How to make enemies...! [by weighing carry-on]

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I have a Lowepro Whistler BP 450 AW, but it by itself weighs 3.31kg. It will fit overhead on the Q400 planes, but by the time I add everything it must be up to 14kgs at least, I also downsized my laptop to help reduce weight.

Whistler BP 450 AW

Worst I've had is 17 kg on a VA trip in a Lowepro Pro Runner 450 (also use a Tactic 450 which doesn't quite fit as much).

Recent trip to Africa saw me pooping bricks when SQ wanted to weigh the carry on at Check In. Fortunately I'd spread some of it across checked luggage (chargers etc).
 
I'd be interested to know how others on here that carry a large amount of camera gear cope with a weight restriction of 7kg.
There is no way I would be happy for any of my gear to go into the hold, insured or not! That definitely includes going through the states. no way would I ever trust anyone that works for tsa.
Mr FM has just been having a huge whine about this. I travel with almost no hand luggage, so I guess we will be spreading camera gear between us and then repacking into his special camera bag once on the plane. Don’t know what he will do when he goes to conventions on his own - I suspect he might be getting me to come along in future :)

We are OK for the Antarctica trip, as the 4 of us can split the camera gear for the cbr-syd leg. For New York we are flying Qatar out of Canberra, so that makes that easy.
 
Pelican case, two padlocks and check it in. Probably travel better than being banged about as carry-on, unless of course, the Pelican case is small enough to carry on.
still taking a chance - have you read the number of people with damaged and lost checked in luggage? Yes there is Insurance, but that doesn’t help in the short term when you have nothing. I disagree that it will be banged about less than when you carry it with you.

We always check in luggage and, except when Mr FM takes his camera gear, I travel with a handbag and Mr FM with nothing, but cameras are another issue. He has a special bag, so it can be checked in if it has to be, but that doesn’t help if it gets dropped or run over or lost :(
 
We have a competition as to who travels lightest overseas. Of course I’m the one who takes the shampoos, sunscreen etc :rolleyes: If over 16 kilos I chuck stuff out. I used to take more but less is best.

We travelled OS with a baby and didn’t take much large equipment. A lightweight stroller and sling and that’s it. Can’t believe the amount of stuff parents take these days.
As mentioned in other post we have 80kgs checked baggage between the 3 of us. It's heavy and difficult to carry but I'm not going try to reduce it.

My clothes weigh a lot. It's the nature of the clothes I wear. I hope at some point to leave golf clubs and some clothes in a locker in Pattaya so I can travel lighter. I've also asked wife to leave some clothes in Thailand to wear when she is in the village.

Next trip is interesting as I'm travelling SQ SYD-SIN-CNX and my bag weighs 20kgs and golf bag also weighs 20kgs but the allowance on SQ is 30kgs. May have to take some things out of both bags and try to get down to 32kgs.

Oh and I sort of left booking a hire car late and prices skyrocketed with less cars available. Will see if 3 bags, golf clubs, stroller, 3 carryon items and 3 people can fit in a Toyota Yaris.
 
still taking a chance - have you read the number of people with damaged and lost checked in luggage?
Yep. slightly OT but my checked luggage is nearly always treated acceptably, except for a flight I took last Sunday. My Samsonite was damaged extensively and even the metallic VA luggage tag (metal) was severely scrapped and gouged. It looked like they must tied my case to the tail with a rope and just let it drag along the runway on take off and landing (it wasn't VA BTW)!
 
s I disagree that it will be banged about less than when you carry it with you.
:(
Not sure about this. Really depends on the situation. All my expensive stuff travels in a Pelican case. Always checked in. It's plastered with fragile labels but I've seen how it's handled, as I watch out of the plane window. It's a heavy case, made of thick poly-prop. Everything inside is embedded in foam. Various external parts of the case have been bent, smashed and gouged. The padlocks have also been bent or destroyed (I buy in common keyed sets of four). Everything inside remains fine.
Down side is it's a heavy case and lifting 28 kg into a hire car boot at 5am is a task not to be approached carelessly!
 
Not sure about this. Really depends on the situation. All my expensive stuff travels in a Pelican case. Always checked in. It's plastered with fragile labels but I've seen how it's handled, as I watch out of the plane window. It's a heavy case, made of thick poly-prop. Everything inside is embedded in foam. Various external parts of the case have been bent, smashed and gouged. The padlocks have also been bent or destroyed (I buy in common keyed sets of four). Everything inside remains fine.
Down side is it's a heavy case and lifting 28 kg into a hire car boot at 5am is a task not to be approached carelessly!
asked Mr FM about the Pelican and he was aware of them and said they were terrific but it still doesn’t solve the problem of the luggage not arriving - even a 24 hour delay would mean he lost a days photography at a convention, Anyway he’s decided he’s not too worried about it, as he thinks he can work around the restrictions given he can take two bags domestically and internationally it isn’t an issue, He uses think tank for his hand luggage cameras and they are also pretty protected at the carryon level.
 
asked Mr FM about the Pelican and he was aware of them and said they were terrific but it still doesn’t solve the problem of the luggage not arriving - even a 24 hour delay would mean he lost a days photography at a convention, Anyway he’s decided he’s not too worried about it, as he thinks he can work around the restrictions given he can take two bags domestically and internationally it isn’t an issue,

The other issue is theft. Sadly a Pelican case acts like a flashing light in highlighting that something good is inside.

A friend who is a pilot for Qantas swears by using a standard carry on suitcase only. I guess when you’re flying on a staff ticket you probably have some leniency shown.

I certainly wouldn’t want to travel through some countries with a bag covered in fragile stickers - the bag will end up permanently lost :(
 
The other issue is theft. Sadly a Pelican case acts like a flashing light in highlighting that something good is inside.

A friend who is a pilot for Qantas swears by using a standard carry on suitcase only. I guess when you’re flying on a staff ticket you probably have some leniency shown.

I certainly wouldn’t want to travel through some countries with a bag covered in fragile stickers - the bag will end up permanently lost :(
You absolutely cannot check in camera gear if you are travelling through South Africa - Mr FM won’t even put his tripod into checked in luggage. Basically you only check in stuff you don’t care if you lose.
 
asked Mr FM about the Pelican and he was aware of them and said they were terrific but it still doesn’t solve the problem of the luggage not arriving - even a 24 hour delay would mean he lost a days photography at a convention, Anyway he’s decided he’s not too worried about it, as he thinks he can work around the restrictions given he can take two bags domestically and internationally it isn’t an issue, He uses think tank for his hand luggage cameras and they are also pretty protected at the carryon level.

In the vein of the original problem ... there are also weight restrictions for checked (though status helps a lot with that). a pelican style case is usually heavy, just in itself. I used to carry instruments in one and the weight of the case is noticeable (although mine was not Pelican brand).

On the subject of two pieces of carry on, I don't think that helps as IIRC when I looked into that, it was 2 pieces with a combined total of 7kg, meaning you're actually worse off as you're adding the weight of the additional case!
 
In the vein of the original problem ... there are also weight restrictions for checked (though status helps a lot with that). a pelican style case is usually heavy, just in itself. I used to carry instruments in one and the weight of the case is noticeable (although mine was not Pelican brand).

On the subject of two pieces of carry on, I don't think that helps as IIRC when I looked into that, it was 2 pieces with a combined total of 7kg, meaning you're actually worse off as you're adding the weight of the additional case!
Between status and class we don’t usually have any weight problems for checked luggage. Just checked and Qantas is 7kg per piece for carry on, so the strategy works for Qantas. One issue for us is that on dash8s you are only allowed 1 piece, but Mr FM hates flying the dash8s anyway. Can sometimes be hard to avoid them flying out of Canberra though.

Virgin is total weight of 7kg, so Qantas is much more generous.
 
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Qantas is 7kg per piece for carry on ... Virgin is total weight of 7kg

Which just goes to show what an absolute sham this cabin bag weight issue is. So VA are trying to have us believe an overhead bag cannot be heavier than 3.5kg even when they themselves state 7kg is OK yet other airlines allow 10kg and more??? It's an absolute insult that VA say you can have 2 pieces, as long as they're not heavier than one piece! If I said I understood that rationale, I'd be lying.
 
If I said I understood that rationale, I'd be lying.
Not being critical but I don't think we need to understand the rationale but simply comply.

I understand there are always special considerations such as camera equipment but need to find a way to include that in checked baggage. Saving 5-10 minutes getting to car/taxi is not really a good enough excuse and is not going to make that much difference. Airlines just need to make sure checked baggage arrives at carousel promptly not 20-30 minutes later. In places such as BNE disembarking at the far gates and luggage is often on carousel no more than a few minutes later.
 
Husband is getting 15 kilos on Cathay
Though going over to destination and returning my carry on requirements are very different
All medication comes on over and back. Just in case clothes nope only on the way over
On the way back I put as much as possible in checked. Especially on a two part flight
JFK to SYD or SYD to LHR
 
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Does a comfort seat gain an extra 7kgs?

Can depend. I don't think the standard comfort seats come with additional baggage allowance. You can specifically reserve a seat for extra (bulky) cabin baggage.

So for those with expensive equipment (cameras etc), this may be a viable option? Delicate/expensive luggage on spare seat (belted in I assume??) as well as extra SC's and points and a shadow to boot. Am I reading your reply about booking a "bulky baggage" seat correctly?
 
Had to chuckle. I've been maintaining the advantages of checked baggage throughout this thread. Arrived in Sydney on Thursday, all prepared to drive up to Newcastle on a job. Only problem was my trusty Pelican case, with all the equipment I needed, did not arrive. Very annoying but such splendid irony.
Story had a happy ending. It had missed the connection at Melbourne. I retired to the lounge and just had time for a coffee and croissant before they rang me to say it was waiting. Still, it did ruin my "in the car within 30 minutes" argument!
 
Surely you jest. You will not get the slightest leniency. Unless you happen to be the Captain.

And the staff member will be one of the last to board if they're on standby. Good luck arguing about overweight luggage with gate crew trying to close out the aircraft.
 
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