I am flying Emirates for the first time in 10 safaris on Monday. I am a bit surprised that they limit you to only one piece of carry on that weighs 15 pounds or less. Do they weigh your carry ons at the gate? Do they really not allow a laptop or briefcase in addition to your carry on? I really had to limit what I am taking this year. SAA allows a carryon and a personal item as well as basically giving you a third checked bag free ( gun case) in economy.

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Originally posted by subsailor74:
I am flying Emirates for the first time in 10 safaris on Monday. I am a bit surprised that they limit you to only one piece of carry on that weighs 15 pounds or less. Do they weigh your carry ons at the gate? Do they really not allow a laptop or briefcase in addition to your carry on? I really had to limit what I am taking this year. SAA allows a carryon and a personal item as well as basically giving you a third checked bag free ( gun case) in economy.

Last month we flew from Houston to Lusaka on Emirates. They didn't weight our carryons in Houston.

On my flights from Seattle to Dubai to Harare and back in June, they did check, but episodically. Only one carry on, but a jacket with cargo pockets (full of gear!) is ignored.

one carryon plus one personal item flying Emirates out of Seattle. Nothing was weighed nor checked for size.

Flying Emirates out of Seattle to Dubai all carryons were weighed. A gal from Emirates was weighing Carryons while we were waiting in line. Mine was overweight.I went to the counter and took out a large DSLR Camera and a Mavic Pro Drone. They gave me two soft bags I put one Item in each bag and put them next to my carryon in the overhead on the plane? It made NO SENSE to me?

Emirates is great, but when it comes to baggage and carryons I think they get a little anal retentive. On my last trip to Joberg I had to open my gun case and let them look inside at every stop (even though in transit), I had to take my ammo case (Pelican) out of my checked bag at every stop and allow them to inspect and weigh the ammo, and my wife and I had to have Drs. letter for our CPAPs, plus batteries, which they also "micro inspected". I guess they have their reasons. Never had my carryon weighed, though. We did fly BC if that makes any difference. You also have to go through security at every stop, even though in transit. Only airline I've flown that does this.

Never had a carry on weighed, but they have inspected the contents when leaving Dubai on each of 6 trips.

I'm in Dubai now as I type this, on my way to Seattle and up to Anchorage.
Emirates is a wonderful airline but due to the security I may go back to Delta.
On the way over I had to connect in Seattle. As Emirates had to inspect my rifle and weigh and count my ammo I had to collect the bags in Seattle fro Alaska Air and recheck with Emirates. That, and going through a very busy TSA took just under four hours. My carry on WAS weighed and I had to take out two books and put one in my gun case and the other in my checked bag.

Emirates in Harare for the trip home all was smooth in Zimbabwe. Dubai is a bit different. Getting off the plane I had to go through security, then again at the gate. My carryon and personal bag were searched and again the wand was waved to clear me. Some passengers went into a private room for a semi strip search. It's all doable, but a pain. My carryon was weighed, also.

For what it's worth...
Cal
PS. Dubai is a cool and modern airport but when I passed through both ways, visibility was about a mile do wither to pollution and smog or a dust storm. It really was ugly to look at.

Extra security screening in DUBAI is a requirement by the American authorities.

Only to America require that, travelling to other destinations is much easier.

Carried on a big backpack and medium sized camera case to Ethiopia and back. Didn't weigh them that I can recall. Zero issues.

Can anyone tell me if when they weighed your ammo if they left it in the case. My damn pelican case is heavy.

Emirates asked me to remove my ammo boxes from the ammo container before they weighed it.(in Seattle)

Thanks

I just returned from Zimbabwe last week. Going over they weighed my ammo in Seattle (3.8 kg) and in Harare for the return (4.0 kg.) They weighed it in the case. Their scales must not be very accurate, as I had 80 loaded rounds going and 70 loaded rounds and 10 empty cases coming back.