Camera gear on planes

[Box Brownie]

That’s brilliant, many thanks, I’m only slightly over with everything included.

I don't know but I would be concerned - the plane is small and lands on a beach so they may be stricter than other flights, good luck!

Though not that flight.........

I read that the planes that fly into the Okavango Delta in Botswana will handle carry on in a particular way.

They are not allowed in the cabin so you hand them to the pilot before take off for loading into the luggage section.....upon landing, it is the pilot that unloads each such bag and hands it to the individual passenger i.e. it is handled safely and never goes into the hands of the 'baggage handlers'. As such you can see what is happening and the locking of the stowage compartment as appropriate

Perhaps the flight you are talking about handles it the same way????

 

[Dryce]

The rule is for several reasons - an overly heavy item in an overhead could potentially fall out and injure someone

So .... that means they put the first class and business class passenegers at higher risk where they are allowed heavier bags ?

Or that the inconsistent enforcement generally puts passengers at risk ?

It's all a bit of a game. Airlines that charge for hold baggage have an incentive to enforce for revenue reasons. The ones that don't seem to do it to try and keep things reasonable.

I personally would like to see a 10kg limit that a standard across all airlines flying twin jets and up that is rigorously enforced.

 

[nc_killie]

So .... that means they put the first class and business class passenegers at higher risk where they are allowed heavier bags ?

Or that the inconsistent enforcement generally puts passengers at risk ?

It's all a bit of a game. Airlines that charge for hold baggage have an incentive to enforce for revenue reasons. The ones that don't seem to do it to try and keep things reasonable.

I personally would like to see a 10kg limit that a standard across all airlines flying twin jets and up that is rigorously enforced.

The weight allowance for carry on in business /first is based on the weight capacity of the bins- fewer passengers per area thus increases allowance. I am sure that £ also influences things.

 

[Micro-four-thirds]

Though not that flight.........

I read that the planes that fly into the Okavango Delta in Botswana will handle carry on in a particular way.

They are not allowed in the cabin so you hand them to the pilot before take off for loading into the luggage section.....upon landing, it is the pilot that unloads each such bag and hands it to the individual passenger i.e. it is handled safely and never goes into the hands of the 'baggage handlers'. As such you can see what is happening and the locking of the stowage compartment as appropriate

Perhaps the flight you are talking about handles it the same way????

Hi, many thanks, I’ve watched quite a few YouTube videos etc recently on the flight and it seems passengers are allowed one item of hand luggage albeit relatively small compared to standard flights (which they board with) plus one item of checked luggage which at barra end is handed back to you it’s more Glasgow on the return I’m concerned with if I check it in so to speak.

 

[nc_killie]

I misunderstood this initially, you said 7kg per item and I thought what camera or lens are you taking that weighs over 7kg Obviously you meant 7kg per bag/case

……maybe I have the legendary “ bigma’ les?

 

[whyone]

Though not that flight.........

I read that the planes that fly into the Okavango Delta in Botswana will handle carry on in a particular way.

They are not allowed in the cabin so you hand them to the pilot before take off for loading into the luggage section.....upon landing, it is the pilot that unloads each such bag and hands it to the individual passenger i.e. it is handled safely and never goes into the hands of the 'baggage handlers'. As such you can see what is happening and the locking of the stowage compartment as appropriate

I guess that policies vary airline to airline, 'plane type to 'plane type?

We flew in and out of the Delta last week with Mackair (14 seat Cessna Grand Caravan EX) and we all carried camera gear onto the 'plane, and then placed it at the rear of the cabin, where a tough rubberised canvas tarp, held in place with toggles, formed a compartment for bags.

 

[Box Brownie]

I guess that policies vary airline to airline, 'plane type to 'plane type?

We flew in and out of the Delta last week with Mackair (14 seat Cessna Grand Caravan EX) and we all carried camera gear onto the 'plane, and then placed it at the rear of the cabin, where a tough rubberised canvas tarp, held in place with toggles, formed a compartment for bags.

Thanks for the insight and I surmise the aircraft type will always be a mitigating factor.

How is the trip going, lots of interesting sightings in the Delta?

I have seen some images of the elephants & their feeding behaviour at (IIRC?) Mana Pools (or was it Saba Sands ) , was that on your itinerary too?

 

[Faldrax]

The weight allowance for carry on in business /first is based on the weight capacity of the bins- fewer passengers per area thus increases allowance. I am sure that £ also influences things.

Another 'number of passengers' factor is how many are trying to access the overheads at a time - lots of people all trying to grab/stow their bag in limited space as quickly as possible will increase the chance of an accident, while in business/first you have fewer passengers AND a much greater ration of cabin staff to passengers - so there is more likely to be someone to help anyone who is struggling.

 

[whyone]

Thanks for the insight and I surmise the aircraft type will always be a mitigating factor.

How is the trip going, lots of interesting sightings in the Delta?

I have seen some images of the elephants & their feeding behaviour at (IIRC?) Mana Pools (or was it Saba Sands ) , was that on your itinerary too?

Our trip was split between Chobe, Okavango and the Kalahari....so 3 very different environments. All interesting in their own ways. Lots of good sightings (a few posted over in 'Nature -Wild and Free' and 'Birds' ) no doubt more over the coming weeks as I work through my photos.

Mana Pools (which I visited many times on a 'self-drive' basis over the years) is famous for the ele's (including 'Boswell') who stand on their rear legs to reach up into the trees.

 

[nc_killie]

……. much ado about nothing. No problem in Edinburgh and when you see what some people are bringing on! First time I’ve flown BA in nearly 3 years, why did I bother worrying?
Hope # Dryce has a similar trip to Barra

 

[nc_killie]

……carry on was fine however two checked bags are still in London

 

[whyone]

……carry on was fine however two checked bags are still in London

Good old BA!

 

[Faldrax]

……carry on was fine however two checked bags are still in London

My daughter had a related problem with BA when she went to South Africa - despite asking at Heathrow about transfer of bags from the international flight to the internal flight (and being told they would be transferred automatically) on arriving at her destination she discovered her bag were still at Johannesburg as she needed to have collected them and re-checked them in.

 

[TheFiend]

I started flying BA again in part because of the more liberal carry on rules in the economy cabin. As compared to the likes of Qatar and Emirates and the 7kg limits - which are not IME rigorously enforced but leave you exposed by small print on the occcasions that they do enforce. The BA rules takes a bit of stresss out of the mix when travelling with photo gear.

OTOH the BA way of doing things comes with caveats, The time to board seems longer as the luggage racks get packed. And BA can operate a multilevel priority boarding system which exposes those at the back of the queue in the lower priority categories to having their carry on bags tagged for putting in the hold. So BA are great if you are a higher tier customer through points or ticket at the front of the queue and a bit less so if you are not.

You can still get caught out on a non-direct itinerary. Buy a BA long haul ticket to a destination they don't frequently serve and you could end up with a BA ticket but one or more sector flown by another airline such as Qatar. And the small print will say that the carry on rules will be those applied by the actual carrier you are flying with.

I also suspect that the 23kg limit for carry on is actually a limit for the occasions where the carry on bag ends up in the hold either because it was deemed too heavy or there was no space in the cabin..

I fly with Qatar twice a year and have never had the 7kg limit enforced. Previously I used a camera backpack as carry on but nowadays I take a cabin sized case and a shoulder camera bag as my carry on..... Sometimes they'll weigh the case, but I've never had the camera bag weight checked.

 

[nc_killie]

…we received both our bags after 4 days. The joys of shopping for clothes in Sri Lanka where I am giant sized rather than just a bit on the cuddly side

 

[whyone]

…we received both our bags after 4 days. The joys of shopping for clothes in Sri Lanka where I am giant sized rather than just a bit on the cuddly side

Yikes!!!

I had a similar experience in La Paz, Bolivia....ended up shopping for clothes for a business meeting in a Sunday street market. Lots of ponchos!!!