How to avoid checking in when flying with camera gear
Jun 22, 2018
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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Imagine coming to the gate at the airport and the staff forces you to check in your camera bag. There is thousands of dollars’ worth of gear, and checking it in means it can get lost or damaged. We recently covered the story Michelle Frankfurter shared, claiming that American Airlines lost her $13K worth of gear. Inspired by Frankfurter’s story, Matt Granger shares two ways you can avoid checking in your camera bag at the airport.
Matt explains that he has also had situations when the airport staff tried to force him to check in his gear bag. One time he was so stubborn not to check in his bag, that the plane even left without him. He caught the next flight, and while it is a pain in the neck – he was sure that his gear was safe.
Now, I’m sure you want to avoid waiting for another flight. Matt suggests two approaches that might help you avoid checking in your camera bag. But first, just know that you need to make sure that your bag fits the prescribed dimensions and weight for the carry-on luggage.
Taking responsibility
The first approach you can try is telling the staff how much worth of gear is packed in your check-in bag. Explain to them that it isn’t safe to check it in, as it can easily get damaged. If they still force you to gate check the bag, you should demand to speak to a supervisor to assure you that the airline will take the responsibility if any of the gear gets damaged or lost.
Matt says this will normally get you around. And of course, make sure to be calm and polite, don’t yell or be rude by any means. But if this doesn’t work, you can use a joker: batteries.
Bring plenty of batteries
The current TSA rules prohibit checking in any bags that contain loose batteries. In other words, if you’re traveling with Li-Ion batteries or power banks, you have to keep them in the carry-on. If the staff tries to force you to check in your bag, let them know that it’s full of batteries and that it can’t be checked because it would be a fire hazard.
Flying and traveling is fun, but flying with lots of camera gear, apparently, can be stressful. So, do your best to protect our gear and to keep it on you, and I believe Matt’s tips will help you with that. And of course, I think you should still have your gear insured to be completely safe.
[2 Tips to avoid CHECKING in your Camera Gear | Matt Granger]
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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3 responses to “How to avoid checking in when flying with camera gear”
Well good idea you think Matt, but they can and will tell you just remove those 17 batteries and put them in your pockets and then we will check your camera bag! So really not a soluation.
As a flight attendant I can tell you I so often hear the phrase, “I never check my bags”. Well unfortunately the other passengers have the same mindset, hence the reason that if you are in the last third boarding the aircraft there’s an excellent chance there will be no room for your bag. I know with my company (who shall remain nameless) that if you have a credit card affiliated with the carrier you get to board earlier and/or if you are willing to pay for “main cabin extra” you will get to board earlier which should enable you to find space for your bag. Telling an agent how much the contents of the worth has little to no effect. If there’s no space…end of story. If it were me, I would take the next flight rather than check it. Oh, and like Christopher said in regards to the batteries. They will just make you remove them, so that tactic won’t work. Paying for the “main cabin extra” or getting the credit card to me would make the most (and best economic) sense.
I had a vest made. Pockets would take two bodies, Laptop, two hard drives, and three lenses. Looked ridiculous but would have saved me checking my gear had I ever had to use it. Use their own rules against the bastards. Nothing in the rules (for airlines I’ve flown with) have ever had a weight restriction for a passenger and their clothing.