Airline carry on bag for camera stuff and MacBook Pro 15"

L

LancsLee

Messages
311
Name
Lee
Edit My Images
Yes
Well that was annoying. Bought a minty Think Tank Airport Navigator for a trip to Portugal this weekend. Just checked both TAP and Ryanair carry on sizes (55x40x20cm) and the Think Tank meets all the requirements apart from the depth. It's 25cm due to the handle! So now it's a quick search on Amazon and other quick delivery sites for a bag. Might as well buy a backpack that I can use when I get there (was going to pack a smaller bag in my check on baggage).
I won't be carrying much camera gear - Sony A77ii, Tamron 70-300, Sigma 17-50 2.8, Sony 35mm 1.8, a couple of GoPro cameras, and also a 15.4" MBP. Will also be sticking a small tripod in the check in luggage so might as well get a bag with tripod attachment.
As I've just spent a bit on the Think Tank, I don't want to go mad with another bag. I've already got an older LowePro AW backpack (too big to carry on), a Tenba messenger bag and a couple of other bags so SWMBO will have my tender bits if I spend a fortune.
Any recommendations for something that will meet the stingy carry on regulations?
 
I spent weeks trying to find the right bag for a wedding I shot in Ireland a fortnight ago. I was flying with Ryan Air and knew they had very tight carry-on restrictions.

I chose the Think Tank Airport Essentials bag and it was perfect for my needs (although I had to put two flashes in my hold luggage which I bubble wrapped to be sure they were safe).

Here's the important part - my carry on bag (which was just in Ryan Air's limits) was the SMALLEST CARRY ON BAG ON THE WHOLE FLIGHT. As I stood in the queue I stood dumbfounded by the size of the bags people were carrying on. A teacher was standing next to me and I asked her how on earth she was going to get away with the massive bag she had with her. She told me she flies home to Ireland regularly and has been using the same (massive) bag for the whole 5 years. She said she'd never once been challenged.

I got on the plane and not one member of staff even looked at my bag. I could have carried an elephant on I think.

All that worry (and research) on my part for nothing.
 
Did they use anything to measure the bag? Problem is that I'm flying out on TAP and they have the same restrictions as Ryanair who I'm flying back with. Everything else about the Navigator is well under the size limits, it's just the depth of the bag which is around 5cm too big. Wondering if it will squash a bit as the Airport Essentials won't take a 15" MBP.
 
Last edited:
They did have a measuring device on site which I noticed in the background. Basically you stuff your bag in it and if it fits you're fine. I'm sure you could squash yours a bit. But I think the bigger factor is they are almost certain not to bother. On my flight if they had started measuring people's bags NO-ONE would have got on the plane :D
 
ryanyboy said:
They did have a measuring device on site which I noticed in the background. Basically you stuff your bag in it and if it fits you're fine. I'm sure you could squash yours a bit. But I think the bigger factor is they are almost certain not to bother. On my flight if they had started measuring people's bags NO-ONE would have got on the plane :D
Click to expand...

Except me ;)
 
As someone sitting in an airport right now and surrounded by people with huge bags,I have sympathy for those who stick to the limits while watching everyone else take on bags that are blatantly over the limits. Same story on my outbound flight yesterday.

I’ve got a range of bags, so tend to stick to ones that I know are within whatever limit I’m stuck with, as it’s easier than chancing getting caught out (living near an airport I’ve even nipped in to test my camera bags in the luggage gauges so I know exactly which bags go with each airline!)

Depending on how much you’re thinking of spending, I’d be tempted to risk using what you’ve got. 5cm isn’t going to be noticeable, and if you do end up getting checked, the charge you’ll pay at the gate may be less than the cost of another bag bought especially for this trip.

FWIW I’ve only ever been stung once - my wife’s bag was just too big to fit in the gauge as my sister in law had given her something to carry at the airport, meaning the bag expanded over he limit! Other than that, I never see them checking luggage sizes
 
Yep, think I'll give it a go with the one I've got and invest the money in some decent single malt to accompany me through the week.
 
I very much suspect that just a flexible 5cm in one dimension won't be noticed. It's a source of never-ending astonishment at what people carry onto planes, including stuff that can't even be fitted in the overhead lockers. You should be completely fine with that size bag.
 
Trust me guys, I fly Ryanair or easyJet every week 3-4 flights a week, do they check bags? It’s hit and miss, it depends on how busy the flight is and how good the ground crew are. Remember on Ryanair only the first 90 bags go on the flight the rest in the hold, the only way to guarantee you get to take your bag on is stump up and pay for priority even then you need to get to gate as soon as possible.

I always fly speedy boarding or priority and that pretty much guarantees my bag won’t get weighed or put in “The cage” to check size.

It’s luck of the draw if you bag is 5cm to big but will squish down in the cage then All is good but if it’s packed full like a drum and it doesn’t fit they will charge you £50 and it will go in the hold.
 
For carrying camera gear in planes - it's the weight often that comes the issue...
I regularly fly with 2 or 3 Canon 1DX mkII, 70-200mm, 24-70mm, 16-35mm, 16mm, MacBook Pro in my hand luggage..
I can them in my LowePro bag.. but some airlines want to weigh your hand luggage and with with my gear it often comes close to 15kg or more...
Few times have been asked to re-shuffle stuff.. luckily I've had my wife with me those times.. so we go to check-in one by one.. and hold my heavy bag behind ;-)
 
Nawty said:
I’m sure Ryan Air have declared they are less nazi about bag sizes nowadays.
Click to expand...
Haven't Ryanair just changed their carry on baggage policy! :thinking:

Ah, found this.

Budget airline Ryanair has announced that passengers will only be able to take a single smaller piece of hand luggage into the cabin from November unless they've paid more for priority boarding, as part of a series of changes to its baggage policy designed to "ease delays".

To reduce the amount of carry-on bags, non-priority customers will have to place their larger hand luggage in the hold when they get to the aircraft, although this will be free of charge.

But to encourage more customers to check in bags, Ryanair is reducing the cost of checking a 20kg bag in to the hold from £35 to £25 – and has removed the option to pay less to check in a smaller bag with a maximum weight of 15kg.

How are the hand luggage rules changing?
Before Nov 1st, Ryanair allowed you to bring two items of hand luggage:
  • Its maximum-allowed bag is 55cm x 40cm x 20cm (smaller than Easyjet's 56cm x 45cm x 25cm), with a 10kg weight limit.
  • You can also take a smaller bag such as a handbag or laptop bag, with a max size of 35cm x 20cm x 20cm and no weight restriction.
From Wednesday 1st November, you will still be able to take both bags through security, but non-priority boarding customers will only be able to bring their smaller bag into the cabin. The larger bag will have to be put into the hold at the boarding gate, at no extra charge.

If you pay extra for priority boarding – typically £5 – you will still be able to take both bags into the cabin.
Click to expand...

Being forced to get the Priority Boarding just make sure your bag gets onboard, when the other benefits of are sometimes negligible, didn't sit right with me, so have decided not to fly with them anymore. I doubt they will notice. :rolleyes: ;)

The thing is, if they just enforced the rules they had before, they wouldn't have had to make any changes.
 
ryanyboy said:
Here's the important part - my carry on bag (which was just in Ryan Air's limits) was the SMALLEST CARRY ON BAG ON THE WHOLE FLIGHT.
Click to expand...

All that worry (and research) on my part for nothing.
Click to expand...

The implementation of rules across all the carriers I have used over the years has been arbitrary and inconsistent.

The problem is you don't know exactly how it will go until you are actually on board and the flight is closed up.

I think you have to think 'what is the worst that can happen'? Well if you have a large bag of inconsequentuial stuff and it doesn't really matter if it goes in the hold then not much to worry about really apart from inconvenience and possibly some ££ in penalty. OTOH a bag with camera gear and a laptop? Well that's possibly quite a bit to worry about if you end up with it being.damaged or lost. And on a multi-sector flight you don't want to fall foul of a difference in application of the rules on a subsequent sector.

So 'all that worry and research' didn't pay off this time - but that doesn't mean that it won't another time..
 
redhed17 said:
Haven't Ryanair just changed their carry on baggage policy! :thinking:

.
Click to expand...

Probably I'm out of date, I thought recently they'd said they would stop being the 'nasty airline' but I stopped paying attention to Ryanair a long time ago - I'm happy to stump up the minimal extra and fly with someone decent (which includes Easyjet, I quite like their offering FWIW).
 
Nawty said:
I'm happy to stump up the minimal extra and fly with someone decent (which includes Easyjet, I quite like their offering FWIW).
Click to expand...

EasyJet are quite interesting in that they have played about a bit with their rules over the last few years.

So they kind of removed the weight limit a while back. But then they introduced a two teir cabin baggage size system - which meant if you didn't have the smaller bag size your bag might be turfed into the hold.

Now they play other games on top. For a bit of extra dosh you can get an extra small cabin bag and a 'better' seat. But they also may decide that when they board the flight there will be a given number of passengers who have to put their bag in the hold (for free). So on a busy flight you may find after boarding a given number of passengers they stop allowing passengers to carry on anything but smaller bags.




.
 
Going out on TPA is fine as I managed to get a cheap upgrade so can take on two pieces of hand luggage. Flying back, the only airline that offered a flight near the time I needed was Ryanair. I stumped up the extra for hold baggage, priority boarding, fast track etc. as I can't be bothered messing about at the airport. Suppose I'll find out next week.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top