Any airlines that allow you to carry all your camera gear as a carry on?

I've never had my hand luggage weighed on a real airline only scum air and the like.

However if your planning on going light on this holiday with just hand luggage why not go with the same approach and go light on the gear all that stuff your taking and travelling light don't really go together.
 
a1ex2001 said:
I've never had my hand luggage weighed on a real airline only scum air and the like.

However if your planning on going light on this holiday with just hand luggage why not go with the same approach and go light on the gear all that stuff your taking and travelling light don't really go together.
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im not taking much!

I am leaving my macbook pro behind and the ipad is coming with me and weighs nothing!

3 lenses and a dslr and the lightest most robust tripod u can ever own(gitzo travel series ) means i aint carrying much!

The bag only weighed 10kg with all my camera gear inside plus clothes
 
jonneymendoza said:
im not taking much!

I am leaving my macbook pro behind and the ipad is coming with me and weighs nothing!

3 lenses and a dslr and the lightest most robust tripod u can ever own(gitzo travel series ) means i aint carrying much!

The bag only weighed 10kg with all my camera gear inside plus clothes
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3 pro level lenses and a gripped pro body is a lot on a one bag trip!
 
I've never had my hand luggage weighed on a real airline only scum air and the like.
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the only people in this thread who mention having their carryon weighed were on Emirates etc ;)

ryanair are always too busy cattleprodding the masses onto the big metal tube to get the scales out....
 
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itsdavedotnet said:
the only people in this thread who mention having their carryon weighed were on Emirates etc
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The last time I flew with Emirates I had to hand my laptop to someone else in our party when I checked in as I knew my cabin baggage would be overweight with it, in fact I've had to do that with a few airlines but EK is the only one I can remember for sure. Sometimes one has to be sneaky with this stuff... :D
 
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We've flown with Virgin to the US a number of times over the last few years. We had our hand luggage weighed on the 2nd trip I think, and it's been weighed ever since on the outbound legs at least (I wonder if they can put markers on people - our bags were almost twice the limit the first time!). Last time we flew we both had Lokas and only put tripods in the hold and non-essentials. Check the small print regarding what you can take on the plane - Virgin allow handbags, small camera, reading material etc in addition to your actual carry-on bag. So I had a separate toploader which just fits my 5d2 and 24 TSE, tablet (reading material!) etc all stuffed into a smaller shopping bag. Virgin have now increased their allowance from 6kg to 10kg so I am hoping that it won't be so bad with our next flight in a few months. Incidentally, in the US they always seem to be a bit more easy-going with luggage weight - I think all of our checked bags were overweight last year by a couple of kg each.
 
Never had any problems with carry on camera bags with heavy camera lenses etc etc. One thing i won't do is put my camera bag in an overhead locker but keep it on the floor. Why? just watch so helpful other person get your camera bag down from an overhead locker and drop it.
 
jonneymendoza said:
its not gripped!

Some people in this very thread take two pro dslr!!!!!!!!!!
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Like me then! I'd never even dream of doing a serious trip with only one camera, the last thing I want when I'm wandering round Tokyo or somewhere like that is for my only camera to die. They wouldn't be gripped though, and I'm generally finding these days I only really use one lens (my beloved 24-105L) so it wouldn't be too horrendous!
 
here is my setup i am proposing


Untitled by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

For reference i loaded that small bag with my tripod, two pairs of jeans and other bits and bobs.

Inside the fstop loka i just put my retro 20 TT bag just to bulk it up(i wont be bringing that shoulder bag)
 
Yeah, BA are quite generous and I always used them between the UK and South Africa until the fares went haywire a few years ago. I just can't afford them now, unless a client is contributing.
 
jonneymendoza said:
here is my setup i am proposing


Untitled by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

For reference i loaded that small bag with my tripod, two pairs of jeans and other bits and bobs.

Inside the fstop loka i just put my retro 20 TT bag just to bulk it up(i wont be bringing that shoulder bag)
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That does look a little on the large side but it's a bit difficult to tell. What are your plans for flights? Do you have any internal flights on smaller aircraft? You'll easily get that on something like an A320/737 but I doubt it will go in the overhead bins of something like a Dash 8, might be a bit big to shove under the seat in front too!
 
PMN said:
That does look a little on the large side but it's a bit difficult to tell. What are your plans for flights? Do you have any internal flights on smaller aircraft? You'll easily get that on something like an A320/737 but I doubt it will go in the overhead bins of something like a Dash 8, might be a bit big to shove under the seat in front too!
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Yea I plan to go to some domestic flights.well see how it goes lol
 
ACW said:
Fly BA if you can
...
7D + 5DII bodies
500mm f4 (bigger and heavier than all of your lenses put together)
70-200mm 2.8
10-20mm
50mm
Flash gun
Ipad
Hard drive

+ various accessories such as cards batteries etc.
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I have flown several times with BA, with roughly the same in a single bag. Their rule when I looked it up on the website at the time, was the bag must be lifted unaided into an overhead locker by the passenger.

I have had the same stuff in my bag with another airline, got stopped and weighed. I took a lens out, and put it in my pocket in front of the check-in desk, re-weighed and went to security.
If you do have someone travelling with you, try to get them to swap some stuff with you. Perhaps a book that you can hold/read whilst being checked in.
Personally, I would check the tripod into the hold. Once got stopped walking down a foreign beach with a monopod, it looked a lot like a baseball bat I think
 
I have used Lufthansa and Austrian Air, both twice in the last couple of weeks and have also often used Ryan Air, all with no problems. Just have the bag casually lobbed over one shoulder as though it was of no concern. My gear was well over 7kg!
 
jonneymendoza said:
Should I put my tripod in the hold? Its a series 2 travel tripod from gitzo
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I've always put my tripod in the hold. Your average baggage mangler isn't going to know the difference between a £50 tripod and a £500 tripod, so it's unlikely to be nicked.
 
I have flown with China Southern twice and on both occasions never had my hand luggage weighed.
 
beefybarn40 said:
I have flown with China Southern twice and on both occasions never had my hand luggage weighed.
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The thing with weighing hand luggage is it's very hit and miss. I haven't had mine weighed a huge number of times but if you are over and they insist you reduce the weight it can cause huge problems at check in as you try figure out what you can put into your hold luggage or distribute amongst people you're travelling with if they have space. It's definitely better to know you're under than to assume it's all going to be alright because at some point it might not be!
 
my experience it shouldnt be an issue at all

I have carried a 5d3 with 24-105, 100 2.8 17-40 and giotto vitruvian tripod in a hadley pro on a number on major airlines including BA
 
I have flown United Airlines, Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines, Egypt Air, Tunis Air, Great Lakes, Air Canada, American Airlines, and some others I can't remember. I have never had any problem, nobody ever have weighed my bags. I carry on 2 bags, 1 medium backpack (computer, batteries, and such) and 1 medium camera bags (2 bodies 5 or 6 lenses) I have flown to several countries in Africa, Europe, Russia, and Middle East. Never any problems, with my 1 carry-on and 1 "personal item"
 
I often have my hand luggage weighed but when I know it's going to be a problem I hang my camera over my shoulder, put stuff in my pocket etc. I took my 70-200mm out and stood it on the floor in front of the desk while they weighed my bag once and then put it back in again.
 
JamesF said:
I have flown United Airlines, Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines, Egypt Air, Tunis Air, Great Lakes, Air Canada, American Airlines, and some others I can't remember. I have never had any problem, nobody ever have weighed my bags. I carry on 2 bags, 1 medium backpack (computer, batteries, and such) and 1 medium camera bags (2 bodies 5 or 6 lenses) I have flown to several countries in Africa, Europe, Russia, and Middle East. Never any problems, with my 1 carry-on and 1 "personal item"
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Yeah they don't weigh it often, I've done almost 500 flights with 50-ish different airlines through around 45 countries around the world on just about every type of plane currently flying (and a few that don't fly anymore), I've only had it weighed a handful of times but the point for me is that when you get that one check in or gate agent who's having a bad day and decides to be an arse it can be a huge pain. What would you rather put in your hold luggage and risk never seeing working again? A laptop? Your main lens? Your main camera body?

It's all very well people saying how much they've flown and that they've never had a problem but it's a risk I'm just not willing to take. Fair to say I fall squarely into the 'very experienced flyer' category and although my experiences of having hand luggage weighed are few and far between I also know what a pain it can be to try get that weight down. When you're carrying 8 grand's worth of gear and the 'cheapest' bit costs around 1000 quid the decision of which bit of gear to ditch isn't an easy one!
 
I think I said it here previously but I have had my bag weighed most of the time.

Last time it was a REAL pain. I was carrying my 400d gripped along with my new 70 200 f2.8 that I just bought and my laptop and they weighed and insisted I put some on my hold.tried re arranging many times over and no joy.

Whats funny is that when I went and checked in a new desk the guy did not weigh my hand luggage. He asked me if I had and showed it to him and said it has my laptop and camera. He said yea its fine and didn't weigh it.

Same thing when I went back home on the return flight from the Philippines. They did weigh it but when I showed them my gear.the kind lady asked a senior employer and the senior employer said its fine again.

It really is hit and miss.
 
jonneymendoza said:
I'm only going to bring one :) it was just to add weight and bulk to see if I can strap it on my bag
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Can that second bag not go in your hold luggage? You're only usually allowed to carry a laptop or smallish musical instrument as a second piece of cabin baggage, it's not unreasonable for a check-in agent to class what you have there as two bags and ask you to put one down.
 
PMN said:
Can that second bag not go in your hold luggage? You're only usually allowed to carry a laptop or smallish musical instrument as a second piece of cabin baggage, it's not unreasonable for a check-in agent to class what you have there as two bags and ask you to put one down.
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Yes that's the idea mate. As I can't bring my tripod as hand luggage. That bags primary use is to house my tripod when traveling by air plane
 
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