Mr FM has just been having a huge whine about this. I travel with almost no hand luggage, so I guess we will be spreading camera gear between us and then repacking into his special camera bag once on the plane. Don’t know what he will do when he goes to conventions on his own - I suspect he might be getting me to come along in future
still taking a chance - have you read the number of people with damaged and lost checked in luggage? Yes there is Insurance, but that doesn’t help in the short term when you have nothing. I disagree that it will be banged about less than when you carry it with you.
As mentioned in other post we have 80kgs checked baggage between the 3 of us. It's heavy and difficult to carry but I'm not going try to reduce it.We have a competition as to who travels lightest overseas. Of course I’m the one who takes the shampoos, sunscreen etcIf over 16 kilos I chuck stuff out. I used to take more but less is best.
We travelled OS with a baby and didn’t take much large equipment. A lightweight stroller and sling and that’s it. Can’t believe the amount of stuff parents take these days.
Yep. slightly OT but my checked luggage is nearly always treated acceptably, except for a flight I took last Sunday. My Samsonite was damaged extensively and even the metallic VA luggage tag (metal) was severely scrapped and gouged. It looked like they must tied my case to the tail with a rope and just let it drag along the runway on take off and landing (it wasn't VA BTW)!
Not sure about this. Really depends on the situation. All my expensive stuff travels in a Pelican case. Always checked in. It's plastered with fragile labels but I've seen how it's handled, as I watch out of the plane window. It's a heavy case, made of thick poly-prop. Everything inside is embedded in foam. Various external parts of the case have been bent, smashed and gouged. The padlocks have also been bent or destroyed (I buy in common keyed sets of four). Everything inside remains fine.s I disagree that it will be banged about less than when you carry it with you.
asked Mr FM about the Pelican and he was aware of them and said they were terrific but it still doesn’t solve the problem of the luggage not arriving - even a 24 hour delay would mean he lost a days photography at a convention, Anyway he’s decided he’s not too worried about it, as he thinks he can work around the restrictions given he can take two bags domestically and internationally it isn’t an issue, He uses think tank for his hand luggage cameras and they are also pretty protected at the carryon level.
You absolutely cannot check in camera gear if you are travelling through South Africa - Mr FM won’t even put his tripod into checked in luggage. Basically you only check in stuff you don’t care if you lose.The other issue is theft. Sadly a Pelican case acts like a flashing light in highlighting that something good is inside.
A friend who is a pilot for Qantas swears by using a standard carry on suitcase only. I guess when you’re flying on a staff ticket you probably have some leniency shown.
I certainly wouldn’t want to travel through some countries with a bag covered in fragile stickers - the bag will end up permanently lost
Between status and class we don’t usually have any weight problems for checked luggage. Just checked and Qantas is 7kg per piece for carry on, so the strategy works for Qantas. One issue for us is that on dash8s you are only allowed 1 piece, but Mr FM hates flying the dash8s anyway. Can sometimes be hard to avoid them flying out of Canberra though.
Not being critical but I don't think we need to understand the rationale but simply comply.
