For those who fly w/ equipment

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I usually fly Business just so I get to board before the other folk, that way I get to the overhead first. However recently I was at London City Airport flying Business to Barcelona on a smaller jet and the gate announcer demanded 20 people volunteer to surrender their carry-on to the hold. When no-one volunteered they chose passengers at random and took their bags. I was one. Until I told the gate-keeper that my bag was full of lithium-ion batteries - big bully guy backed off .
 
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BWP said:
I agree, it seems that the antiquated system of baggage handling is only getting worse. Apparently there is no incentive for the airlines to push for a better system. The disconnect I suspect is because the baggage handlers do not work for the airline, but instead are a separate contracted service. Airlines offloading their responsibility is a huge part of the problem. They shrug and offer you $100, assuming that you can collect (I never did on my lost bag). UA for some reason has been horrendous, and lost my bags 5 or 6 times out of 8 flights. Unforgiveable. For this reason I understand why everyone is trying to cram their dirty laundry into the overhead bins. To not do so is inviting the airlines (and their sub-contractor baggage handlers) to ship your belongings to who knows where, with the occasional one ending up lost forever (at least to the original owner).

I also have a beef with the Cancun airport authorities. My last trip there took 5.5 hours to clear customs and immigration, including an additional 1.5 hour wait for my baggage AFTER the abuse of the long lines through customs. I have no idea how they get away with this, but they have lost one more person (including my family) from ever visiting there again. /rant
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"Offloading responsibility" = outsourcing to cut costs. Then the vendor (baggage handling company) does it as cheaply as possible to cut their costs. Now nobody's concerned about luggage but about profitability. "Fixing" any problem then simply becomes a cost that no one is going to incur; and the airlines then disconnect luggage in any real way from the service they provide ('not our problem' except for the poor front line staff who have to deal with the customer). And eeegawd airlines outsource fleet maintenance too, distancing not only luggage but aircraft flight worthiness from responsibility so they only 'worry' about it as a cost line in budgeting.
 
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Patrick M said:
once I had an evening flight from Vancouver to Seattle. It's obviously a very short flight, but it was at night. We landed at about 2200 and were at the carousel waiting, and waiting.... But no bags arrived. NO BAGS. Not just mine, nobody's ! They'd actually forgotten to load the plane ! OMG . How was that even possible? LOL
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While the pilot got a false weight sheet?
 
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Matt N said:
I’m surprised this will fit under the seat in front of you. What class of seats are you sitting in?
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Yeah, I'm thinking this won't fit under the seats of the smaller planes I have to fly on sometimes. On the other hand, it's short and slim enough that it WILL definitely fit in their overhead bins. I might pick one up for that.
 
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Maurie said:
I usually fly Business just so I get to board before the other folk, that way I get to the overhead first. However recently I was at London City Airport flying Business to Barcelona on a smaller jet and the gate announcer demanded 20 people volunteer to surrender their carry-on to the hold. When no-one volunteered they chose passengers at random and took their bags. I was one. Until I told the gate-keeper that my bag was full of lithium-ion batteries - big bully guy backed off .
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I should have thought of that one. I used to check my batteries because they seemed like something I could replace easily when the inevitable bag got lost. Then they banned the practice while I was in Madagascar & they actually pulled my checked bag out of some puddle jumper and had me take it as a carry-on for no charge after we'd stood in line for like 2 hours so they could verify we were carrying on no more than 15 pounds! The only excuse for forgetting that is it happened in 2007... Yes, everyone should definitely point out your items with lithium-ion batteries, it's not even legal to check them, hasn't been for a long time. My batteries in those days were AAs/AAAs but despite English being the language of aviation and all that, no one understood the Fax they showed me they'd just received about it, and I had no way to tell them my batteries weren't the issue, I just shrugged and hauled the bag onboard. Some big strong man put it in the overhead bin for me...
 
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Maurie said:
I usually fly Business just so I get to board before the other folk, that way I get to the overhead first. However recently I was at London City Airport flying Business to Barcelona on a smaller jet and the gate announcer demanded 20 people volunteer to surrender their carry-on to the hold. When no-one volunteered they chose passengers at random and took their bags. I was one. Until I told the gate-keeper that my bag was full of lithium-ion batteries - big bully guy backed off .
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this is another good response. my carryon always has a ton of lithium batteries. usually if you tell them that, you're all set.
 
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RikWriter said:
I have trouble believing you could fit a 600 f4 under the seat in front of you.
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My 600 fits in a carry on sized bag, which would fit under the seat in front of me. When planning for my trip to the high arctic a pro offering travelling with gear advice pointed out she carried her 600 in the soft case provided by Nikon, over her shoulder, in addition to her carry on bag and it stowed, the lens did, under the seat -- and that was on an ATR 42 aircrfaft.
 
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ssheipel said:
My 600 fits in a carry on sized bag, which would fit under the seat in front of me. When planning for my trip to the high arctic a pro offering travelling with gear advice pointed out she carried her 600 in the soft case provided by Nikon, over her shoulder, in addition to her carry on bag and it stowed, the lens did, under the seat -- and that was on an ATR 42 aircrfaft.
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I'll try it the next time I fly with it, but I'm fairly certain from previous experience that a 600f4 will not fit under the seat of an Embraer. I could BARELY fit my 200-600 under the seat.
 
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On my trip to Uganda in 2014, the gate agent insisted that I check my large back pack (which just met airline requirements for carry on). I refused, telling them there was several thousands of dollars in photo equipment in it. I ended up with the bag under the seat. No leg room, but I survived. At the gate, I watched baggage handlers dropping checked carry on bags 10 feet to the pavement. I was was glad I held my ground.
 
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I think the problème is with most airline, not only UA. Last november I took a flight from Montreal to Kilimandjaro International airport with KLM. All my Luggage remained at the airport in Montreal and it took three days to get them. Lucky me, I wanted to spend three days in Arusha before I started my Safari. So my luggage arrived on time for the Safari. My return was from Nairobi to Montreal with Air France. Same things my luggage were lost again and the compagny did not have any ideas where they were. Seems did not scan them. It took a week before I got them back. The Air France service was disgusting, the agents were so rude and did not care. At certain time, they told me they could not find them and Air France won’t even reimburse me for the lost, and I should file the claim with my insurance compagny.
i travel a lot with UA and believe me it is a much better compagny than KLM or Air France. The customer service of the last two compagnies are really really bad. I will never ever travel with them again.
 
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ssheipel said:
My 600 fits in a carry on sized bag, which would fit under the seat in front of me. When planning for my trip to the high arctic a pro offering travelling with gear advice pointed out she carried her 600 in the soft case provided by Nikon, over her shoulder, in addition to her carry on bag and it stowed, the lens did, under the seat -- and that was on an ATR 42 aircrfaft.
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My 600 f4 nikon lens comes with a rather large hard case which doesn't fit anywhere except the cargo hold. :-(
 
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I feel the airlines are too lax in terms of the size of carry ons. The things people carry on are often way over the supposed size limits. I only carry a relatively small camera bag that actually fits those limits but I realize many people carry the exotic gear and they would never fit. So for me it’s. a double standard in a way. If someone were to pay extra to put quite of bit of gear in the overhead people like me might not get to put anything at all in. I would say a strong hard shell pelican case for big glass would be a minimum but I have heard horror stories of valuable gear being stolen. I am a professional guitarist and I always fly with a Calton case to not risk the airline not allowing me to put it in the overhead. Good insurance is essential.
 
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It would be a game changer, would the airlines offer a rate for camera gear to take on board. I once wrote to SWISS Airlines to look into such a possibilitiy, however, they did not catch the ball. What Swiss offers, is to buy a second seat for your gear in Economy. But you pay full price, so that is quite expensive.
 
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RichF said:
The thread on UA destroys $15K of equipment is getting too long and this is a tangent so I thought I would start a new thread.

For those who fly w/ camera equipment, would you be willing to be extra ($ amount not specified but something "reasonable" say $50-100 for international tix) for guarnateed overhead bin space. Personally I think the airlines should charge more carry-on bags than they do for checked bags. Or at least guarnateed space. After all, how many people really NEED to have their dirty laundry fly with them. Yes it is a convenience but not to wait for luggage when you land, but it essential??? If your time is that valuable then you can pay for the privelege.
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I have never had a problem since my camera bag will fit under the seat ahead of me. But if I was to get anything bigger, I would be okay with a $25 charge for guaranteed overhead bin space. Any more than $25, I would consider a rip-off by the airline.
 
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RichF said:
The thread on UA destroys $15K of equipment is getting too long and this is a tangent so I thought I would start a new thread.

For those who fly w/ camera equipment, would you be willing to be extra ($ amount not specified but something "reasonable" say $50-100 for international tix) for guarnateed overhead bin space. Personally I think the airlines should charge more carry-on bags than they do for checked bags. Or at least guarnateed space. After all, how many people really NEED to have their dirty laundry fly with them. Yes it is a convenience but not to wait for luggage when you land, but it essential??? If your time is that valuable then you can pay for the privelege.
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I'd be 200% OK with paying extra to ensure that my gear rode along inside the passenger cabin with me. Normally, I fly with my husband whom I nicknamed "Mr. Point & Shoot". When we fly together, I have no issues keeping my gear as carry-on. I split it between his carry-on & my own.
In a month, I fly alone to Canada. Packing all my stuff in carry-on will be a challenge. My new 400mm f2.8 TC is going as well as 2 bodies (a Z9 & a D500), assorted TBD additional lenses, a laptop, and the usual chargers, etc. Oh - my tripod and gimbal head are an absolute necessity for this little jaunt. Should be a lot of laughs! Wish me luck.
 
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