Surviving baggage sizes and weight restrictions

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Taus

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Hello everyone,

I was searching for a related topic but I couldn't find one so I decided to start the thread.

In a recent travel I was asked to weight my carry on luggage and I was told that I was passing the 8kg limit. Luckily I got away with a warning.

So the is what I had:
Backpack..............................1140g
1000D.....................................450g
Tamron18_270mm.................450g
5D...........................................800g
Canon24_105mm..................800g
Canon50mm..........................550g
Laptop..................................2300g
External disk..........................320g
Batteries................................180g
Battery bank..........................120g
360 camera...........................150g
Filters......................................82g
Laptop charger......................450g
Mobile charger........................62g
1000d battery charger............85g
5D battery charger...............150g
GorillaPod............................399g

The total is 8488g

I don't know if I'm forgetting anything else ... I also had a book.

So I guess they've let me get away with a half kilo difference :naughty:

I'm surprized that my laptop is 2.3Kg and also the fact that the backpack alone is 1.14kg.
My backpack fits under the seat, the problem is the weight of everything.

There are a lot of videos about camera gear and bags but something doesn’t add up. I mean, there's people taking big lenses and drones. Canon70_200mm for example is 1.64kg.

So please comment on what is your traveling gear and bag.
 
Yea i see people bringing drones and gimbals etc. Crazy.

My bag always weighs over 10kg but it's due to having other thinks like my asthma pumps, the chargers, battery packs, Nintendo switch etc.

I went philippines with the below camera gear

A9
24-70 F2.8
12-24 f4
35mm 2.8
85mm 1.8
25mm f2
Battery grip
 
To get around it, I have used the coat pocket trick. I've stuffed my pockets with lenses before, 35mm, 50mm, memory cards, batteries, just stuff those pockets full as much as you can to take weight out of the bag.
 
Had to use the pocket trick many times. Seems crazy to have to do it.
 
I have had 2 experiences where sticks in my mind.

Like I said I normally fly BA, but both instances the 2nd leg of the journey were a smaller plane.

1 - The first time in an internal flight between Chicago to Erie, it was a tiny plane in a 2 seat/aisle/1 seat configuration. At the gate I was given 2 choices….leave my pelican case behind or check it. I had a full case with 2 bodies, 5 lenses and 4 flashes in there.

I had to check it, the only bag they allow as carry on is a messenger bag.

Pelican case came out the other end with both latches open only held together by my locks!

2 - Internal flight from Tokyo to Fukuoka. This time I had a back pack, with laptop, headphones, 5D4 and 3 lenses. It's not a massive bag, your generic size day to day back pack but at the gate they had scales ! every passenger had to weigh their bags before boarding.

I ended up stuffing my pockets. Headphones on my head, lenses in pocket, memory cards and what not. the limit was 7kg so it wasn't a lot of room to play with as my laptop is about 2kg.
 
Carry-on baggage restrictions are more tightly enforced than they once were. They vary, but there are quite a few lists of who allows what, like this one, but you should always check https://www.skyscanner.net/news/cabin-luggage-guide-hand-baggage-sizes-and-weight-restrictions

Some camera bags sold as 'cabin friendly' are not. The reference could be to US domestic flights that are more generous. A common allowance is one bag up to 10kg, max 55x40x23cm but there are lots of variations around that. Eg BA allows up to 23kg plus an extra bag, other airlines will only allow 5-6kg.

Sometimes you can get away with more, but it's hard to know in advance. The main variable is how full the flight is, but any flexibility depends on the model of aircraft, how zealous the check-in attendant is, and the cut of your jib. Arguing the toss is likely to get everything thrown in the hold and/or an extra charge.

Stuffing a few bits and pieces into your jacket pockets is a popular trick and, anecdotally, usually seems to work - if you're wearing it, it's not counted as baggage. You can even buy travellers' coats that are full of huge pockets, like a walking warbrobe. Or a photographers' waistcoat/gilet is a good way of carrying kit anyway and you can stash quite a decent system of camera and lenses/flash into one of those. Only £15-20 on Amazon/ebay.
 
Chargers, leads and supports go in the hold baggage. If the carry on bag is still overweight, a heavy lens (or 2) will go in a pocket and a body will go round my neck.
 
jonneymendoza said:
In the us u are not allowed to take on board a electronic device bigger than a phone...
Click to expand...
So for flying into, around, out of the USA you cannot take any camera gear as cabin luggage??? Really?
 
Raymond Lin said:
every passenger had to weigh their bags before boarding.
Click to expand...

Might be a good idea to sometimes weigh passengers that occupy two seats simultaneously - I'm talking ambulatory bi-pods!

Probably not PC to mention this but, "passenger size" makes a mockery of all this hand luggage size/weight malarky
 
Retune said:
You can take them in your carry on, you just have to separate them for screening at security, as you would a laptop.
https://petapixel.com/2017/07/26/tsa-requires-separate-screening-cameras-airports-now/
Click to expand...
Retune said:
You can take them in your carry on, you just have to separate them for screening at security, as you would a laptop.
https://petapixel.com/2017/07/26/tsa-requires-separate-screening-cameras-airports-now/
Click to expand...
ahh ok so like when i travelled to abu dhabi with my gear
 
I take my Sony A7 with a compact prime and an extra battery in a small Lowepro bag and charger and my Panny TZ100 and charger and all in a sports bag with pockets at each ends for a few bits.

When travelling to and from Thailand last year at Abu Dhabi they had the smallest trays I've yet seen and they declared that my sports bag was oversized so I had to take a soft jacket out of the end pocket and squash the bag into the tray.
 
I tend to use EasyJet to get into Europe as they still have no weight restrictions with carry-on as long as you can lift it up to the over-head locker. Regularly taking a Peli 1510 weighing c16kg with no issues.

GC
 
kendo1 said:
The link above is out of date, Ryan Air changed to 1 small (handbag size) bag on January 15th allowed in cabin - unless you pay extra.

https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/plan-trip/flying-with-us/baggage-policy
Click to expand...

There's a footnote about Ryan Air and when you can/can't have a second bag. I checked that whole list last year for a magazine article and it appears to be kept up to date, but that's no guarantee of course.

Most airlines are broadly similar but there are also some huge differences. It's a handy reference when choosing flights, but always check with the airline. Baggage allowances are always clearly shown on their websites.

Edit: with some airlines the baggage allowance changes with the class of ticket, eg Business Class etc.
 
Last edited:
HoppyUK said:
There's a footnote about Ryan Air and when you can/can't have a second bag. I checked that whole list last year for a magazine article and it appears to be kept up to date, but that's no guarantee of course.

Most airlines are broadly similar but there are also some huge differences. It's a handy reference when choosing flights, but always check with the airline. Baggage allowances are always clearly shown on their websites.

Edit: with some airlines the baggage allowance changes with the class of ticket, eg Business Class etc.
Click to expand...
I just checked as I am off to Bratislava next week, flying Ryan Air. I probably won't be sitting next to my wife as we booked two tickets!
 
Its a minefield as to which airlines let you carry what and in what configuration.

The ranges as has been said from BA who pretty much go with if you can carry it on then go for it to 7kg with 14kg in 2 bags with no one bag having more than 10.

Having said that if you look like you aren't struggling then they generally don't bother weighing carry on.

What is surprising is that BAs overheads can accommodate say 3 x 23kg bags where as other cannot. Seems a bit random

Smaller carriers are more stringent.
 
jamesev said:
Having said that if you look like you aren't struggling then they generally don't bother weighing carry on.
Click to expand...

I used to think the same.

I flew to Moscow last year via Riga, as I knew the gig involved a foot slog through forest around a Russian Air Base I took a Lowe-Pro Vertex instead of the Peli with a total weight of 14kg. At check in with Air Baltic I did my normal trick of lifting the bag by the top handle with just one finger but the operative insisted on weighing. The limit was 8kg but fortunately one of the guys I was travelling with had next to nothing in his carry on so took a body and a couple of lenses for me. Had no issues with onward Riga to Moscow sector with Aeroflot.

GC
 
gcgraphs said:
I used to think the same.

I flew to Moscow last year via Riga, as I knew the gig involved a foot slog through forest around a Russian Air Base I took a Lowe-Pro Vertex instead of the Peli with a total weight of 14kg. At check in with Air Baltic I did my normal trick of lifting the bag by the top handle with just one finger but the operative insisted on weighing. The limit was 8kg but fortunately one of the guys I was travelling with had next to nothing in his carry on so took a body and a couple of lenses for me. Had no issues with onward Riga to Moscow sector with Aeroflot.

GC
Click to expand...
That would be a more stringent smaller carrier
 
i know when we flew with delta 2 years ago my camera rucksack was a bit over 10kg and they didn't bother to weigh it, only thing that got flagged up was when it went through the scanner and i had made the rookie mistake of leaving the screwdriver in my lee filter case but that was in my wife's bag not mine :LOL:
 
keeweeman said:
i know when we flew with delta 2 years ago my camera rucksack was a bit over 10kg and they didn't bother to weigh it, only thing that got flagged up was when it went through the scanner and i had made the rookie mistake of leaving the screwdriver in my lee filter case but that was in my wife's bag not mine :LOL:
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Of course there's always the mystery as to whether its the airline or the airport. I've found LAX is the biggest pain in the a$$ airport to deal with.
 
kendo1 said:
The link above is out of date, Ryan Air changed to 1 small (handbag size) bag on January 15th allowed in cabin - unless you pay extra.

https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/plan-trip/flying-with-us/baggage-policy
Click to expand...

I flew a round trip to Poland with them last month, taking a backpack rather than wheelie case as is the norm and was waved through on both flights without so much as a second glance. My bag went in the cabin. Maybe not definitive, but perhaps a good idea!
 
On my recent trip to Phuket, we flew Thai Airways, with an 8kg carry on limit. My roller case was just under 10kg (2 x X-T2, grips, a lot of lenses) plus a Macbook & an iPad Pro). It was never weighed, but the did ask me to put it into a frame to check the size. My fall back option was to out the 100-400 & 10-24 into my sons bag as he had plenty spare in his carry on. Small tripod went into the hold baggage, along with filters etc all wrapped up in clothes.

When we went to Australia a few years ago I had to remove the lens from the body so they could check inside!!
 
Nod said:
Chargers, leads and supports go in the hold baggage.
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^^^This, I've even put a lens in the hold, came out the other end OK. Also most things these days (phone etc) can be charged from a USB port so you only need the lead and not the charger. I also take a tablet rather than a laptop, I'm not going to spend my holiday doing serious PP
 
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