Carrying On Specific RED components for Air Travel

[Dustin Hoye]

Hi Everyone,

Leaving for a job out of the country on Monday- and trying to carry on as much core gear onto the plane as I can, just in case any issues with checked luggage. A quick background here, I have a Think Tank Airport Security 2.0 roller that I am taking on, in addition to a laptop bag and then checking tripod in a Nalpak and remaining gear in a Peli 1650.

So my question is, has anyone had any particularly negative experiences carrying on any certain components for their Red setup? (Besides batteries, those had to be shipped.)

In particular, I am concerned mostly with the handles and especially 5" & 7" arms for the EVF and LCD. I have pretty much figured that there is no way the 19mm (18") are coming on board, unless checked.. :wink5: but thoughts? (I am leaving the 12" rods in the camera plate though, just in case, figure if they are attached.. but that's why I am asking.)

FYI I have a Carnet for my gear, for Customs- just concerned with initial TSA screening, more than anything.

Thanks in advance!

Dustin

 

[Ron Lagerlof]

HI Dustin,

I have traveled extensively with Red One and Epics and I think I can help you... The big question is where are you going?
Every country has its own idiosyncratic "rules" that the airline personnel or the TSA equivalents seem to make up as they go.

Here is what I do:

I have a LowePro roller (a 300 that is technically over the carry on size - but it has a zip out lining that for smaller planes you can take out quickly and the inner "bag" will fit under a seat or in limited overheads) The rolling part usually gets my backpack crammed into it and is gate checked. This has only happened on short hop island to island flights, turboprops, etc.

In the Lowe is one or two Epic bodies, all my lenses, hard drives, monitor & EVF, rail components (I typically don't carry the rails but if I did they are carbon fiber), Red volts, charger, side handle, Redmotes, cables, SSDs, Red Mag reader, more cables, etc. You get the point. I even have a small plastic bag with the allen and torx tools required to assemble the cameras.

READ THIS - my partner just flew to Indonesia and the TSA equivalent in Singapore confiscated her allen wrench that is used to mount the handles to the camera housing. The good news is that they allowed it to be checked - in a separate box - which she claimed in Jakarta. I have not had any issues with the tools i mentioned, in Indo, Australia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea - anywhere... you just never know who you're going to get.

In my backpack I carry my Red Bricks. Two bricks - and I take them out and put them on a separate tray in advance. No problems. Except in Mexico where I was told (again by the TSA sort of guy) that they had to be checked! I went to the United counter, explained that the rule is clear that they be carried on and I was escorted back through the line with my Bricks. In fact, on one of my first trips to Indo with the RED I had a long (10 hour) layover in Tokyo on the way home. All the way to Indo the batteries had been in my Peli with the charger and a bunch of other accessories. By the time I got to the gate in Tokyo I noticed my Peli sitting on the floor. I asked the agent what it was doing there and he said that they needed to look inside and asked if I had the batteries packed. I opened the case and he politely told me that I could not check those. I asked what I was supposed to do with them, and he replied "Oh, well you can just carry them on with you". I was shocked!

I also travel with an oversized photo vest. This allowed me to put the batteries in the vest for the remainder of my return to LA.

Again, back to where are you going or traveling through. Australia is extremely strict about oversize and overweight carry on. The aforementioned LowePro bag weighs in at nearly 50lbs. I'm a big guy and I can make it look much lighter. If someone else tries to pick it up though, forget it. My suggestion - after a recent experience in Brisbane and Sydney - is to take everything out of the bag one component at a time and put it on a tray. One camera, one tray; one lens (or two), one tray; one hard drive, one tray - you get the idea. This way the bag goes through and doesn't weigh that much and they see everything that came out of it. I'm not positive it will work, but it beats trying to put the expensive bits into a shitty plastic bag that they give you and make you check the rest of the bag... Otherwise, just stay away from Australia.

The other thing is I always try to fly United where I have Premier Exec or 1K status. That gets me overweight luggage allowance and usually a pass on the carry on. I also try to fly business or first class which is another way to avoid the scrutiny of the TSA/gate agents. A good attitude and a friendly joke here and there can also help you get through the gauntlet.

Anyway, I hope this helps. Safe travels and good shooting.

Ron

 

[Rex Yau]

I posted a similar post last week, and I too had experience flying my Scarlet, V-mount battery, REDmags, EVF, and DIT (mac mini + G-RAID and more HDD). Most of the time I leave the brain in my camera bag but open the lid, it got bounce once or twice since the X-Ray can't penetrate the brain; so like Ron said, it is safe to set it on a tray.

I even got through JFK once with my whole DIT setup in a shoulder bag, it was dumb I know, but everything with harddrive is best to layout on tray as well.

 

[Greg F]

I just leave it all in my pelican case.. when they open it they go on your way LOL

However Hawaiian Airlines was practically demanding I check it.. I had to pull parts out put it in another bag just to make them happy it was STUPID.. 25lb limit carryon...

 

[Dustin Hoye]

Sounds good guys. I guess I was mostly just worried about the rails and arms. (Checking 18"s, but was leaving 13"s attached to baseplate in carry on, as a last ditch effort for minimal shoulder setup, since I am carrying on handles too, in case checked tripod disappears in transit). Ron, we are traveling to Stockholm, Sweden on Delta.

Sounds like it is pretty much common sense and a lot of circumstance- so if they nab my 13"s or claim an arm, I'll split the dif ahead of time and pack the other two arms in the checked peli with the 19"s. All allen wrenches are checked. It's the thread lengths of the flat tip screws at the end of the 5" and 7" arms I am worried about. Thanks all!

 

[Peter Strietmann]

It was announced today that TSA will be allowing small knives and some other items that have been previously banned from flights. It is due to go into effect the third week of April. It is always a good idea to bring a copy of TSA regulations concerning batteries as it has bailed me out on more than one occasion.

 

[stu aull]

It's been mentioned in other threads but since you asked-
You MUST carry-on your Li-Ion BRICK batteries (If you use them). TSA does not permit these to be checked. Now, the flip side to that is, when I was traveling (in-country) on Alaska Airlines, on my return leg, the check-in Ladies would not permit me to carry-on my Kit (Pelican 1560) in spite my "mentioning" that I flew into the very same @#$%! airport - on AlaskaAir - with the case AS a carryon. So they let me pull the camera body (lens/EVF/SHdle combo) and carry THAT on, then proceed to break TSA rules and cargo my case with 3 Li-Ion Bricks. Go figure.

What I took away from this is to always have an empty-ish back pack I can put the camera into as carry-on in case the whole Kit gets punted to cargo.

Stu Aull
SX199
Alaska

 

[Mark Andersen]

I have never had any issues with rails.

I keep trying to make my package smaller and smaller when traveling. Recently I got 15mm CF 6" rails for using with a small Vocas MB with my Canon lenses, going 15mm just makes everything smaller and lighter, and the MB will stand up in the bottom of my backpack because the 19 mm adaptor is gone. I usually go with redvolts when traveling because I shoot in short spurts, and pack and move on. I have traveled with as many as 14 of them though. On planes we spread them around with other travel companions. I hate to check anything, although I do often put a small tripod in my luggage with my clothes.

when traveling truly alone, my package is really small and in one backpack. Usually I have at least one assistant so I can bring more gear, and shoot faster once I'm there.

 

[Raju Sindam]

Hi iwant to buy from chicago

red epic used one..iam an Indian..how to buy that epic..in india customs duty 30% now iam buying it for 16000 usd...what about invoice...nd any problem with buy from third party person...please discus about this..give me suggest. .

 

[Les Dittert]

I just returned from India trip with a Scarlet in a backpack.
When arriving, nobody even asked me what was in my bags. Just walked on out of the airport.
They tend to inspect the Indian looking people more, as they are the ones sneaking in stuff.
On leaving, the Xray gal wanted me to remove all items from the backpack, and wanted to put all the lens's in plastic trays, etc.
I snipped ' why the heck have an X ray machine then, if you want to unpack everything? '
They didn't care about the two 160whr batteries either.
The Chinese looked at the batteries and nothing else.

Since you are Indian, I'd have a white tourist take it in.
If asked, I say "it is an old camera, heavy, old , cost about $150 " . This got it into Taj Mahal , where they don't even allow video cameras !
The good thing is that the Red does not look like a video camera.

Hi iwant to buy from chicago

red epic used one..iam an Indian..how to buy that epic..in india customs duty 30% now iam buying it for 16000 usd...what about invoice...nd any problem with buy from third party person...please discus about this..give me suggest. .

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Have not flown any of my gear out of North America... That said, I have not had any troubles in North America with my RED equipment, even the "BOMB" that everyone went so hysterically paranoid over in regards to this. Only issue is the Li batteries, but that goes for any equipment. Just follow the rules and you'll be fine. Check TSA rules and whatnot before you pack up everything, bring a copy with you just in case. That may be paranoid... I have not had any issues myself <knock wood>.

...I take that back. They wouldn't let me take a small Craftsman multi-tool a couple years back. No knife on it, but I guess it still fell under the restricted items at that time.

I've had a couple TSA guys notice the NATO (Picatinny) style rails (RED's SWAT Rails) on a few things. "hey, those look like gun rails"... After I explain it, they thought it was cool RED was using them to attach commonly available handles and other gear. Too bad camera people don't usually understand this the same way. Ha!

 

[Mark Phelan]

I've had a couple TSA guys notice the NATO (Picatinny) style rails (RED's SWAT Rails) on a few things. "hey, those look like gun rails"... After I explain it, they thought it was cool RED was using them to attach commonly available handles and other gear. Too bad camera people don't usually understand this the same way. Ha!

Or politicians for that matter.