exco

Hi,

We are traveling to London in June/July to try to photograph some Atlantic puffins off the west coast of England. This is my first trip to Europe (from California) with a bunch of heavy photo gear. We will be travelling with 600 f/4 and 200-400 f/4 as well as other gear.

I want to avoid being separated from my backpack with expensive camera equipment. The backpack is heavy, and is a few inches above the size specified by AA/Delta/United/Air Canada. I have already got some good advices under the AA subforum:
carry-on bags size & weight

We also would like to hear your recommendations for who has the least restrictive carry-on rules. Obviously, I would like to carry on all my gear (two bags total). The tripod and head will be checked. We are currently looking at several American Airlines, Delta Air, Air Canada, British Air and Virgin Atlantic options.

Please let me know if you've had any good or bad experiences in your past travels to London regarding carry-on bags regarding size or weight issues and what airlines you have experience with.

Thank you for your help!

AussieExPat

The advice you received in the other thread seems pretty reasonable. In general, though, I've rarely experienced my bag being weighed or measured outside of LCC/ULCC. However, whenever I am carrying expensive camera equipment, I always have a plan B which does not involve checking said camera equipment, because there is no way to guarantee your bag does not get weighed or measured.

I usually keep my camera equipment inside a separate bag within my carryon. That way, should I be asked to check my bag, I'm (hopefully) not left with a choice of check my camera equipment or miss my flight.

Good luck with your trip -- it sounds fun!

Fine Art Landscape Photographer

I hope some of my advice will help you. I do not travel with super long lenses but I always travel with 2 photography carry on bags (one is a backpack & the other is rolling bag). My backpack is actually 1 inch over the US carry on limit but I never had problems using it, even on the smaller regional jets. What I usually do with that bag I dont fill the top portion of the bag and if I need to squeeze it a bit to fit it into smaller storage places. My rolling bag does not fit into overhead bins on smaller regional planes and I have to take out my laptop pouch for it to fit.

You can also wear a photography vest when you travel. If you will run into any problems you can remove one or two of your lenses and put it into your vest pockets. Once you pass thru security you can put everything back into your bag(s).

https://www.thinktankphoto.com/colle...t-takeoff-v2-0