Airlines and heavy photographic equipment

[squid]

Its my first time i will be travelling, actually three routes, with heavy photo equipment on airplane. A heavy back pack (lowepro Flipside 400 AW two bodies with battery grips, three light lenses, batteries, chargers, etc) and a 200-400 f/4, in its own Nikon carrying bag. Maybe also a carbon fibre tripod and gimbal head for this lens. What is there i need to know in relation to airlines, and/or any hints, tips, about airplane travelling with this equipment. Can i carry it as hand luggage? (i dont think theres that much room on seats ...) Can i trust it to go along with suitcases instead? etc

Thanks
Nick D.

[Thijs]

Nick,

With the regular airlines I always mention it is photo equipment when they start asking questions. In most cses it was ok, even when the weight was above limits ( for instance 7.5 kg with LOT)

Only issues I had were with the low cost airlines.

Never had any issues with no space available in the cabin. Even not on a ERJ135 of Continental, ok I was almost sitting on my backpack.

In my opinion it is better not take your tripod as hand luggage. Just to avoid problems.

Thijs

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[B767-300ER]

Tripod not as carry on because security makes
Probleme of it.

I flew with Arke, Transavia, Vueling, KLM, Easy, Ryanair and Martinair.
When you have to much weight, email them in advance and its no problem by all 7 of them to take your stuff in the cabine, but not the tripod.

I always take my 40D 50D, batterypacks, batteries, 24-105, 70-200, 100-400, 15-85, 90 and 50 mm with me with my carry on lugage.

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[ehusmann]

And to give an answer to the other side of the question:

Can i trust it to go along with suitcases instead?

In one word: no.

Just like any other place, things do get stolen from checked baggage. Especially if bags look like they contain valuables, it is not uncommon for the bag to be lost, or the contents to be taken out. And unless you insure it very well, you will not get anything near of the value in return.

Erwin

[Alpha Kilo One]

And most important: When they steal your equipment, you don't have anything to make your photos with!

Ronald

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[patrick dirksen]

First time I flew outside Europe (to the USA), I called the airline because I was having the same thoughts about my camera bag. They were not helpful at all. I was told that when my bag was too heavy and/or too big, I should send it as air freight ahead. Explaining that it was vulnerable and expensive photographic equipment didn't mean anything to the lady. She didn't say it, but she meant to say "bad luck, live with it".

Obviously I didn't send my camera bag in advance, and it turned out to be no problem at all. As a matter of fact I was surprised about the size (and weight!) of some of the "carry on bags" I saw in the plane. Some what we call in Dutch 'hutkoffers' (really big suitcases), which bthe travelers themselves couldn't even get into the overhead lockers on their own....

I don't remember which airline it was by the way, but it was an American one. I'm sure Frank will remember, if somebody really wants to know.

Either way, I often flew to other continents since, and never had a problem with either the size or the weight of my bag. Only single time was with a low cost carrier (Ryan Air) in Hungary.

[B767-300ER]

Terwijl ryanair juist bijna de soepelste handbagage regels heeft

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[grunt087]

I fly from Germany usually on Ryanair to several airshows a year. Ryanair is the only airline that weighs carry on bags on a regular basis. This year Ryanair has seemed to relax their enforcement of the 10 Kg limit. Most of the airlines now allow your main carry on bag with the 10kg limit and a smaller additional bag. So now I can get two camera bodies and two large telephoto lens plus all the accessories and a change of clothes in a backpack and small personal bag. One method I used in the past was to wear a photographers vest with lots of pockets and put as much of the small heavy items like batteries and chargers, tablets in the vest. There is no limit on the weight of the stuff in your pockets of your vests or coat.

[Wellhead]

Hello Nick,

I would try to fit the nikon 200-400 with your bodies in the lowe pro and
leave the nikon bag at home. I have the nikon 200-400 my self and never use
this bag because it has in my opinion not the protection a camera bag offers.
If the other lenses do not fit any more in your bag I would try the Think tank skin body bag
or something similar which can hold two smaller lenses, you only need to buy an
extra "koppelriem" for this bag. I use the skin body bag in combination with a think tank airport
acceleration and this has worked pretty well for me. One advantage with the Airport Acceleration is that it especially designed for airplane travel and it is les conspicuous in regards to a normal camera backpack.
And when traveling with my camera I only put the most important items in my camera bag
such as a charger, memory card, image tank, wereldstekker and my camera cleaning kit all other stuf
will be in my hold baggage.

I hope this helps you a bit more in making your decision.

Regards,

Ronald Noeken

[Iwan Bogels]

I bought a Think Tank Airport Security photobag, which meets requirements (measurements) for intercontinental flights. It holds my 400/2.8, mounted on my camera, side-by-side with a 300/2.8 mounted on a camera. On the long end it stores a 70-200, plus two smaller lensen, two extenders, an external flash unit and an airband scanner.

My bag is considerably heavier that 20+ kg and so far I have never had any problems with it taking it up in the cabin. I did many intercontinental flights with it. Sometimes they asked about the size, but they never gave me any hassle about it.

But as they say: Behaalde resultaten uit het verleden bieden geen garanties voor de toekomst.