Posted by Mike Smith on August 18, 2006 at 11:50 AM
Yes I know lots of forums discussing this more thoroughly, but picked this up in one Photonet reply, which is somewhat worrying
"Yesterday's reccomendation of the EU Commission was not allow any photo gear as carry-on luggage in all flights departing from any EU airport to any destination, so you can expect an EU regulation obligying EU airports to exclude photo gear as carry-on luggage in a few months."
Anyone else come across this rumour or can confirm any basis of fact?
Been researching the new airline cabin carry on box measuring problem, so far can only come up with a couple of Crumpler bags or a Peli laptop case the alternative is to try and stuff a laptop bag, but if they turf out the camera gear under the above ruling....
All airlines have now listed what you can or can not take on board as hand luggage. Electronic equipment, excluding laptops, seems to be hold only.
No big deal really, just pack up your kit in a good case and it will be fine in the hold. I've been taking firearms with some very expensive and fine tuned optics on board planes' luggage holds for years and have never once had reason to complain about them being damaged or even out of zero when they arrive. As long as you're carefull with your packing there's no real reason not to use the hold.
John
Posted by David Kjaer on August 18, 2006 at 1:57 PM
Hi Mike
Packed in a Pelecan case or similar should be fine in the hold - but getting your insurance company to insure against theft when in a aircraft hold could be a problem for many of us and needs addressing by the airlines. My insurance company will give me no cover in the hold!
David
Posted by Paul Gibbs on August 18, 2006 at 6:18 PM
Drive? Courier/UPS insured postal?
A locked hard case in a duffle bag would be pretty secure... and hard to spot/be stolen
I think its all a scam to make us carry less on aircraft and pay more for excess baggage?
Posted by Mike Smith on August 19, 2006 at 2:32 AM
Not sure I would trust putting anything in the hold at present, seems to be back to the bad old days of a thieves charter
I think what John says above is not quite right - electronic items are allowed in hand baggage but each has to be inspected individually. Here's an extract of prohibited articles from BAA's web site:
The following items are prohibited from hand (cabin) baggage: Any cosmetics, any toiletries, including toothpaste, hair gel, lotions, perfume, deodorant, shaving foam, aerosols, etc, any liquids, any drinks and any sharp objects.
Yes I believe we are stuffed. But it is very much due to BAA who have long campaigned to minimise hand luggage. Previously this has been the airline's responsibility. For BAA, less hand luggage equals less staff needed equals more profit. Instead of pulling the stops out with the current problem, they have persuaded Government that less luggage means greater security when all it requires is greater efforts on their part.
My insurers are OK about hold luggage but I think they are one of the few. I have previously lost small items from hold luggage and am very nervous about this route. What compensation is insurance when you arrive at some expensive destination and find your big tele is missing?
Incidentally, I don't see any moves to increase checked baggage allowances in compensation. Unless you are lucky enough to turn left, our allowance is usually a measly 20kg whereas US and some other countries have vastly more than this
This is a great chance for the loss-making airlines and airports to screw the customers for more money in excess baggage while declaiming any responsibility whatsoever for losing or smashing your gear in-transit.
Until such time as the airlines and the airports begin to respect their customers (and baggage) and come to realise that they pay their wages, they should be boycotted - and told why! Trouble is that they have a monopoly and have us over a barrel and they know it!
Seems to me like there is a huge potential for an Airline to come out with a sensible service for people travelling with expensive gear. The first one to offer a service which doesn't treat you like cattle (with the equivalent rights!) - and which also treats your baggage with respect - will get so much business from photographers, videographers, musicians and businessmen who don't want their equipment and livelihood either stolen or smashed to bits on the tarmac or luggage carousel.
Anyone got a spare biz-jet for charter???? If you have, now's the time to start shouting loudly and rub some noses in the dirt as you steal the big boy's customers....
Posted by Javier Martin on August 19, 2006 at 12:24 PM
I find it amazing that at this time of age airlines cannot guarantee the safe transport of photographic equipment.
Things do not look very good for us at present. I am afraid this could mean the end to my nature travels for a while. I will stick to the UK or travel by car in Europe. No way I am taking anything in the hold.
I'm going to the US in a couple of weeks; all paid for with no possibility of cancellation. I usually travel with a LowePro Roadrunner containing my 600/f4, a body, a 70-200/f2.8, a 24-70/f2.8 and a couple of other bits, plus a LowePro Stealth 650 containing my laptop 300/f2.8, a body and battery chargers. It doesn't look like its going to be possible to get the Roadrunner on as carry-on at the moment, I'm going to have to adopt another strategy.
Although I've got a Pelican 1610 that will hold my LowePro ProTrekker, sending this unlocked as checked baggage, even inside a dufflebag, is inviting theft. At the moment, I'm more inclned to put the ProTrekker into a normal-looking Samonite suitcase if the gear has to go in the hold. Does anyone know what is invovled in shipping your gear to an international destination using FedEX, or one of the other international courier services?
I've never done it, but I've seen a few people suggesting it might be possible to "check" the gear onto the flight the day before as cargo/air-freight (accompanied cargo?!?). That way it might possibly be on the same flight as you but, as it goes freight (not baggage), it shouldn't have the added risk of bouncing on the tarmac or developing legs and walking off the carousel at the other end.
Worth a try anyway. I think FedEx/UPS might be expensive (it seems to cost about £100 for a one way ticket for a 500/4 from the US.) Using freight you might encounter a Carnet charge though .
Hi guys
I came back from the U.S last Monday and had no problems with carrying nearly 20 kilos of cameras/lenses etc on the plane as hand luggage,I did pay excess baggage but only due to continental airlines anal attitude and that was for hold luggage,Security was very tight as you couls imagine as the bombing alert was at its highest and we had to strip dowm to teeshirts and take shoes off and be body searched as well and the plane was 2 hrs late due to this but that didnt bother me,I know there was a no hand luggage this side but thats being slackened off now,Just dont take liquids,gels and lipsticks if you are that way inclined in your hand luggage
Another thing worth mentioning is that all hold luggage is to be left unlocked!!!!!! and some airlines ask for laptops etc to carried in the hold although we didnt have this problem
I've decided to send my gear by courier to my hotel in Anchorage using the FedEx Express service First Luggage http://www.firstluggage.com/. It's a door to door service, with no duties or other tariffs to pay on arrival, and the cost is £129 for one bag weighing upto 30kg, one way. I'm a little bit heavier than that, but I wish I could get to Alaska for £129!
I'm not anticipating a problem with carry-on bags on the return journey, so I have only booked one-way transport.
Discussion
12 replies"Yesterday's reccomendation of the EU Commission was not allow any photo gear as carry-on luggage in all flights departing from any EU airport to any destination, so you can expect an EU regulation obligying EU airports to exclude photo gear as carry-on luggage in a few months."
Anyone else come across this rumour or can confirm any basis of fact?
Been researching the new airline cabin carry on box measuring problem, so far can only come up with a couple of Crumpler bags or a Peli laptop case
Mike
No big deal really, just pack up your kit in a good case and it will be fine in the hold. I've been taking firearms with some very expensive and fine tuned optics on board planes' luggage holds for years and have never once had reason to complain about them being damaged or even out of zero when they arrive. As long as you're carefull with your packing there's no real reason not to use the hold.
John
Packed in a Pelecan case or similar should be fine in the hold - but getting your insurance company to insure against theft when in a aircraft hold could be a problem for many of us and needs addressing by the airlines. My insurance company will give me no cover in the hold!
David
A locked hard case in a duffle bag would be pretty secure... and hard to spot/be stolen
I think its all a scam to make us carry less on aircraft and pay more for excess baggage?
The following items are prohibited from hand (cabin) baggage: Any cosmetics, any toiletries, including toothpaste, hair gel, lotions, perfume, deodorant, shaving foam, aerosols, etc, any liquids, any drinks and any sharp objects.
Yes I believe we are stuffed. But it is very much due to BAA who have long campaigned to minimise hand luggage. Previously this has been the airline's responsibility. For BAA, less hand luggage equals less staff needed equals more profit. Instead of pulling the stops out with the current problem, they have persuaded Government that less luggage means greater security when all it requires is greater efforts on their part.
My insurers are OK about hold luggage but I think they are one of the few. I have previously lost small items from hold luggage and am very nervous about this route. What compensation is insurance when you arrive at some expensive destination and find your big tele is missing?
Incidentally, I don't see any moves to increase checked baggage allowances in compensation. Unless you are lucky enough to turn left, our allowance is usually a measly 20kg whereas US and some other countries have vastly more than this
This is a great chance for the loss-making airlines and airports to screw the customers for more money in excess baggage while declaiming any responsibility whatsoever for losing or smashing your gear in-transit.
Until such time as the airlines and the airports begin to respect their customers (and baggage) and come to realise that they pay their wages, they should be boycotted - and told why! Trouble is that they have a monopoly and have us over a barrel and they know it!
Seems to me like there is a huge potential for an Airline to come out with a sensible service for people travelling with expensive gear. The first one to offer a service which doesn't treat you like cattle (with the equivalent rights!) - and which also treats your baggage with respect - will get so much business from photographers, videographers, musicians and businessmen who don't want their equipment and livelihood either stolen or smashed to bits on the tarmac or luggage carousel.
Anyone got a spare biz-jet for charter???? If you have, now's the time to start shouting loudly and rub some noses in the dirt as you steal the big boy's customers....
Things do not look very good for us at present. I am afraid this could mean the end to my nature travels for a while. I will stick to the UK or travel by car in Europe. No way I am taking anything in the hold.
Although I've got a Pelican 1610 that will hold my LowePro ProTrekker, sending this unlocked as checked baggage, even inside a dufflebag, is inviting theft. At the moment, I'm more inclned to put the ProTrekker into a normal-looking Samonite suitcase if the gear has to go in the hold. Does anyone know what is invovled in shipping your gear to an international destination using FedEX, or one of the other international courier services?
I've never done it, but I've seen a few people suggesting it might be possible to "check" the gear onto the flight the day before as cargo/air-freight (accompanied cargo?!?). That way it might possibly be on the same flight as you but, as it goes freight (not baggage), it shouldn't have the added risk of bouncing on the tarmac or developing legs and walking off the carousel at the other end.
Worth a try anyway. I think FedEx/UPS might be expensive (it seems to cost about £100 for a one way ticket for a 500/4 from the US.) Using freight you might encounter a Carnet charge though
Let us know how you get on!
I came back from the U.S last Monday and had no problems with carrying nearly 20 kilos of cameras/lenses etc on the plane as hand luggage,I did pay excess baggage but only due to continental airlines anal attitude and that was for hold luggage,Security was very tight as you couls imagine as the bombing alert was at its highest and we had to strip dowm to teeshirts and take shoes off and be body searched as well and the plane was 2 hrs late due to this but that didnt bother me,I know there was a no hand luggage this side but thats being slackened off now,Just dont take liquids,gels and lipsticks if you are that way inclined in your hand luggage
I'm not anticipating a problem with carry-on bags on the return journey, so I have only booked one-way transport.