Carrying extra weight in carry-on

I think that the best advice is to ask the airline..

If you fly with an American airline, they probably don't care how much you carry on, as long as it meets the size requirement and you can lift it into the overhead bin yourself. However, if you fly Alitalia, you have a carry-on limit of 13# (6 kg).

Hi Bob

Firstly I have grave doubts about the possibility of you being allowed to take that kind of bulk as hand luggage. I know for a fact that the airline I work for would INSIST that it go in the hold and we'd be prepared to go to court on that one.

Film companies, specialist engineering companies or anyone who has to haul very fragile and/or very expensive irreplaceable equipment by air, they talk to the airline cargo department. The cargo departments are specialists themselves in this field.

Please please please call the cargo department of the airline you're travelling with and talk to the professionals about your needs.

What about thieves?

I'm not willing to check ANYTHING of real value because of the theft problem. Otherwise, I'd use a case I have that is designed for shipping fragile electronics. (Very heavy hardened plastic with thick foam padding).

I've talked over the years to too many technicians and others who have had equipment "vanish"- and the cost of insurance (and the time spent trying to replace lost items) is too great.

I wonder how Rick gets his equipment around.

When going through airport security, you have to separate out all electronic devices -- cell phones, laptops, cameras etc. , so you would have to possibly unpack it all from your carry-on before going through the x-ray -- this seems like an impossible situation that you would not want to go through. I agree, check with the airline and find a way to do this.

Perhaps this is a case where everything but perhaps the laptop should go by UPS or Fedex.

Bob, are you travelling on your own, or with other people heading to the same school in Sicily? One answer might be to split-up the items among several people.

Many of the international flights allow one carry-on bag plus a "personal item" such as a Purse or Laptop case, so you might be able to split the gear that way (one item in the overhead bin,the other under the seat)? However, it would be a good idea to leave some room in your checked luggage if you're travelling by air within Europe, as the rules for carry-on are more stringent there. You might have to check at least part of your gear in that case? Take a couple of TSA-approved Padlocks as that will provide at least a slight amount of theft protection.

Good luck!

Two comments:

One, there is now a limit to the number of rechargeable lithium ion batteries you can pack in a checked suitcase on a flight when they are not in use (safety issue). You should contact you airline to find out exactly what they will carry - http://safetravel.dot.gov/whats_new_batteries.html

Also, with that much electrical equipment you probably would be well advised to register it with customs prior to departure to avoid any hassles about veryifying where the stuff was bought when you return.

I would also think that you are not going to be able to bring that all aboard - not so much weight, but bulk. You should talk to the field school to see if the equipment can spread between people or shipped over.

Kate

I'll probably be leaving early for organization and setup (and to get a feel for the sites). I'd thought about shipping most of the equipment over before, but wasn't sure if that was the way to go.

Bulk isn't going to be the problem (the biggest thing is the laptop, followed by one of the cameras and the special GPS unit- but even then they aren't that big.

Have receipts for your gear to show they are registered/paid for here. May need them may not. ALso - any way you can divide up the gear a bit with someone else so you dont have to lug in all 20lbs on board? You can go ask the TSA folks at the airport you will leave from too. Go on a non-busy day and ask and explain your question. They should be very helpful.