The great travel BC topic

[BuoyantC]

I'd vote Zeagle also. My gal uses the Escape, and I have an old style Ranger. With no hard plate they can be folded, stuffed and bacially made to fit space available. I usually unlace the cam bands also when packing

 

[Albion]

It's a continental Europe thing. They will weigh everything, checked and carryon, and each has it's own limit as well as the overall. For those of us used to North American carrier practices, it can be a rude surprise that your plain old briefcase-with-laptop is over the limit for carryon.

(A couple of other typical differences make this not as bad as it might seem: First, checked baggage shows up quickly in most European airports. Second, business class has higher weight limits, and is typically only a few dollars more than coach. Rmember, an hour flight is a long segment in most of Europe. "In Europe, a hundred miles is a long distance. In America, a hundred years is a long time.")

--L

Many airports and airlines are getting stricter about this issue, there have been a number of incidents involving overweight hand luggage falling out of the bins during turbulence and braining people. IMHO far too many people are taking damm great lumps of luggage as carryon these days, especially when traveling long distances and then finding the final flight is on an old jet with little overhead bins which it wont fit into.

On the other hand why not come and fly around asia on some of the small local airlines not only is your hand luggage weighed but YOU as well.

 

[Scubamedicjoe]

my feelings are back plate and wing

 

[dc4bs]

Weight limits! Yikes!

I just got back last weekend from a tech diving trip (livaboard in Exuma keys).

I was able to get everything into 3 pieces of luggage:

1 carryon rollcase at 40 Lbs - the max carryon for Continental flights.

1 check duffle bag (deepoutdoors Submariner) at 50 Lbs - the max check for Continental flights

1 check pelican case (#1650) at about 85 Lbs - had to pay $100 overweight fee at check in but was not charged for the return flight from Nassau...

The hard case holds 2 x Al40s with the valves removed, 4 x regulators, 2 x masks, 2 x SMBs, small backup light, a dive knife and a few small odds and ends tucked into the foam here and there (scuba tools, extra bolt snaps, batteries, etc...)

My budy has an Identical pelican case with roughly the same contents...

The duffle carries most of the rest of the scuba gear. Fins, harness, wings (2), reels, wetsuits (5th reg wrapped in wetsuit), towels, etc. Basicaly everything but ithe camera, primary light and computer which went in the carryon with the clothes. Didn't take much clothing.... Just enough to protect the scuba gear really...

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Oh yah, just to stay on topic, I use a TransPacII with a dual-rec wing and a travel wing.

Provided you can get it completely dry for the return trip, it's very light, packs very flat and I can swap out the wing and tank straps in a minute or two to switch back and forth between doubles for tech dives and single 80s for rec dives (the reason for the 5th reg set above).

 

[Diverdar]

I use a Zeagle Escape as well......fits great, compact, rugged...what more can you ask for?

 

[ScubaTexas]

I travel with an Oceanic Probe and have found it travels very well and works great.

 

[nwdiver2]

The travel weight issue is not just in Europe, Quantas is now enforcing 5kg carryon as are many Asian and Pacific based airlines. I found Vaig to Brazil form LA last year for the first time ever took a long hard look at carry weight.

Talk to some UW-Photographers who have had their roll on cases put in the belly of the plane at the check on the loading ramp due to weight. UW-Photo type have always pushed the limit; now allot of airlines are pushing back. They want the overweight fees and extra baggage fees. I use business class so I can check two large bags and make my 10kg dry zone backpack look light so my housing, ports, strobes (I changed over to small ones), Camera, arms etc can travel with me, the dive gear is all checked besides my favourite computer of the day. A friend on the same plane in economy often gives me his second carry on with his laptop so he won’t have a problem with the same load as a carry on.

 

[Katz]

I just returned from a trip to Maldives. Both Air Canada and Sri Lankan airlines didn't check carry-on, and I had 2 bags - one 6kg, another 8kg, and checked-in luggage bag for about 30kg, and I was allowed another 32kg checked-in luggage, if needed. BTW, I saw one guy who exceeded 32kg per bag limit by 4kg, and Air Canada refused to accept his bag and asked him to remove some stuff from it.

 

[hantzu701]

I'm surprised that no one mentioned the Koplin Travel plates (Oxycheq) instead of using an AL plate.

I also second the comment of bringing ur plate w/ur carryon and leaving ur fins in ur checkin luggage.

 

[NirvanDT]

A BC that can be packed easy for travel & still have all the bell's & whistles; back inflate, intergrated weights, ie.

Last year I went to Australia & Quantis only allowed 2 bags per passenger on there planes. With my Black Diamond BC & my underwater housing for my camera, I had no room for my clothes, so I'm looking for a small BC to save space.

Any good one?