Airport baggage advice please

[g_robins]

I will soon be going on a short trip by plane (first one for 35 years :oops::p). I will have my camera gear in my lowepro bag and a holdall for my clothes. Should I put both bags through baggage or carry my camera bag on as hand luggage?

Any other tips welcome, the flying I'm not worried about it's the crashing :D

[SkipD]

Carry your photo equipment with you on board. It would be at risk for both damage and theft if you checked the camera bag through as luggage.

There's no ordinary camera bag made that protects the equipment well enough to run it through checked luggage. If you must check it, you want a well-padded hard-sided case such as the Pelican cases to protect the equipment.

[timnosenzo]

Check with the airline, but typically they'll only allow you one bag that is carry-on size ad one bag that is smaller (like a laptop bag). I'm not sure how big your camera bag is, but you might be able to get away with it.

Definitely don't check in your camera gear. Ever.

[pumbaa]

I will soon be going on a short trip by plane (first one for 35 years :oops::p). I will have my camera gear in my lowepro bag and a holdall for my clothes. Should I put both bags through baggage or carry my camera bag on as hand luggage?

Any other tips welcome, the flying I'm not worried about it's the crashing :D

Southampton in UK? If so, most UK airports only allow you one carry-on item. Make that your camera gear. We have a Lowepro CompuTrekker AW Plus (its pretty big) and we've only ever had one problem (which was on a puddle-jumper with an anal flight attendant....)

[jbuk1975]

check with the airline to see what size & weight restrictions they have on hand luggage, the info should be available on their website


i know for the airline im travelling with soon i can carry on 1 bag roughly the size of a medium rucksack with max weight of 7kg , i can probably get away with a little bigger and heavier unless a jobsworth decides to interfere

[SouthNola]

As statistics have proven for years,the most dangerous part of your journey will be driving to and from the airport. Not the flight itself. Travel well.

[SHULTSIE!!!]

I've always carried my camera gear and laptop in the cabin, and checked everything else. Generally, the larger airlines/planes will allow 2 bags-1 carry on and one personal, although some airports may restrict passengers to a single bag... I've never had an issue with it though, and I've yet to be stopped at the metal detectors.

[Jon]

OP's apparently in the UK. BAA restricts (ATM) you to 1 carry-on although they're promising to relax this to 2 on an airport-by-airport basis. Until then, check your clothes. Never check your camera gear.

[therock]

I always try for a window seat behind the wing. When I do I see them loading the luggage and man! I'll never let them have it.

[rhys]

I always try for a window seat behind the wing. When I do I see them loading the luggage and man! I'll never let them have it.

Yes. The baggage personnel seem to have a game going half the time, trying to catch each other out - and when they do, luggage drops 20 feet to the ground!

I would advise a Pelican 1500. I will probably buy one soon since my wife and I are likely to fly to Britain at some point. That way your stuff is secure even if security has another one of those ridiculous scares about mythical bomb plots.

As an aside, I don't believe anybody has been convicted of most of these bomb plots as none of the explosives were ever viable other than in amateurish theory.

[foxbat]

I will soon be going on a short trip by plane (first one for 35 years :oops::p). I will have my camera gear in my lowepro bag and a holdall for my clothes. Should I put both bags through baggage or carry my camera bag on as hand luggage?

Any other tips welcome, the flying I'm not worried about it's the crashing :D

Yes definitely carry the lowepro and put the holdall in the hold. You don't say who you are flying with but the 'short trip' hint perhaps indicates a smaller plane. There will be size and weight limits to the one item of hand luggage that you are allowed. Check the airlines website to make sure you are within them and you'll be fine.

Finally, you can't fly with lens or sensor cleaning fluid at all. As flammable liquids they are banned from the hold.

[pete.rush]

I will soon be going on a short trip by plane (first one for 35 years :oops::p). I will have my camera gear in my lowepro bag and a holdall for my clothes. Should I put both bags through baggage or carry my camera bag on as hand luggage?

Any other tips welcome, the flying I'm not worried about it's the crashing :D

Definitely check with the airline your flying with before you fly, most of the flight out of saints aren't large aircraft so space is abit of a premium, flew to scotland and had to put by handluggage into storage, but if you can avoid it I would never put camera gear (especially in something like a lowepro bag) in the hold unless you've got something like a Pelican case

Peter

[GregFarz78]

I would never check camera gear if anything happens to it you better hope you have insurance on it b/c the airline isn't responsible and they won't pay to replace broken/lost items

[Ultimate CC]

yea i have a computrekker aw bag that i carry on and my tripod whenever i fly...

[gymell]

I carried my gear on board in a ThinkTank Airport International and Urban Disguise 60. I had a lot of heavy gear and a notebook computer, so the Urban Disguise was jam packed pretty full, but it passed as my 2nd "smaller" carryon. I checked my tripod in a hard-sided Nalpak tripod case. Everything came though great! Of course if you are limited to a single carry on, and need to check some gear, a Pelican case would definitely be needed.

[jsanz11]

I carry my equipment with me on board all the time. Don't trust anyone with it but myself

[Matt_R]

I carry my Lowepro Computrekker Plus AW on board with me, no way I'd be checking that in. The tripod can go in my checked bag.

I've had no problem with size on the larger jets. The CRJ was a little cramped, and the smaller turboprops (HS.748 and Convair 580) have a valet carry on service since the overheads either don't exist or are too small for.

The Computrekker Plus meets carry on size limits, but some airlines limit you to 7kg per carry on bag - lucky they never seem to weigh mine. These days I put my laptop in my wife's carry on bag, as my laptop started getting a couple of cracks in it.

[rdeguzman]

OP's apparently in the UK. BAA restricts (ATM) you to 1 carry-on although they're promising to relax this to 2 on an airport-by-airport basis. Until then, check your clothes. Never check your camera gear.
How long has this been? When I went to the UK in 2005 I didn't get any problems with me carying on 1 laptop bag and 1 medium sized camera bag.

[Jon]

After the "liquid bomb plot" in the summer of '06. You know - when shampoo got ruled a safety risk.

[Scunner]

I'm flying home to Scotland in a couple of weeks for the holidays, so I checked up on the restrictions for Delta (Cincinnati to London) and British Airways (London to Glasgow).

Both domestic and international Delta flights allow two carry-on items; a small bag and laptop, for example. However, British Airways allow only one carry-on item on any of their flights, domestic or international.

If I get on the Delta flight with two carry-ons, I'd have to check one of them when I reach London before my connecting flight. I'll save myself the bother, and only bring one carry-on bag with me.

It's just not worth the risk these days to hope that you might slip past with extra items. I'd rather "plan for the worst" and get through security and the departure gate quickly.

[nutsnbolts]

Take a look at thinktank (http://www.thinktankphoto.com) products.

I actually carried my gear with a Speed Racer and Urban Disguise 60. My wife carried my tripod in a Big Bazooka which are all ThinkTank products.

Check out some of the reviews I did below. We will be launching a gear site next year (January/February) going into the details of ThinkTank products for starters.

Nevertheless, ThinkTank has several items that can be geared to your use. But most definately, I would not check in my gear.

[pete.rush]

How long has this been? When I went to the UK in 2005 I didn't get any problems with me carying on 1 laptop bag and 1 medium sized camera bag.

You were always allowed to carry on a laptop + bag, as long as it fit under the seat and 1 piece of handluggage when the restrictions were relaxed a little, now I believe, you are allowed 2 pieces of handluggage + a laptop and bag, but you might need to check

Peter