Airlines that dont check your hand luggage?

As the title says. What airlines allow you to carry your camera gear along inside the plane?

Most airlines seem to only allow you carry 5-7kg only! That is barely enough for one light lens and a smallish DSLR nevermind bringing a couple other lenses or using semi pro DSLR's.

What are you experiences in this matter?

I am planning to go vietnam next month with literally just a medium sized backpack(the fstop loka) And it will have a 5d3 none gripped, 16-35L f2.8, 24-70 f2.8L and a 70-200 f2.8 L.

It will also contain a few spare clothes, bits and bobs(creames. asthma pump etc), ipad 10inch and my carbon fibre 2x series Gitzo tripod.

I do not want to check this in the baggage at all!

i could transfer some of my clothes to another small bag but the purpose of this whole trip is to just have a backpack and me mobile. i do not wanna lug around extra bags!

Thoughts?

i would liek to fly with these lot http://www.csair.com/e​n/faq/static/ssxdxlxz.​shtml as they seem cheapest for plane tickets

Need to find an airline to travel from London to Vietnam!

Most of the international carriers I have flown allow 7-10kg (Cathay, Virgin etc) but they are not budget airlines. If you fly based on price your carrier is going to be far stricter about both weight and cabin space.

Luckily none of the international carriers I have flown have ever weighed my carry on, because it weighs more than the allowed amount - DSLR, three lenses (inc 70-200 f2.8), flash, assorted filters etc. In addition to my carry on bag I have also carried on my tripod, in a separate bag.

It is also important to remember that if you do any domestic flights in your destination country the hand baggage allowances may be less/non-existent.

1. If asked to check your hand baggage explain that it is delicate optical equipment. Step out of line if necessary so as not to make their job more difficult while you talk to someone. Don't make demands, just explain what it is and ask them for their help in getting it there safely.
2. Make sure you have insurance and that it covers you during travel and at your destination. If you meet an intransigent member of gate staff you may be forced to check your bag. If it is stolen or damaged while checked the airline will NOT cover the cost of your equipment.

The regulations of that airline seem a lot more restrictive than what I have encountered in six international trips in the last three years (US twice, Italy twice, Canada and Ireland). I have never had my carry-on weighed, although I have seen people being told that what they want to take in the cabin is too big to fit in the overhead bin. My backpack contains 5D2, 24-70, 70-200, 1.4 TC, tripod, iPad Mini, medicines, basic stuff like toothbrush, etc., spare shirt, underpants and socks. I would suggest you pack the tripod and other non-fragile gear and clothing in a soft bag that can be checked and then when you get to 'Nam you can transfer everything to your backpack and fold up the bag and put that in the pack also.

I took a 50lb backpack to Mexico and Jamaica on separate occasions as a carry-on. I think the flight was American Airlines both times.

I don't know if the scanner folks were just cool or what but they basically just commented about how they didn't blame me for not wanting to check it and told me to have a nice day.

I am not a frequent flyer though and that's the extent of my international travel with a lot of gear.

Never been to Vietnam, and I don't know what airlines you are on.

In extensive travel to Europe, Asia and South America on US and European carriers, I've never had a carry-on bag weighed. All they care about is size, and it breaks down like this:

1) On large planes you can carry anything up to the size of a standard (small) rollaround suitcase. But, if the overhead bins are full by the time you board, they will take it and check it. The absolute safe bet is to put your camera gear in something that can fit under the seat in front of you.

2) Expanding on point 1), local flights at your destination country may be on smaller planes (Flokker 90's, some of the Embraers, Avro etc). These things have small overhead bins that will not take your rollaround bag and so they all get checked at the jetway. Again, if it fits under a seat, you probably get to keep it no matter what. Stuff in large bags is at risk of being taken from you on some flights.

And I have never been on a flight where they cared how much my carry-on weighs, which makes sense since lugging it is my problem and not theirs. They do care what your checked bag weighs because their baggage handlers need to toss it around and break it, and heavy bags are hard to throw well.

I'm yet to be on a flight that cares about the weight of my carry ons.

the tripod will be the problem, most will not allow to carry on.

trewyn15 wrote in post #16547705
I'm yet to be on a flight that cares about the weight of my carry ons.

Same here, never been asked to weigh carry-ons. I generally take 2 camera bags, a ThinkTank Airport Security as my carry-on, and a ThinkTank Streetwalker backpack as my personal item, fits easily under the seat in front.

tonyniev wrote in post #16547710
the tripod will be the problem, most will not allow to carry on.

I travel with a RRS 34l tripod and hsve never had a problem taking it in the cabin as a carry on.

Several times I've removed the ICU with my camera gear and gate checked the backpack with tripod. That way the expensive gear stays with me but I have the flexibility of not actually checking bags. Might be an approach to consider.

Fat chance the airlines will ever come up with a common standard, if they can't even be consistent from year to year with only their own policy. We now have...
•11lb/5kg
•12lb
•13lb/6Kg
•15lb/7Kg
•16lb
•17lb/8Kg
•20lb
•22lb/10Kg
•26lb
•30lb
•33lb
•40lb/18Kg
•51lb

...all as carryon limits on various airlines around the world, and variably enforced in leniency.

Most airlines I've been on have a limit of 5/7kg on carry on. I've never had mine weighed, save for once, and it came in at 12kg, but she just mentioned the fact that it was overweight and let me go anyway.

JeffreyG wrote in post #16547686
In extensive travel to Europe, Asia and South America on US and European carriers, I've never had a carry-on bag weighed. All they care about is size

With over 30 years of extensive travel to all continents except Africa, on North and South American carriers, European carriers and Asian carriers, I also had never experienced carry-on bag weigh ins...until I travelled on Air New Zealand (from San Francisco) in 2006! They weighed my carryon, they weighed my wife's...and I had to remove items to checked baggage until I was only 0.5kg over the 7.0Kg carry-on limit! Then Qantas forced me to check a piece of luggage, when travelling within Australia, when its feet (not the bag proper) jutted about 1/2" too far out.

Ive had mine weighed almost all the time i go to the philippines via cathay or emirates!

anyways i just weighed my fstop loka bag with 3 days worth of clothes, all my lenses and camera plus my ipad and it weighs just below 10kg.

On the day it will wiegh over 10kg once i add some of my bits and bobs like passport, documents, chargers and spare batteries but so far so good. All in all if i added my tripod it will be around 11kg.

Edit: i even weighed it with my macbook pro retina and it came down to 11kg when i added it