carry on and customs

J

JWinter

Well-known member
any tips to minimize hassles traveling internationaL?

going from us to london and brazil

will be exceeding carry on limits with backpack (stuffed with 2 laptops)
and hvx in camera bag.


on last trip (didnt have all the gear) it seems as soon as i sadi it was biz + personal they hassled me more. need to know what to say im doing to minimze hassles. what i am really doing of course is shooting video for a commercial production.
 
for sure, and thanks

just trying to clarify if saying I am "working" somehow flags me for more drama.

also wondering about how often you can actually get "turned around" with excess carry on?
 
excess carry on is a hard deal. See what seat you have, they board from front to back on a plane. When all the space is taken up in the overhead bins that's it.
 
Listen, they won't turn you away for excess carry on. You're allowed one personal item (a backpack in your case) and one carry on (the HVX). If one of those articles exceeds a certain size they may make you check it (just like you would with normal luggage) or they will gate check it (meaning, they will put it in separate part of the cargo hold and it will be available to you when you deplane).
 
Yeah... but checking it will take awhile, and it's a pain, if you're already on the plane ready to go.
 
gate checking is different. They'll give you a ticket on the plane and then take the bag for you. It will be available as you deplane and won't be part of the regular checked baggage.
 
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thanks for the valuable info.

have you found saying you are doing something offical like "press" or "documentry" is differnt at customs than saying something like " im on vacation" or "im visiting my girlfriend"?


sorry, i guess im a little paranoid with all the sensoring/snooping going on. just cant stand being pulled aside and held up for hours. last time i told them i was on pleasure and prospecting for biz and they entered my biz card info into their system and searched ALL of my baggage includeing shampoo bottles! I was looking at the guy at the next counter who was alos getting questioned, he was a musican from Tacoma and they were physically opening his gear up and asking "what does this do?"...haa haa.
 
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I did a doc last year that we had to travel. The only thing that I did was to have my tapes out in a clear tuppa ware thing. and when I got to customs I told them what they where and they shouldn't Xray them. They were cool with it. For me checking gear is a scary thing. On the same film going from US to Russia I check the camera and a Light kit. When We got to Russia the light kit was there but the Camera was in Germany some where. Lucky for us we had two days before we need to shoot anything for scoutting a pre pro. And the Camera did make it but that is a risk that I don't take now. I put my most vital gear on me. And as for the light kits and tripods, well you have to check those.
 
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I wasn't allowed to carry on a bag on a British Airways flight from Detroit to London because they said it weighed too much. Never mind that it was much smaller than some of the bags other people carried on, and it fit easily in the over head bin (it's the bag I've been carrying on for years, I just had more books in it this time). I tried to reason that since I personally weighed a lot less than most of the passengers, I should be allowed the extra 10 pounds in my carry-on bag.
 
so what did they make you do with the bag?

where did this occer, at check in? on the plane?
 
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Flight carriers are a rule unto themselves. What works for one airline doesn't for another. You can minimise your heartache by checking their terms & conditions when your booking your flight (you know the page, everyone skips reading and checks AGREE).

In the past I've given the airlines a heads-up in advance saying that I'm Media when I book flights. Some give you concessions others screw you for more money.

I've been travelling with my gear for over 10 years now and it's never straight forward. Some you win, some you loose.

And with all the dirt cheap carries available now they have even more stringent booking rules. It really is a nightmare and no one is willing to standardise the system.

I checked some camera gear into the hold with Ryan Air (Irish Based) once and the girl at check in insisted I sign a disclaimer that they would not be respossible for the baggage checked in???????? I asked who would be responsible and she replied You are (meaning me)......erm How can I be respossible when the baggage disappears flight side I asked.....she said you either sign the paper work or you don't fly. Never ever fly with RYAN AIR regardless of the cost saving they really do suck and blow at the same time.
 
They checked my bag, so it wasn't a huge deal. But it annoyed me that I'd gone to the trouble to pack eberything into a single carry-on so I could avoid baggage at Heathrow and get on the tube straight off the plane. Hell, it was ten pounds over their carry-on limit, yet I weighed at least 50 pounds less than the guy sitting next to me.

As for carrying film equipment, it would cost a lot more, but you could buy an extra seat. My brother in law is a cellist and he has to buy a seat for his cello when his string quartet travels.
 
sorry to be a flight newbie here, but does "checking " mean they psyscially take it and it goes into normal luggage handleing or (much better) it is handled in a different manner than normal luggage handleing
 
- Make the carry-on bag small and handle it like it was light. A friend of mine had once a 32 kg daypack as a carry-on and I was there and saw it (23 kg chunk of jade as a souvenier from Tibet)

- You are allowed one carry on PLUS camera or binoculars PLUS a reasonable amout of reading material. So: take the camera & all printed matter out of the bag and carry them under your arm.

- Put heavy things in your pockets. Or anything that fits.

- Just check things. I check tripods, long lenses, spare SLR bodies etc. I only carry things I MUST have for the assignment.

Claiming you are a pro is a two proged thing. In some countries immigration & customs is paranoid (USA...). If we are talking only airlines here, they should have some symphaty. If you are in a group try to spread the load, no two laptops on one person etc. Or check one, carry one.

Or, if it comes to that, just pay extra, get extra tickets, fly first class and pass the cost to the customer...
 
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