Give it to me straight...

Sorry to post such a banal question, but boy, this topic is spread all over in about 5 places...

In 3 weeks, I go on my first major trip with my behemoth. I've taken it to Mexico - all in rolling carry-on + backpack - no problem. But now? Indonesia. On Eva. Tell me true - are they really gonna weigh my carry-on??? 15 lb limit is what they say...despite my lightweight camera backpack, I can exceed that with lenses alone!! Can't I at least carry on my dome port??

I do have a well-padded, hideous Samsonite F-lite for the gear, but I'd really prefer to carry on as much as possible.

(Note - I do have a pack mule -i.e., non-photo husband- who has been warned he might have to wear cargo pants and carry a lot of lenses in his pockets. However, he wants to carry on the regulators, so I can only force so much stuff on him).

Thanks a bunch - Allison

I've only ever had my carry-on weighed once (Tel Aviv). They said I'd have to check it, and I told them it was $10,000 worth of photography equipment and if they wanted me to check it they would have to assume finical responsibility for it. They promptly let me carry it.

That was back before I had proper camera and housing bags. Now what I do is have all my camera stuff in my backpack (personal item), and full housing setup in a pelican carry-on roller. I haven't been stopped with this setup yet. Once or twice I have had to gate check the roller on some smaller planes, but at that point I wasn't too concerned as it was normally my last leg.

I say check the regs. If your regs don't make it, you can always rent, but what are the chances of you being able to rent a dome port?

Sorry to post such a banal question, but boy, this topic is spread all over in about 5 places...

 

In 3 weeks, I go on my first major trip with my behemoth. I've taken it to Mexico - all in rolling carry-on + backpack - no problem. But now? Indonesia. On Eva. Tell me true - are they really gonna weigh my carry-on??? 15 lb limit is what they say...despite my lightweight camera backpack, I can exceed that with lenses alone!! Can't I at least carry on my dome port??

 

I do have a well-padded, hideous Samsonite F-lite for the gear, but I'd really prefer to carry on as much as possible.

 

(Note - I do have a pack mule -i.e., non-photo husband- who has been warned he might have to wear cargo pants and carry a lot of lenses in his pockets. However, he wants to carry on the regulators, so I can only force so much stuff on him).

 

 

Thanks a bunch - Allison

Allison: Hope you're well and we see you on one of Scott G's trips again soon. We have had carry ons weighed in many places. Going to Indonesia, we have had them weighed once and not weighed twice. A good friend recently had to have his carryon put into cargo in Brisbane. One time tested technique is to have only one of you go to the counter and check in while your pack mule (I am the one on our trips) stands far away so the guys at the counter don't see him staggering under the backpack. This works quite often, although our friend got his checked going through x-ray and not at the counter.

YMMV

Bill

EVA! Hide the carry on at LAX when you check your bags. They may or may not want to weigh them. If they do weigh your carry-on, tell them it's full of expensive camera gear. Worked for me. No problem coming home.

Here's my take on packing photo gear. I use a Tamrac model 5549 Adventure 9 which fits in all overhead bins on the small puddle jumpers I've encountered. I find the dimensions of this backpack are at or very close to the maximum I can get by with on the small planes. I fit all my camera gear in here; SLR body, lenses, flash, filters, one battery charger and batteries, etc. I've had to remove the laptop on a couple of occasions in order to fit it in the overhead, so this bag was about one-inch too deep on those occasions. In summary, size dimensions this backpack are closely within acceptable dimension parameters everywhere I've encountered. In the top compartment I pack a couple of mandatory toiletries, extra camera accessories, etc.

I'm around thirty pounds or so fully packed. On the few occasions I've had the backpack weighed, I first hanged the SLR with the heaviest lens mounted around my neck then placed all lenses in my over sized pants/shorts pockets. This gets the backpack with remaining objects and laptop in the back compartment at approximately fifteen pounds, now meeting both size and weight requirements for very restricted flights. Once in the plane I put lenses and SLR back into the laptop...

My strategy is to definitely avoid having anything delicate and my most valuable items placed into cargo hold by the airline monkeys... So, I carry-on the above and at the risk of having it stolen, place all my other underwater photography gear in a Samsonite hard side padded with Pelican 1650 Foam Set, housing, ports, strobes, sync cords, etc.

Well, poo. Sounds like I'd better have a "just in case" mentality. Guess that means hardy stuff packed, camera body/lenses/glass dome port carried on.

Expat, I totally agree with you r.e. the regs, but the man is very tolerant of this insanity and doesn't ask for much!! Will just force him to carry lots of lenses in the pockets - is this "compromise" or "passive aggressive," do you think?

Bill - Hi! You're going to Ship Rock next weekend, aren't you? Well....I'm not. It's my last-ditch effort to pretend I'm frugal before I get dinged for a buttload of overage fees at LAX. I am sure my frugality will have worn off as soon as I'm back, though - I love Scotty's charters. Let me know if you want to dive some kelp here in late July, I already booked a boat out for you silly northerners!! Jim, you could always come down, too. (Note - there were only two dates left...I took what I could get!)

Thanks. Much appreciated.

Hi, Allison!

I had my carry-on weighed by China Air on my way back from Thailand last year. Thank goodness it was (a) on the way back and (b) we had a larger luggage allowance for that leg of the trip, and were able to juggle things around, because it was nearly a huge problem. First time that's ever happened, though.

When I was speaking to Scott about this, he said he has never had his carry-on weighed going into Bali. We're on Cathay Pacific, though, I don't know the procedures for Eva.

Good idea re hiding the carry-on bags with another member of the party (if possible), however.

In my many years of going through DPS, I've never had my hand carry luggage weighed, even when I was openly carrying a video housing with lens. Never been disturbed at LAX either but I suspect my airline club status covers me there.

I've seen ground staff weigh bags out of LAX for SIA, Virgin, British Airways and Cathay for different destinations so it's an irregular event, all during full flights for economy class.

Whatever you do, don't pack any alcohol in your checked bags. DPS is checking for that heavily nowadays. Watch out for the dreaded chalk mark X on your bags. Be discreet about cleaning it up too. The customs guys are right there behind you.

Tell the mule to get real... you can rent regulators in Bali, you can't rent a full photo rig.

good luck Allison

you're going to have such a great trip!

I've flown international several times in the past few months and I haven't had any carry-own luggage weighed. If you want to be safe, use Bill's pack mule trip, ideally it would be someone not even flying, maybe someone dropping you off, just so the staff at the check-in desk doesn't see your stuff.

I'll definitely come down for some diving in July. Come diving next weekend!

Scott

I went to Indonesia last October on Singapore Air from Newark. At the check-in some carry-ons were weighed and some were not. Because of the carry-on weight limited of 15 lbs my wife and I used backpacks for our housed cameras instead of a roller bags, each weighed some 40+ lbs. We just pretended on check in that our backpacks were light and did not have any problems on our trip. That said, I spoke to other travelers and found that some had their carry-ons weighed and some did not. My friend who flew out of LAX said all carry-ons on his flight were weighed. Having somebody not at the counter hiding your carry-on is another alternative. Just be prepared to pay a extra charge if caught and also be aware of the maximum carry-on weight limit because if over your bag will be checked in. Another tip is not to struggle when lifting your bag for over head placement, since the flight attendant may see you and feel you bag exceeds the overhead weight limit. This only pertains to economy, business gets two carry-ons and weight is not an issue.

Elmer

Tell the mule to get real... you can rent regulators in Bali, you can't rent a full photo rig.

I just snarfed coffee all over my desk...

Scott, Kalani, I feel bad for you guys. At least I have a mule. You two just have each other - wait, that didn't come out right....

Just a sidebar here. I had my carryons inspected at Ohare and Narita security on my trip to Manila this April. The Chicago zombie that inspected my gear was so slow that I had to rush to make my flight. There was not enough time to carefully repack the gear (almost zero unused space properly packed). I have a cheap little tote from Walgreens that zips up to the size of a hard pack of cigarettes. Stuffed the gear in the tote and repacked on the plane. The Japanese security was much more efficient and defiantly more polite. We then proceed to have a “who can bow the lowest contest”! It’s not nice to tease the Japanese.

OBTW, one carry on was > 37 lbs. the other personal item was 25 lbs. 2 cameras w. 3 batteries, 3 lenses, 1 housing with handles, 1 170 mm dome, 2 port extensions, 2 strobes w. 8 “AA”, 1 charger, 2 cables, 1 spotting light, change of clothes, Rx mask, dive instrument console, 2 dive computers, 1 laptop, 2 portable HDs, 3 Jet Li DVDs , swim suit, …. etc. In other words, renting a wetsuit, fins, BC, and regulator plus my carry ons = u/w photography. The size of my carry ons conform to the AA baggage restrictions. My checked baggage was about 60 lbs.

Regards,

Bob

Just a sidebar here. I had my carryons inspected at Ohare and Narita security on my trip to Manila this April. The Chicago zombie that inspected my gear was so slow that I had to rush to make my flight. There was not enough time to carefully repack the gear (almost zero unused space properly packed). I have a cheap little tote from Walgreens that zips up to the size of a hard pack of cigarettes. Stuffed the gear in the tote and repacked on the plane. The Japanese security was much more efficient and defiantly more polite. We then proceed to have a "who can bow the lowest contest"! It's not nice to tease the Japanese.

 

 

 

OBTW, one carry on was > 37 lbs. the other personal item was 25 lbs. 2 cameras w. 3 batteries, 3 lenses, 1 housing with handles, 1 170 mm dome, 2 port extensions, 2 strobes w. 8 "AA", 1 charger, 2 cables, 1 spotting light, change of clothes, Rx mask, dive instrument console, 2 dive computers, 1 laptop, 2 portable HDs, 3 Jet Li DVDs , swim suit, …. etc. In other words, renting a wetsuit, fins, BC, and regulator plus my carry ons = u/w photography. The size of my carry ons conform to the AA baggage restrictions. My checked baggage was about 60 lbs.

 

Regards,

Bob

I encountered the same problem with my last two trips to Asia (Indonesia + Philippines), by T(hose) S(tanding) A(round) at LGA and EWR. Swipe test for each item in the entire Porter Case (contains housing, ports, strobes, cords and various accessories) and also nearly missed the flights.... Even more fun was that my "examiner" happened to be the Supervisor, and she insisted that my D80 and lenses were special electronic equipment that was required to be removed from the cloth camera bag they were all in. All in all, it's not much fun anymore.

Back to topic, I have only had my carryon weighed in Sydney by the Qantas agents manning the Air NuiGini check in and they made me check my Portercase (38lbs) and also had Air New Zealand weigh all carryons from Auckland (no weighing on departure from LAX).

FYI the Portercase PC II will not fit in the sizewise test cage so beware when they hassle you on that as well.

and also had Air New Zealand weigh all carryons from Auckland (no weighing on departure from LAX).

I've been warned about the carry-on for my Air New Zealand flight. I'm planning on having the minimum possible in the carryon as I hear they are very strict & do weigh :-0

Carol

We flew on Lufthansa three weeks ago, and they weighed every carry-on bag and put a tag on each declaring that it was approved for carry-on. They did this even for a flight that wasn't full. Of course nothing stops one from adding more stuff to his carry-on after checking in and getting the tag, but I guess that would be akin to stealing.

Elron

I've been warned about the carry-on for my Air New Zealand flight. I'm planning on having the minimum possible in the carryon as I hear they are very strict & do weigh :-0

 

I will not fly Qantas or New Zealand Air because of their carry-on restrictions. If you manage to get past the counter check-in, you will be caught when you are screened at security. The screening staff makes sure you only have one carry-on and that it is not over the weight limit. I had to pay an additional $240 because they considered my backpack my carry-on and my roller bag (although legal carry-on size) an extra bag. The bottom line, carry-on restrictions vary from carrier to carrier, American and US Air do not have the 15 lb limit and allow you to claim your backpack as your personal item. So do your homework before you buy your airline ticket if you plan to carry your camera and housing with you as a carry-on.

 

Elmer

One has to be careful about research for sure. The airport rules supercede the airline limits unless the airline specifically authorizes the exception. Ever stop over in Heathrow with 2 heavy bags or a video housing in hand? Not fun! I've had to call the airline ground manager quite a few times at various airports, waving my FF status to get pass security at many airports. It's not just the airline policies but also the country policies.

The most important thing to have is a top tier FF status on the airline. They don't mess with high mileage frequent flyers as much. Staying within the airline FF circle also helps. I'm stuck with Star Alliance nowadays but always liked One World more. I approached Qantas to give me equal status to my Marco Polo Platinum from Cathay Pacific. While you had to call for the staff sometimes, Platinum Qantas lets you carry a lot more than what Oz airports allow. Just don't join Asiamiles... the biggest waste of time FF program EVER!

Just got back from PNG via Brisbane. I have had many problems with carry-on in Brisbane in the past and, since we had a TIGHT connection there this time, I decided to put my camera case in a checked bag and carry a lighter carry-on. Good thing! They snagged us in the hallway to the gate where you could not hide the cases. If I had carried my camera case (45 lbs) it would probably have meant missing our flight.

My sister got snagged there on the trip previous to this one (why I changed my carry-on strategy) and they got her BIG TIME for carrying her camera stuff as carry-on. They charged her $300.00 US for the overweight!! Rediculous!

I will not fly Qantas or New Zealand Air because of their carry-on restrictions.So do your homework before you buy your airline ticket if you plan to carry your camera and housing with you as a carry-on.

Elmer

Yes, but try to get to Tonga from US w/o going Air New Zealand - it is pretty difficult and you have the added problem of so many stop-overs/plane changes (on other carriers) that the luggage will get lost that way. I'm going to be real nice and stay within Air New Zealand's carryon rules. It will make it easier for the small commuter flight afterwards anyway. It can be done....., not ideal, but doable; I just have to take less and focus on certain types of photography. I'm not a FF like Drew, but I am nice (which sometimes it the real key).

Thanks, Carol