IATA new standard for the carry on bags

[SergeiR]

Well.. IATA is but a "guideline". Some carriers already had tiny sizes for domestic sizes (in case of regionals it was kinda right - i mean some of them won't feet backpack with laptop, let alone any backpack with gear). Invest in other means to carry stuff. I remember i had to hand-carry Technika IV through Singapore Air check-in three years ago, b/c they kept saying how overweight my carry-on was (it was weight of camera, yes, but ...). I gave up on idea of air travel with 8x10 some time ago (funny enough Russia domestic flights in most cases would be absolutely fine with that size of a bag, if you ask nicely)

[StoneNYC]

Well.. IATA is but a "guideline". Some carriers already had tiny sizes for domestic sizes (in case of regionals it was kinda right - i mean some of them won't feet backpack with laptop, let alone any backpack with gear). Invest in other means to carry stuff. I remember i had to hand-carry Technika IV through Singapore Air check-in three years ago, b/c they kept saying how overweight my carry-on was (it was weight of camera, yes, but ...). I gave up on idea of air travel with 8x10 some time ago (funny enough Russia domestic flights in most cases would be absolutely fine with that size of a bag, if you ask nicely)

Does "asking nicely" involve a little cash in your palm (or should I say, theirs)?

[Paul Ewins]

If you want to travel with a 4x5 camera - even a Graflex SLR - my suggestion would be to find the smallest bag possible that will fit just the camera. After having gear stolen on a train because the bag was too big to sit on my knees or at my feet I stopped taking a big backpack when I travel and switched to a small bag with one SLR and two lenses. Most airlines allow you to carry a camera as well as a carry on bag and I have never had staff even mention my camera bag. It is around the same size as many womens' handbags and will fit happily under the seat in front of me. That bag would have enough space for a folding 4x5, a few grafmatics and maybe an extra lens or two. I don't think it attracts attention because it doesn't look large or heavy. Mind you, I never travel on the ultra budget airlines ( "You want oxygen? That will be extra") so things may be different there.

[Pete Roody]

I am taking a 4x5 Graflex SLR to Italy and will follow your advice. The narrowest dimension of the camera is 7.5" so an 8" bag should work. I can fit the camera, several grafmatics, a few lenses and film in a case that meets the requirements for Emirates ( 22 x 15 x 8 inches (55 x 38 x 20cm) and must weigh no more than 15lb (7kg)). The weight my go over but I will weigh it first to be sure. I shoot allot of film with grafmatics so the film will add bulk. At least I can take LF gear. There is no way I see traveling with my 8x10 camera with these restrictions.

If you want to travel with a 4x5 camera - even a Graflex SLR - my suggestion would be to find the smallest bag possible that will fit just the camera. After having gear stolen on a train because the bag was too big to sit on my knees or at my feet I stopped taking a big backpack when I travel and switched to a small bag with one SLR and two lenses. Most airlines allow you to carry a camera as well as a carry on bag and I have never had staff even mention my camera bag. It is around the same size as many womens' handbags and will fit happily under the seat in front of me. That bag would have enough space for a folding 4x5, a few grafmatics and maybe an extra lens or two. I don't think it attracts attention because it doesn't look large or heavy. Mind you, I never travel on the ultra budget airlines ( "You want oxygen? That will be extra") so things may be different there.

[HMG]

Get a vest or jacket with cargo pockets. Doesn't need to be a "photographer's vest", but that's the type I'm talking about. They may weigh your bag, but they don't weigh you. Just make sure it's not too bulky, you don't want it looking like a bomb vest.

I am taking a 4x5 Graflex SLR to Italy and will follow your advice. The narrowest dimension of the camera is 7.5" so an 8" bag should work. I can fit the camera, several grafmatics, a few lenses and film in a case that meets the requirements for Emirates ( 22 x 15 x 8 inches (55 x 38 x 20cm) and must weigh no more than 15lb (7kg)). The weight my go over but I will weigh it first to be sure. I shoot allot of film with grafmatics so the film will add bulk. At least I can take LF gear. There is no way I see traveling with my 8x10 camera with these restrictions.

[koh303]

you don't want it looking like a bomb vest.

How can you tell the difference?

[Drew Wiley]

After these recent recommendations for tightened TSA guidelines, I suspect layered vests will be given a hard look. I don't think I'd have much problem getting
my 8x10, some holders, and a changing tent into a legal carry-on. My suitable CF tripod wouldn't quite fit. But I see people bringing on guitars and golf bags in
slipcases, and simply leaving them near the front of the cabin, so figure that would work for a compacted tripod too (certainly not a big Ries). With 4x5, everything including a CF tripod easily fits in a regulation carry-on. Then I have a little kangaroo pouch for a book, glasses, travel papers, etc which zippers to the outside of that for wheeling around, then removes and has an integral shoulder strap for getting thru the inspection line and having handy during the flight while the main bag is overhead. I'd never ever ever have anything of real value go thru checked baggage. A whole ring of baggage handlers recently got arrested here.

[Pete Roody]

I like to carry everything in the bag (backpack or rolling bag) that I would use on the trip. Companies make bags/backpacks that fit the size allocation so that is not a problem. But the weight can be an issue. 15 lbs is not much when you subtract the bag weight. For instance the Think Tank airport rollers meet the size requirement but weigh 9.5 lbs. empty. I agree that an 8x10 system can meet the size requirement. You just have to hope they don't weigh your bag. My backpack was weighed on my way back from Paris. It was bulky but I wasn't carrying a camera so it met the weight limit. They weighed it because they saw it was stuffed. Luckily a pillow doesn't weigh that much.

After these recent recommendations for tightened TSA guidelines, I suspect layered vests will be given a hard look. I don't think I'd have much problem getting
my 8x10, some holders, and a changing tent into a legal carry-on. My suitable CF tripod wouldn't quite fit. But I see people bringing on guitars and golf bags in
slipcases, and simply leaving them near the front of the cabin, so figure that would work for a compacted tripod too (certainly not a big Ries). With 4x5, everything including a CF tripod easily fits in a regulation carry-on. Then I have a little kangaroo pouch for a book, glasses, travel papers, etc which zippers to the outside of that for wheeling around, then removes and has an integral shoulder strap for getting thru the inspection line and having handy during the flight while the main bag is overhead. I'd never ever ever have anything of real value go thru checked baggage. A whole ring of baggage handlers recently got arrested here.

[Bob Salomon]

O

After these recent recommendations for tightened TSA guidelines, I suspect layered vests will be given a hard look. I don't think I'd have much problem getting
my 8x10, some holders, and a changing tent into a legal carry-on. My suitable CF tripod wouldn't quite fit. But I see people bringing on guitars and golf bags in
slipcases, and simply leaving them near the front of the cabin, so figure that would work for a compacted tripod too (certainly not a big Ries). With 4x5, everything including a CF tripod easily fits in a regulation carry-on. Then I have a little kangaroo pouch for a book, glasses, travel papers, etc which zippers to the outside of that for wheeling around, then removes and has an integral shoulder strap for getting thru the inspection line and having handy during the flight while the main bag is overhead. I'd never ever ever have anything of real value go thru checked baggage. A whole ring of baggage handlers recently got arrested here.

You have misunderstood what IATA is. The International Air Transport Association is just that, an international group of travel related companies that can issue suggestions, like the size that they suggest on for a carry on case, but their suggestions and guidelines have no authority with TSA. Or the airlines. Each airline has been setting it's own requirements for carry on sizes and weights as well as the number of cases that you can carry aboard.

From the mid 1980s until they opened their own North American factory and distribution system we were the distributor and importer for Rimowa luggage. Rimowa had an IATA approved carry on from the early 80s on as well as other sized carry on cases. Traveling extensively over the last few decades, mostly on Continental, UAL, although, etc. with regular sized Rimowa carry on trolleys the only time I ran into a size problem was on Czech air flying from Prague to Cologne. Ironically I was going from the Rimowa factory outside Prague to their headquarters in Cologne. But the plane on that route essentially had no overhead storage.
Over the years Continental had probably the most generous carry on requirements and Delta and American the most restrictive. The new UAL has never questioned my carry ones but that might be aided by the fact that I have well over 1,000,000 miles on them so have lifetime elite status for both my wife and myself and am also TSA Pre at check in.

But since IATA has already withdrawn their suggestion for this size and their suggested IATA label the whole topic is now dead.

[Drew Wiley]

I don't know about international flights, but domestically, most airlines have a little box available to see if your bag fits or not. Mine has no trouble with any of them, and I routinely see people going on board with conspicuously bigger bags, so have little to worry about personally. And it would fit beneath the typical jetliner seat. I even got is onto one of those tiny inter-island hopper planes without issue, though that didn't help with the problem of having my knees in my teeth, which is inevitable with or without a bag along. Given the fact that rules tend to tighten rather than get looser, I always select gear conservatively on that very premise. TSA "pre-check" is itself being questioned. But any minor delays we experience hasn't been due to my camera gear, but due to the fact that my wife flies frequently, and due to her medical training, refuses to get X-rayed. But that five minutes or so of delay just gives me time to put my boots back on and make sure my stuff in all together anyway. No big deal. We generally fly out of Oakland, which is fairly efficient with schedules, never out of SFO, which can
be hell.