Flying to South Africa with video gear

I'm just writing the intro page to my now completed chapter in my SA steam memoirs book that covers my 1991, and last trip there. I cannot be the first gricer who has done this with excess cabin baggage to make sure everthing vital for a long trip (26 days in this case) didn't arrive several days later!

Here you go:

For 1991 I had advanced to a Sony professional 3 CCD Hi-8 camera, which due to its size, spare batteries, a charger and Hi-8 tapes, required an adapted and reinforced luggage bag barely within aircraft cabin baggage size limits. Plus a very large and heavy Vinten 5 tripod that was vital for me to get decent footage during my long trip. So my plan at Heathrow was to check in my normal luggage bag as usual and then try and get both my camera bag and tripod into the aircraft cabin to make sure they both got to Johannesburg with me. By holding the tripod low down at the boarding gate and then hurrying onto the aircraft, I managed to get to my seat, push the camera bag under the seat in front of me and, to my delight easily get the long and heavy tripod in an adjacent overhead locker. Just as the purser hurried down to my seat (middle row aisle seat) asking what was this about someone carrying two very large pieces of hand luggage on board? My reply was, no problem, all stowed away out of everyone’s way, so he left me. Phew, that was close, and I was very, very lucky as it was my first flight on one of South African Airways new Boeing 747-400 aircraft, and it had much larger overhead lockers than earlier 747s. There was nowhere to comfortably place my legs on the long flight out, but at least I arrived at Jan Smuts airport along with all my vital filming kit.

Bryan

 

on a similar theme, I was travelling with a friend to China for steam and because of a serious food allergy, he had packed his suitcase with an emergency supply of stuff that he could eat without without fear of reaction. When he put his suitcase on the scales at the check-in desk, I noticed that it was way over the limit. Fortunately, the checkin girl was busy doing something else so I managed to wedge my toe underneath the scales and reduce the “weight” of his luggage sufficiently to avoid him getting excess baggage charges.

 

I travelled back from Cape town with a fellow traveller on a steam rail tour.
He bought a loco whistle, and I a class 33 diesel cabside. He also bought a 6ft souvenir giraffe, all three items as hand luggage.
No problem boarding a 747. The giraffe was easily stored under the staircase to the upper deck. The loco items went in the overhead lockers.

There was a slight frisson at the uk customs.
What have you got in that shoulder bag, sir?
Er, a locomotive whistle
Pass!
And how about you sir, What's in your shoulder bag?
Er, a locomotive cabside...

Aha! Trying to smuggle the locomotive through in bits, are we?

British customs, don't you love them!

 

First trip to SA was in 2002. Many of the group, myself included, were shooting on medium format and had a couple of bodies, a selection of lenses and a shed load of films. On the way out, South African Airways were happy for us to take our stuff in as hand luggage as the bags complied with the more generous allowances available on long distance flights. On the return, SAA staff refused to let us take the camera gear with us. Cue a long standoff. They capitulated in the end.