This post is just a chance for me to rant about the current state of air travel restrictions. See, I need to take a certain amount of useful camera gear on a plane with me, including the following:
- Canon 5D MkII
- Canon 30D (backup body)
- EF 16-35mm
- EF 24-70mm
- EF 70-200m
- Macbook Pro (15″)
- All the various chargers, cables, card readers, etc.
That’s a fairly compact amount of kit, but it’s worth a bomb. The absolute last thing that I want to do is check-in any of this equipment as luggage. Doing so would mean risking loss, theft or breakage, any of which would not only be extremely upsetting in its own right, but it would stop me from participating actively during the week.
So imagine if you will my chagrin when I read the carry on baggage rights with Turkish Airlines:
8kg? That’s just ridiculous.
I grabbed my lightest backpack, and I can effectively stuff in the Macbook Pro, the 5D and 2 lenses before I reach the limit. What’s a man to do? Stick the other lens and body in my coat pockets seems to be the only possible solution to the problem.
I’d love to hear how other solve this issue….
Can you carry a camera around you neck and not have it count as carry-on?
Bring a Asus EEE Pc instead of the Macbook to save weight.
I’m not sure what they’d say about dangling the camera around the neck.
As for the EEE Pc – I’ll be Photoshopping. Enough said. (oh, and I don’t touch Windows unless I can’t avoid it
)
Thanks for the ideas in any case.
You can always use Linux in mini-laptops
Considering what overbagage charges are these days, it may make more sense to buy some of the cheaper lenses there, and skip the backup body in preference to an extra thick credit card…
Scotte Vests and Pants.
http://www.scottevest.com/v3_store/40_ultimate_cargo_pants.shtml
http://www.scottevest.com/v3_store/New_Travel_Vest.shtml
You have the right idea but need better pockets to do it right.
de mon expérience personnelle, l’ordinateur portable est considéré comme un bagage à main particulier dont le poids n’est pas comptabilisé et qui peut être dans un sac dédié à part (qui peut contenir autre chose) ça fait déja un point.
Pour le matériel photo je le garde toujours en cabine dans mon sac à dos (Lowepro Rover AW II) et jusqu’à ce jour sans souci :
D200 + poignée
105mm VR
50mm
70-200mm VR
18-70
12-24
Flash SB-800
Les bagages à main ne sont pas systématiquement pesés, c’est aléatoire et il est possible de s’arranger avec l’agent de contrôle en lui expliquant la situation. Après effectivement pour limiter les risques mettre un objectif, chargeur … dans une poche pour passer le contrôle …
It’s April 2nd so I assume that you have made it to your destination. I’m curious what you ended up doing? Did you do the “shove in pocket” thing? The “buy when you get there” thing? Or something else?
I think this is a common problem for a lot of people, even in the US where some commuter planes that I have ridden has little to no overhead luggage space and will make you gate check bigger bags…which to me is just as bad as checking your gear at the check in counter (>_<)
Hi,
Just saw this … anyway, I fly frequently with Turkish Air-Lines (from Israel to Singapore & Nigeria mostly), and from my experience, they are not so strict about carry-on bags.
I usually go on the plane with a side laptop bag (14″ wide, power and stuff) & a full LowePro Primus AW (D300 + Grip, 70-200/2.8, 17-55/2.8, SB800, 3 packs of 4AA batteries, etc.) & a Manfrotto MBAG80P (055XPROB + 488RC2).
That’s three bags and way over 8Kg
Never had an issue, because as long as your bags are not the huge suitcases with wheels (which some unknown brands make way too big and still call them carry-on…) – you should 99% OK
Shahar
Hi,
It’s too late for me now, but this is useful info for other people. I agree that I saw lots of people with more than one item of luggage despite the rules.
Tim
Shahar,
It’s all well and good that you have managed to get away with it so far but unless you are travelling business/first class the majority of airlines that I am aware of (haven’t flown Turkish Airlines) stipulate that you are allowed one bag and one bag only (no concessions for handbags or laptop bags).
So carrying a laptop bag + Primus AW + Tripod you run the very big risk of arriving at the gate only to be told you’ll have to put some of your gear into the hold. If this happens, the downside is you now have a tripod going unprotected into the hold and you have to throw either your laptop or camera gear into it as well. This increases greatly the chance of items getting stolen or broken.
This is happening more an more, I’m frequently seeing the crew walking the line at the gate and pulling people out to have their bags checked for size.
Having said all that, I do tend to go over the wait limits but rarely size for carry-on. I find that if you have a backpack with all your gear and keep it on your back you tend not to draw much attention. For a tripod I leave this in checked luggage, while it is a risk I prefer this to the potential alternatives.
Hi,
I partially agree with what you said – because there’s always that risk, but that’s why I minimize the risk to the minimum…
I carry my Manfrotto inside the padded MBAG80P (that way the tripod is a bit protected).
And regarding the decision between the Camera & the Laptop Bag – that’s why I take the Primus AW – you can put the laptop (I have inside a protective cover of some kind) inside the outer pocket of the Primus AW… and it’s just for the flight. Beside that nothing too valuable inside the laptop bag.
Regarding the bag size check, I do see people getting pulled out of the line, but usually those are the people with the really big Trolleys bags (it seems the non major brand bags tends to be bigger with expansions zippers, which people tends to over-pack… resulting in a bulky, heavy and non-standard size).
I travel with my Lowepro stealth reporter stuffed with macbookpro, 2 bodies, 3 lenses, cables, wacom etc, way more than 8k… I did that tens of times on many companies, never had a single issue doing so.
cheers
Tim – I completely empathize. I was traveling SwissAir last year and after getting through security, wrote this blog post while waiting at the gate. If not helpful, maybe it is at least mildly amusing for you:
http://www.burnsorama.com/blog/2008/04/30/the-illogic-of-airline-carry-on-limits-a-weighty-subject/
What is your “lightest backpack”? Most backpacks take up a significant portion of your weight allowance when empty. Try looking at the Kiboko by GuraGear. It’s a bit more expensive than other brands but that’s because they use very light materials. It’s really capacious but only weighs 4 lbs. I’d put a link here but most blog spam filters don’t like a lot of links in comments.
Dave
Just came back from Southern Africa where the same potential problems arose. SA Airways also limit carry-on to 8kg. My Thinktank Airport Acceleration had – 50D, 40D, 300 f2.8, 70-200 f4,50 1.8, 10-22, 1.4x and 2x extenders, 8×42 bins, Acer Aspire One netbook, Hyperdrive Colorspace UDMA, 5 batteries and all the chargers/cables for above. Oh, and a spare change of underwear – just in case. Total weight was 11.5 kg!
Luckily I’m a big guy and I can make the bag look fairly small. When asked about cabin baggage I casually swing it off my back and say “Just this one piece”. Never been asked to have it weighed! However, I always travel with a vest that has capacious pockets. If ever I do have a problem then I reckon I can get 3 or 4 kg of gear in there.
What’s really irksome is the reasons airlines give for such stringent restrictions. Most of them will say it’s because of ‘security’. But why can I take twice as much onboard if I fly business class? If it was essential to take more than 8kg on board to blow up a plane don’t they think that terrorists would just cough up for business class (after all, they’re not going to be needing the dosh where they’re planning to go).
Oh, and while I’m in rant mode – Why can’t arlines restrict the seats with extra legroom to those that actually need them? Most times when flying economy I get told that all such seats have already been allocated and I’m gonna have to spend 11 hours with my knees tucked around my ears. And virtually every single time they’re full of midget-sized gits who could quite easily fit into standard seats.
I carry roughly the same amount of equipment and travel a lot on international airlines. none of them have ever bothered me because of my photo equipment. I have a LowePro rucksack with MacBook Pro 15″, Canon 5D + vertical grip, 24-105/4, 17-40/4, 70-200/2.8, 50/1.4, chargers, batteries, some other stuff and reading material. sometimes i carry a smaller rucksack and have the laptop in an extra bag, that is also not a problem. as long as it is not way too heavy, the size limit is the strict one – 55 x 45 x 25 cm is fairly common. i do put my tripod into checked in lugagge, mostly because i’m too lazy.
I fly many times a month with a LowePro Vertex 200 camera/laptop bag with 1 or 2 bodies (usually just one) several prime lenses, a Macbook pro and all the accessories. Most airlines let you carry a second personal item with is usually my tripod, or occasionally my projector bag. Last year I was traveling to 2-3 cities a week and all of this was never a problem. Can’t say about Turkish airlines though – were they really that stingy when it came time to board?
No way I travel with 10 kg of stuff at least…