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Bag for flight on RJ145 Embraer


Barry Clemmons Photography

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<p>I am planning a trip to South Dakota in June and will be flying one leg on an American Airlines RJ145 Embraer. I need to get a bag that will either fit in the overhead of this plane or under the seat since I don't want to gate check my gear. I have looked at the Think Tank Airport Addicted V2 bag as well as the Gura Gear bag. Has anyone had experience flying with either of these bags on this particular plane or a similar regional plane?</p>
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<p>I fly between San Jose and Los Angeles quite a bit, and American uses those same jets for that route. Continental uses those jets as well. Their procedure is that you can take a larger carry on through the security check point, but before you board the plane, they would tag your carry on and take it directly from there to the end of the plane. When you arrive, you can pick it up as soon as you get off. Those "carry ons" are handled very differently from the regular checked luggage.</p>

<p>If the airline uses that same procedure for the route you are flying, I would say it is safe to "check in" your camera bag that way. But you need to verify that they indeed use that procedure, and still your camera bag cannot be ridiculously large.</p>

<p>The Embraer jets are somewhat small with only 3 seats per row, 1 on one side and 2 on the other side of the asile. Anyone over 6' tall is not going to be able to stand up straight inside the cabin.</p>

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<p>Was about to write something very similar to what Shun wrote - here in Santa Barbara they use the same procedure he described. Despite the bags you consider being regular carry-on size, they will not fit into the overhead bins nor under the seat in front of you. There isn't much space in that particular plane and the openings of the overhead bins are very narrow - you might be able to squeeze a Lowepro Micro Trekker 200 through but not anything larger.</p>
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<p>Thanks Shun and Dieter. I was afraid that was the answer I would get. I have only had to gate check my camera bag one time, and they seemed to handle it okay. I will be taking about 40 lbs of gear with me, the largest lens being the 200-400mm. I will also have two bodies, the D3s and D300. I will probably divide it into two bags. Everything is insured, but that does me no good if I get to my destination with broken gear or no gear.<br>

Thanks again!</p>

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<p>When I go to LA to visit my parents, usually I bring a LowePro Mini Trakker with a Nikon D3 or D700 type body, a 70-200mm/f2.8, a 300mm/f4 and a wide zoom. That can fit under the seat in front of me. You can probably put a small laptop bag in the overhead compartment and that is about it.</p>

<p>Once I went to Mexico on a photo trip, and Continental used those jets for the Houston to Mexico leg. I had a larger camera bag with me with two bodies and a bunch of lenses inside. I let them take the camera bag and put it in the back of the plane. There are a lot of people watching that process out in the open so that there is essentially no chance anybody would steal stuff from your bag or mistreat it; of course they could still accidentally drop it.</p>

<p>The Nikon 200-400 comes with its own bag. You can probably hand carry that plus a separate body into the cabin. The other stuffs will probably have to be checked at the gate immediately before you board.</p>

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<p>I ride on the RJ's a few times every month. My recommended plan is finding a bag just large enough to safely store your two bodies with prime lenses mounted and keep that bag with you in the cabin. Leave the other gear in a padded carry on bag checked at the gate. The only roller bag that would fit inside the cabin on an RJ is probably one of those Hello Kitty roller backpacks designed for toddlers.</p>

<p> </p>

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<p>Hello Barry,</p>

<p>Your situation is common. I travel a reasonable bit abroad, but many times I have to take local connections, which use the smaller planes with 2 + 1 seat per row (Emb). Until recently, I used Photo trekker classic, with a D700 or D300 + grip, 200-400mm, 80-200mm, a few smaller lenses and flash. Now I have guragear Kiboko, which fits everything that classic can, but its just a bit better as it has split openings for the main storage.</p>

<p>Both of these bags will fit under the seat on the 2-seat side; obv. you'll lose your leg room but ur seat mate will be ok. Whenever I travel on these flights I wud choose a seat accordingly. Had an issue only once, as I took a little long for me to put the PT classic under the seat; I had a lot of loose stuff & a magazine in the front pouch. Once I removed those, it was fine. BTW - when you go thru the gate if u carry the bag on your shoulders they usually don't ask you to check-in plane side. Those few times that they do, if you tell them that it has very expensive camera equipment and that the bag will fit under the seat, they'll let you take it in. I'm not sure of ur bag's dimensions, but please compare against the ones that I have.</p>

<p>I got a 600mm last year, which I carry in the bag supplied with 200-400mm - CL-L2 case. On an Emb flight recently, I fit the kiboko under the seat but CL-L2 wouldn't fit overhead or under the seat, as the hard, inflexible plastic base has a diameter too large to fit. I managed to keep bag vertically under my thighs/legs (which is technically not legal). Even o/w if I had requested the steward(ess), 'm sure he/she wud have kept the bag in their closet in the front of these planes.</p>

<p>Cheers,<br>

Senthil</p>

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<p>I just noted that you are asking abt guragear. 'm pretty sure you are referring to kiboko, which will fit. BTW - that bag is really nice; light wt, will reasonably maintain structure under load and legal sized for carry-on.</p>

<p>The bag with everything minus 600mm weighs abt 15kgs, +/- a kg or so. Its not good on our backs and knees. These days I almost always keep the bag on a small, light-wt, plastic dolly so that I can wheel it around. Also, carry another body in my vest, and 600mm inside CL-L2 on my shoulder. So the overall wt on my shoulder has reduced to abt 6kgs. However, when I go to the check-in counter or through the gate to board a small plane, such as Emb, I remove the bag from the dolly & carry on my shoulders. Reason being, there is much higher chance for them to weigh carry-on luggage, esp. at chk-in counters at airports outside US (UK, Sing, India), and for the reason that I explained in the above post.</p>

<p>Cheers,<br>

Senthil</p>

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<p>Senthil,<br />I was indeed referring to the Kiboko bag. Thanks so much for your input on the subject. That bag is rather expensive but worth it based on everything I have read about it plus your comments. I wish flying with camera gear was a little easier, but apparently in today's world that won't happen anytime soon.<br />Thanks again!</p>
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<p>Yeah, its around $400 if I remember right, but certainly worth it. Since getting it, I have used it exclusively - taken it to Africa 3 times. When carrying on your shoulder it doesn't look too large either and can take a lot of stuff. Only trade-off (which is unavoidable) is lack of full sized front pouch due to split openings. But having such opening is very nice in accessing only the gear you want and keeping dust out from the other side.</p>

<p>Leave alone flying getting easier, I hope it stays at least the way it is now! Over the course of last few years, I've seen it getting worse. For ex. in US they let you take a carry-on + another smaller personal item, incl. camera bag, laptop, ladies hand-bag, etc. But at London Heathrow and Indian airports, security let passengers take only 1 item, even if its just a small hand-bag! Once had a lot of trouble - I had traveled from US with my camera bag and laptop w/o any problem; while getting back they wouldn't allow both as carry-on at Madras, India - had a big arguement with security chief, and had to convince him. On the same return trip, I had a break at London to visit my friends and had the same problem at LHR. At last, they agreed to let me carry the laptop w/o its bag + camera bag. I'm glad that at least in India they have relaxed since then, as many fly b/w US and India. In the name of security, with the escalating terrorism, they are trying to restrict carry-on's, which of course doesn't prevent anything. I read that one US based airlines wanting to charge even for carry-on; they are just trying to rip us off. In summary, traveling is just a PAIN! </p>

<p>Good luck with your purchase and travel.</p>

<p>Cheers,<br>

Senthil</p>

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