haw many cases you are carring

[Brad Grimmett]

I'm flying (airplane flying, that is) today and want to carry on my vest and arm - concerned about their reaction.

 

Dan

You should be concerned about carrying on your arm. Before I checked my bags and went through security a couple weeks ago I spoke to multiple TSA folks, and they all said I would have trouble getting through security with my arm. Not because it looked like some kind of gun or bomb, but because, "You could swing it and use it as a weapon". It's silly reasoning on their part, but I decided to just put my arm back in the case and check it. I would have been screwed if they checked my bags and then I found out I couldn't carry my arm through security. Everything worked out all right for me, so I was happy.

Hopefully you'll read this before you leave for the airport. Good luck.

[Guido Lux]

5 + stand + cart + handsfree(when needed)

 

And boy, do I love my two peli guncases (sure get strange looks when entering the airport!)

 

Guido "every piece in place" Lux

[Iain Baird]

I used to carry six cases, smaller pelicans untill I read a post a year or so ago about travelling with your gear. The advice was to have fewer bigger cases vs. many small ones. The reasoning was that a big case can't be tossed about, it has to be lifted and placed. I now use three large cases and I never worry about how they are treated in transport because they are big enough to withstand any abuse and heavy enough not to be thown around by some uncareing baggage handler. It also maks it easier to keep track of all my stuff on the camera truck. I learned to count to three at a very young age and I still have it mastered.

 

Iain Baird

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

Usually 8 for the package

 

4 Pelican 1650's

 

1 1600

 

1 1550

 

1 Duffle bag

 

Cart

[Marc Abernathy]

eric/all,

 

do you fly with your cart or just ask production to have one for you when you get there (probably not)

 

how hard is it to check in the cart? how do you secure it for transport?

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

eric/all,

 

do you fly with your cart or just ask production to have one for you when you get there (probably not)

 

how hard is it to check in the cart? how do you secure it for transport?

 

 

I always fly with the cart, it's part of my package. It folds for transport, and then I ratchet strap the top shelf and side tray to the cart chassis.

 

never had a problem checking it although it will get dinged as Oversize/overweight

[RonBaldwin]

Guido, what kind of cases are those...pelican? what's the model #? Looks cool.

 

Ron B

[Hervé Colosio]

as i travel by airplane all the time ,

i have put all in 4 cases near 31 kg each .

 

1 x 1650 pelicase for harness, arm, docking stand, matthews turtle base,low mode system and brackets .

1 x 1650 pelicase for 2 charger , 9 batteries ,transvideo assist monitor , bartechs and motors , cables .

1 x original master series fly case .

1 x 1450 pelicase for The Boxx numeric video transmitter/receiver

 

and each time i take planes it's between 500/2000 $ of baggage excess .

[Jamie Hammond]

Guido,

That kit looks sweet in those cases, good job. I love my cases, but most are old metal flight cases. (ex optex cases, all you brits ops know what I mean) Still got the blue and yellow corners on as well. Peli defintley the way to go.

 

5 cases:

 

1, standard master case

 

2, Arm, hard mount, antlers, jerry hill bracket ( and soft set bag)

 

3, Batteries, low mode, extras

 

4,Peli 1600(hooray) Fox remote, motors, teltest transmiter and 7" mini monitor, cables batts etc..

 

5, metal(again) Actionproducts, back mounted vest & Ultra vest. Soft bag for daily's.

 

Plus 1 x flight and accomodation for grip to lug my kit about because the cases weight a ton.....

[Thomas English]

when flying I have one rifle pelicase for my sled and bartech and one old betaSP case for my klassen, master arm, transvideo recievers LCD screen allen keys and gaffer tape. so 2 cases in the hold and a rucksack full of batteries upstairs with me.... oh and a stand in the hold as well,

[Mark Karavite]

FYI,

 

Many airlines have what they call a "media rate". You need to request the media rate, and if they give it to you, here are the advantages:

 

Less $$ per extra bag: usually $50 per bag instead of $80

Weight allowed: 100lbs instead of 50lbs.

 

For example, Northwest airlines asked for either media credentials (which most of us don't have) or a letter on your clients letterhead describing the project, including dates. I had to have the client letter to get the lower rate. Also, they usually attache first class tags to your bags when using the media rate.

 

Keep in mind to allow plenty of time, since it seems that the desk personnel are not familiar with the process, and have a hard time getting their computer program to accept a lower rate.

 

For those of you checking carts, do they weigh more than 100lbs. I was told they couldn't accept baggage over this weight.

 

Mark Karavite

 

FYI,

 

Many airlines have what they call a "media rate". You need to request the media rate, and if they give it to you, here are the advantages:

 

Less $$ per extra bag: usually $50 per bag instead of $80

Weight allowed: 100lbs instead of 50lbs.

 

For example, Northwest airlines asked for either media credentials (which most of us don't have) or a letter on your clients letterhead describing the project, including dates. I had to have the client letter to get the lower rate. Also, they usually attache first class tags to your bags when using the media rate.

 

Keep in mind to allow plenty of time, since it seems that the desk personnel are not familiar with the process, and have a hard time getting their computer program to accept a lower rate.

 

For those of you checking carts, do they weigh more than 100lbs. I was told they couldn't accept baggage over this weight.

 

Mark Karavite

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

Many airlines have what they call a "media rate". You need to request the media rate, and if they give it to you, here are the advantages:

 

 

Media Rate has to be requested when the ticket is booked. They will not honor it if you show up on the curb asking for it.

 

Just a heads up

[Peter Abraham]

Mark is right, however it comes with a huge caveat in most cases- nowadays you must provide a real credential showing that you are working on a major broadcast MEDIA production.

 

Cases with stickers all over no longer cut it, sadly. For most if not all live t.v. events, you get credentialled once you arrive at the venue- so that only will work on the flight home.

 

I used to get the company hiring me ( ABC, etc. ) to write a letter on letterhead, naming me, dates of flight, job, etc. That worked wonders.

 

Just a thought.

 

Peter Abraham

New York

[WillArnot]

For those of you with agents, the letter is something you can have them type up for you so you don't have to rely on the Production company. This has worked for me in the past.

 

FYI Alaska Airlines has just changed their policy to involve a short list of companys that qualify for their 'media rate'. Thanks to this forum I was able to avoid alot of aggravation by not going on Air Canada. When I arrived in Vancouver and was pushing away my mountain of gear there were alot of hot heads steaming from lost baggage with Air Canada.

 

You can usually get the production company's attention when you explain to them the financial repercussions of making sure your flight booking has a media baggage rate associated with it. If they don't deal with it then they just have to reimburse you for more money.

 

And NOBODY should be paying to ship their gear unless you actually aren't flying with it for a job.

 

Will