Ok this may sound like a silly question but in my defence it has been over 10 years since I have had a holiday and on a aeroplane (and never with my camera ) lol
I am traveling to Bali, I have a 20kg luggage weight (30kg home) I am taking my Canon 6d and my sigma 24-70 2.8 lens...so a little bit of weight. If I have that in my handbag or on me is it still counted as my overall luggage weight?
Thank you :D
A good question! Usually airlines only weigh the suitcase that you are checking in for the weight issue. They will also weigh a carryon for international flights sometimes and it depends on the airline whether or not it will count against total weight allowed, or if they have a limit to carry-on bag weight. On most international flights, if you have it in a bag that more or less looks like a purse or a smaller backpack (not a suitcase type one), you should be okay.
I suspect @taffy will know more than I do but I've never had or heard of an airline weigh more than the checked luggage (in about 7 overseas trips and plenty of internal/domestic flights). More to the point I've heard of some airlines being strict on the NUMBER of carry-on bags you are allowed (e.g.. one). Having said that I don't remember a time that an airline has enforced a restriction like this - I've never had a problem with carrying a handbag and a camera bag. I also would never advocate checking your camera in - baggage handlers are not gentle!
@mummarazzii what Taffy said I would have said also - you can go online for each airline and check the baggage restrictions for the tickets you have purchased - generally they will have a weight for cargo baggage and another for cabin baggage.
I usually carry all my camera gear in a camera bag, and take it with my as my carry on, and have not had a problem with it. I also carry a backpack with everything I would need on the plane, and figure that if they ever give me a hard time I would put the camera in the backpack!
I have travelled a lot with my camera. It always come on as hand luggage, and has never been weighed as part of the 20kg or 30kg limit. But some airlines have a weight limit on the how heavy the hand luggage is (in case it falls out an overhead locker onto someone's head!) but I have never had a problem.
I travel a lot. Generally the hand luggage is weighed seperately, at either 7 or 10 kgs depending on the airline. Just check your ticket. and the airline's website...They will also tell you what you can take as extras outside the allowance...like a coat, laptop or whatever.
I am a regular visitor to the USA, have been for 15 years now. I always take just the camera body with a lens on it over my shoulder, I have a Nikon D300 and the genuine Nikon slip-on case for it (slips over the front of the camera and has a flap which comes up and over the back and hooks over where the strap attaches to the body) so the camera is protected and also out of site. My "actual" carry-on luggage is a back-pack with my MacBook/phone/iPod/Kindle/etc in it and this is *always* weighed (travelling with Virgin Atlantic for the last 10 years) but the camera has never been weighed.
If / when I take any other lenses they're all securely packed and in my checked-in luggage. Not sure how I'll do this the next time I travel since I've now got a Lowepro Flip 400 camera backpack which holds all my kit but I suspect is above the maximum size for carry-on, and probably above Virgin's economy weight limit too. Things like the spare batteries, cables, charger always go in my checked luggage.
I flew from Germany to Mallorca (Spain) last year so not as far as you probably will but I remember I had a big laptop bag as hand luggage with my laptop and the other things I needed on the flight in there. I had my camera in a seperate bag which was just as big as the camera itself (I have a bridge cam) and they allowed me to take both. Otherwise I might have been able to put it in the laptop pocket too :)
@taffy@aliha@panthora@princessm@888rachel@swilde@smalbon@justaspark thank you so, so much for all of the great advice!!
I wouldn't let my baby go in the luggage hold...my precious lol
I checked the site and said 20kg check in baggage so from what you all said that would not include hand luggage. My handbag has a removable camera insert so I will just take that.
Thank you again :)
Your 20kgs weight restriction is your checked in luggage. Hand luggage is separate. As @swilde said, carry on is usually 7 or 10 kgs but I've done a reasonable amount of travelling and no one has ever weighed my carry on plus if you see what some people carry on, it's not strictly monitored at all. I always put my hand bag inside my suitcase then put my wallet into my camera/computer bag so it becomes my handbag plus I have my carry on as well.
@mummarazzii when I travel between states (NSW, Qld, Vic) Jetstar and Virgin has never weighed (and usually and easily over 10kg of camera gear in a backpack, then computer bag and sometimes tripod) - Tiger does. When I've travelled OS never weighed carry on, only hold luggage - still carry most of the camera gear (2 bodies, 4-5 lenses, tripod, lappy). You'll be fine ... but then it is Bali ... and that's usually cruisey.
Travelling United Continental to Australia last year, I had my back pack with cameras lenses and laptop as carry on. it did not count against my checked baggage and I had one other small carry on bag too.
@kjarn@quietpurplehaze@sidecar@frankhymus thank you :) my handbag is my camera bag (with insert) so should be all good! I think I will take my little pancake lens too, may come in handy if I don't want to take the big lens. @egad thank you :) I am so looking forward to taking something different!
I'm flying tomorrow and was going to put my camera on my small suitcase as a carry on.. Well, with my camera in the suitcase it already weighed 6 kilos (!!) and the limit is 8kg.. Not sure how well they check it but decided to go with my camera bag only as a handbag.. I can fit other things there too and it weighs a lot less than a small suitcase!
If your camera has a lithium ion battery,it must be taken as hand luggage.These batteries are not permitted in the hold because of fire risk.My daughter works in airport handling and deals in all these rules and regulations.
I really wouldn't ever check my camera into the hold:
1. I just don't trust baggage handlers to treat hold luggage properly
2. Going through the US, I just don't trust TSA
3. Luggage gets misplaced or lost all the time and I would hate not having a camera while i'm travelling
I'd also like to add that i'd be very surprised to read of any airline not weighing both check in and hand carry separately
I put all I can in my camera bag (especially the weightiest stuff) and carry that (no handbag) and put the rest in my hand luggage. They always let my camera bag through.....and this was recently I flew to America, then did a couple of internal flights too.
Just remember now airport security are insisting your camera must switch on or it doesn't fly with you.
@tande@carolmw@pixiemac thanks all packed now ready to go, as I said above my handbag is my camera bag so works well :) @toast I never said I would put my camera in my luggage? That would happen over my dead body...she is my baby lol @darylo it is a great place, this is my first time back in 16 years though so be interesting to see how it has changed :)
so, I hope you are still on here! I'm booked for Tokyo and Bali in June 2015. Any advice? :) I have a 7D MII now. I have several lenses, but don't want to over do it. I love my 35mm (acts like a nifty-fifty on my cropped sensor) because of low light situations, but it's heavy. So let me know what you know! Sooooooo excited.
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If / when I take any other lenses they're all securely packed and in my checked-in luggage. Not sure how I'll do this the next time I travel since I've now got a Lowepro Flip 400 camera backpack which holds all my kit but I suspect is above the maximum size for carry-on, and probably above Virgin's economy weight limit too. Things like the spare batteries, cables, charger always go in my checked luggage.
I wouldn't let my baby go in the luggage hold...my precious lol
I checked the site and said 20kg check in baggage so from what you all said that would not include hand luggage. My handbag has a removable camera insert so I will just take that.
Thank you again :)
It counts as your cabin baggage weight, which for us was 10 kg per person. Your cabin baggage has to be a certain size too.
@egad thank you :) I am so looking forward to taking something different!
1. I just don't trust baggage handlers to treat hold luggage properly
2. Going through the US, I just don't trust TSA
3. Luggage gets misplaced or lost all the time and I would hate not having a camera while i'm travelling
I'd also like to add that i'd be very surprised to read of any airline not weighing both check in and hand carry separately
Just remember now airport security are insisting your camera must switch on or it doesn't fly with you.
Have a fabulous holiday :)
@toast I never said I would put my camera in my luggage? That would happen over my dead body...she is my baby lol
@darylo it is a great place, this is my first time back in 16 years though so be interesting to see how it has changed :)