Travel advice for passengers

Wouldn't get your hopes up about actually flying today from what I heard on the news this morning, but best of luck to you.

Hav
 
Wile E. Coyote said:
True, bet you would be gutted if you were due to go on holiday though.
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For sure. :(

One solution for the camera situation (if you know what address you will be at) could be to courier it to where you are going. I know a few surfers who do that all the time with their gear.
 
Alex53 said:
For sure. :(

One solution for the camera situation (if you know what address you will be at) could be to courier it to where you are going. I know a few surfers who do that all the time with their gear.
Click to expand...

Have you seen the state that most of the boxes sent by any courier turn up in?

Airport baggage handlers could take destruction lessons from these guys!

Hav
 
I was popping into my nikon dealer earlier to grab a few things, there were like 4 guys buying hard case so they could put it in the hold...
 
Just flew back from Portugal today, and was quite lucky to get my camera kit on as hand luggage.

but if you are flying out of the UK everything is going to be in the hold.
 
Aloha from Spain. Made the flight and it wasn't actually that bad. Luckily for me I was flying from East Mids with Ryanair in the afternoon. I turned up 2 hours before the take off and only had to queue for about 15 minutes. The Easyjet queue was pretty huge and BMI had cancelled most of their flights.

I couldn't take anything on as hand luggage except my passport, a few printed e-mails including my travel arrangements and my wallet. They wouldn't allow sweets or my book!

The security involved a proper bad down, the usual metal detection and x-ray check of everything including all my hand luggage and my shoes.

Once through to departures it was all as you usually expect even had the electrics shop open (why? it's not like you can take it with you!).

The flight took off on time and was pretty boring without an ipod or a book to read. Landed 5 minutes ahead of schedule as well.

The baggage throwers were true to there name and I saw the bags be unloaded from the fly. Well, I say unloaded, it what actually happened is someone dropped the suitcase from about 2 foot onto the conveyor belt. Luckily for me it seems how high they dropped it from depended on the weight. The heavy ones got thrown but the light ones just got a small drop. Thankfully mine was reasonabily light and didn't get the full treatment.

Checked my 20D and it's all good. I packed it in a small Lowepro bag I have inside my luggage so it had some good padded protection. My 100-400 L IS appears fine but will test it fully later today. I put it in it's L case packed with bubblewrap and then wrapped it in clothes.

All in all it went a lot better than expected.
 
I'm going on holiday in 2 weeks. Hopefully it'll be back to normal by then.
Are you usually allowed to just take your camera on the plane with it round your neck or what? Does it have to be in a case?

Least I only have relatively cheap gear to worry about I guess. Will just rebox it. :)
 
When I flew to Jamacia my bag was over weight and I had to there and then at check in put my 100 - 400 L IS into my suitcase!! I was pooping bricks doing it as well as exposing my medium sized underpants to everyone waiting behind me! hehe

for the next 14 hours I was just thinking about my lens and its safety! I was gooood and it turned out to be fine.. But still!

extreame!
"For those travelling with an infant: baby food, milk (the contents of each bottle must be tasted by the accompanying passenger) and sanitary items sufficient and essential for the flight (nappies, wipes, creams and nappy disposal bags)"
 
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I'm off to the USA in a little over 3 weeks. I'm not sure I want to pack my cameras, lenses and MacBook Pro into the suitcases. Also when going to/from the US, you are not allowed to put a padlock on the suitcases.

I'll have to see if there's some camera insurance that covers equipment being transported in an aircraft hold.

11 1/2 hour flight to LA with no iPod. :mad: :(
 
A mate has just returned from the US to the UK this morning and they had similar security checks. No drinks, books etc.. allowed on the flight, only things they'd let them take through the checks were their wallets, keys (no keyfobs or keyrings) and travel documentation.

Then as they waited to board the plane people were brought their duty free stuff, as usual, to take on board - and allowed on with it. Makes a mockery of it all if you ask me.

If my camera gear was damaged because I was forced to place it in the hold then I'd be pursuing the airline for reimbursement, not my insurance.
 
There are media rumours about the restrictions becoming permanent, or at least a ban on bring bottles of liquid onboard. If this happens the airlines will really need to guarentee stuff against damage if it's reasonably packed, there's no other way. For me, I wouldn't like but I can live with my camera/laptop going in the hold (it's insured in the end) but a 22 hour flight with my ipod would kill me.
 
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