informed them that I was carrying expensive camera equipment while I graciously opened the bag and showed the agent the contents. She looked, smiled and waved us through with the carry on. No promises given but I do highly recommend that you act professionaly and polite if you expect any reasonable accommodation from the airlines.</p>

<p>One trick that I read about is that if your bag is slightly overweight, you can take stuff out of your back and carry it on your person. Put it your pockets or anywhere else. Obviously there are limitations here. </p>

<p>I have run into the problem on domestic small flights such as within Alaska, inside Costa Rica, and other places serviced by tiny planes. My strategy: the right bag and pockets.<br>

The right bag: Hands down, the Bataflae 26L by Guru Gear. It is remarkably lightweight and holds so much that it is practically an optical illusion. It can hold a Nikkor 200-400mm f/4, two substantial bodies, a 70-200 f/2.8, flash and a couple other lenses thrown in too. It has limited padding and isn't made to be used as a backpack you take with you up Mt. Everest. It is best used for airplane travel--not the field, imo. Size wise, it fits into virtually every overhead in any plane. In a pinch you could likely put it under the seat. Biggest con: it is EXPENSIVE for a bag at US$400.<br>

Pockets: Even if all your stuff fits in a small enough bag, there is the weight problem at times. So I stuff lenses into zippered pockets (they tend to fall out of open pockets with all the jostling to get on a plane and get seated. On occasion I stuff a lens into the pockets of travel mates. Then, once on board, I reload the bag and put it in the overhead. <br>

Plan B: tell a flight crew member that the bag has $20,000 worth of precious equipment and you really need their help to figure out what to do. They'll usually end up agreeing to put the bag in a locker (closet) up front or some such thing. Only twice, on a ridiculously small plane in the Beaufort Sea and one in the rain forests of Costa Rica, did I have to part with the bag, but I negotiated a compromise. I was permitted to watch the bag being placed as the last item into the wing storage area and could see that it was securely braced; then it was the first item unloaded from the wing and handed to my on the runway. Gotta do what you gotta do. </p>

<p>On a light plane the overweight or out of balance plane will ensure you are the first to arrive at the scene of the accident. Weight and its distribution on aircraft is not a trivial matter --- advice from an old and not so bold pilot.</p>

Okay, here's the loophole.

 

I was in the UK when the new rules came down to allow only one carry on period. I normally carry a laptop bag plus a

backpack style bag. I was told I would have to check one. I had a Domke photo vest with me. I put it on, proceeded to

put a flash, 2 lenses, filters, etc in the pockets, the DSLR around my neck, checked the empty bag

 

I took off the vest for X-ray, walked on the plane wearing the vest. I put it in the overheaad

 

I used it again on Italia when they told me my carryon was too heavy. The look on the agents face as I unloaded the bag

into my vest was priceless. Kind of a hey, wait, huh?

<p>Some of the really small regional jets (CRJ & Embraer) have tiny "bins" overhead. They are more like the size of a large turkey roasting pan than an overhead bin. Not every camera bag will fit up there, no matter what you do. The best thing I've done is to have good camera insurance and a slim profile backpack or business-looking case. If it looks like a camera case, it just screams "weigh me" or "search me", and it won't always fit on the regional jet. Carrying business cards showing you are really a photographer helps you prove the worth of your equipment. (Even if you only do a little bit of paid work, cards are a good investment for travel.) Alternately, you could simply plan to check the bag and hope it doesn't get waylaid. Note that I am talking about that hard Pelican case you'll be buying beforehand. With bar codes on luggage nowadays, very little gets permanently lost, though I find it still gets delayed. In the scenario with a wedding to shoot at the destination, I would first make sure there was a camera rental agency on the other end of the flight. </p>

<p>So far, I've not had to gate check, but I have been given a hard time about weight once or twice. In those situations, I put my favorite lenses into my purse and pockets and tried again. They never take a lady's purse, at least. For the bag not fitting, I find if I appear agonized (which I am) and explain that it's got a $10K worth of equipment inside, the flight personnel try to help me find a way to make it work. If I had to check the bag, my contingency plan is to unpack my two best lenses from it and put them into my purse, add some padding like my jacket to the bag, and hope for the best. You can nearly always rent or buy a new/used body of at least acceptable quality, but lenses are another matter. If something got broken, the airline is only liable for something like $700, and that's where my insurance would come in. Point is, have a contingency plan! </p>

<p>I used to use the ThinkTank Int'l roller and, while it was never weighed (except one time enroute to Tanzania), it had to be gate-checked on small commuter flights. Now I use a Gura Gear backpack. It accommodates all the gear and does not look big. I have not had to gate-check since.</p>

<p>The strategy of stuffing a vest or handbag with the heavier equipment makes sense if weighing is an issue.</p>