I've been hearing a lot lately about people having their carry-on bags weighed. I'm curious, for those that have been to Africa recently, were your carry-on bags weighed? If yes, during what leg of the flight did this happen (and where - at security, the gate ...)? What airline(s) were weighing carry-ons? What was the weight limit, where you charged per pound, made to check bags, etc? Anything you would change for next time?

I was intending to stuff as a bunch of clothes, camera, binos, and books in a duffel for the flight over so I knew some stuff would arrive with me. I'm beginning to rethink this idea though ...

Put as much as you can in a jacket or travel vest, then let them weigh the bag.
Don't forget you get on carry on and one "personal carry item", put stuff in the pci too! Complain loudly if they want to weigh your PCI when they don't weigh women's purses too!
When you get past the scales, just put vest and all back in the bag!

On one of my trips, they reinspected everybodys carry on stuff at the actual gate of departure.

Then they set up a portable scale as you walked down the on ramp to board the plane from Dulles to J'Berg, weighing carry on's.

Mine was 36 pounds, with binos, camera, flashlights, extra batteries, spare hunting boots, clothing, etc.
I try to take as much as I can in my carry on in case my other luggage gets lost stolen or delayed.

So I did exactly what Robert suggest, I put all the heavy stuff in my vest..

They did not weigh every carry on, just picked some at random. Mine did not get weighed.
When I got on the plane I ust put all of my stuff back in my carry on and locked it up.

I always use as my carry on the Patagonia MLC [stands for Maximum Legal Carry on].

It is a good piece of gear. It has comfortable back pack type straps.

My carry on weighed

When I'm not flying with guns I rarely check a bag, preferring to use a legal-maximum carryon and a traveller's vest. Twice recently I have had my carry-on weighed and found to be over some apparently arbitrary limit (once it was set at 10 pounds!). In both cases I was forced to check the bag.

quote:

Originally posted by Sevens:
were your carry-on bags weighed?
..

Yes, at the baggage check in but they cannot weigh it if it is not there.

I've never had a carry-on weighed and I've taken at least a hundred international trips, but anything's possible, including the airplane falling out of the sky.

I wouldn't lose a lot of sleep worrying about it.

I had them,,,Quatas weigh my carryon this past summer in LA flying over for a buf hunt. I was prepared and had a "travel vest" and cargo pants on. I stuffed all the cameras, batteries, binocs, video camera and spare batteries. They were taking away carryons for both size and weight issues and checking them,, plus if you had two checked bags you payed for the "extra" bag. Extra batteries weigh a great deal. It was the same on the return trip. My experience is overseas airlines worry about it a great deal more than our domestic carriers. When they started charging for bags people tried to carry everything they owned on board. Be prepared to stuff your pockets! You might need to worry a little about it and have back up plan or be prepared to pay! Pretty stupid because as soon as I boarded the plane I put everything back into the bag,,,

On the same note, when we flew in to Numblawaar on a small charter plane we were very restricted on luggage weight,, They weighed me, I had everything I owned even extra shirts socks etc on, I looked like a blimp,, but my luggage was under the allotment of 35 lbs total and that included guns and ammo!

Several years agon on flight from Joberg to Harare --- weighed my carry on as part of checked baggage -- they tried to charge me extra --- thanks to rep from Afton house going to battle for me got it resolved or I would have been out about $80 if I remember correctly.
G

Just bought me a Filson travel vest in olive green for that very reason and for the upcoming June trip. Best to be prepared, as the old Boy Scout motto says.

'Working in the middle east i have had my carry on's weighed on a regular basis when flying Qatar. By the time they got done the only thing left in the bag was a laptop. i believe 7kg was the limit

Emirates weighs your carry on more often than not. They had set a 7kg limit (~15 lbs). Thankfully last time I had a small back pack in the carry-on into which I stuffed everything till the weight came down to the set limit. I don't know why they do this as the whole bloody lot,including the backpack, is going into the plane and into the same overhead storage area as everything else. But who are we to complain…

Jas

quote:

I don't know why they do this as the whole bloody lot,including the backpack, is going into the plane and into the same overhead storage area as everything else.

They do it to increase revenue.

we had our carry-ons weighed both ways to and from New Zealand last month. i think this is going to become common practice soon with all the baggage restrictions and charges. it'll be another way the airlines can nickel and dime everyone

We flew SAA from Jberg to Kimberly and they only allowed 20 KIlos. Also from Cape Town to Jberg. All intracountry travel is limited to 20 kilos and they do weight it at the gate.

My wife's carry on was weighed by Lufthansa at the gate at O'Hare on the way to Namibia via Frankfurt. They told her it was too heavy to carry on and checked it. The logic of this completely escapes me, since the same amount of weight is going on the airplane.

We also had carry ons weighed by Quantas on our way to and from Australia/New Zealand. I had to ask for a supervisor to get an exemption for my Pelican case with video and still cameras in it. It was overweight for a carry on, but when I told them it was expensive camera gear they let me carry it on anyway.

The only place I have ever had a hassle with carry-on weight was at Johannesburg airport. My carry on was weighed and decreed to be overweight. I took out the camera and put it around my neck and told them to weight it again. They said I couldn't do that, to which I replied that their own signs in the check-in line said not to put cameras and other valuables in the checked luggage, so I was just following their instructions. In the end they gave up on me and let me on with my stuff.

The last 2 years my carry on has been weighed at Joberg. I have a wheeled carry-on that has a zip off backpack. I pack it so there are heavy items in each. When they go to weigh it each piece comes in at the limit and then reattach them as soon as I go through. It is a game they play and I have found they don't really care how you get to your weight limit just as long as the number on the scale is right.

Just flew SAA from Washington DC to Joberg and back returning 5-5-11. Carry ons were weighed at both Washington and Joberg. At Joberg wife's carry on was to heavy so we moved some stuff from her carry on to her briefcase and after passing scale put it back in the carry on. Briefcase was not weighed even though it was heaver than the carry on.

What was the weight limit for carry-on??

TJH, what was the weight limit and where did they weigh the carry-on? At baggage check in or at the gate to board the plane?

I'm thinking I'll be stuffing my coat and cargo pants with stuff for this trip. Rather be a little warm with my coat on for a few minutes then let the airlines weasel more money out of me.

On April 23 in Washington they weighed at the gate, one of our fellow travelers had to move some stuff around to make the weight of 8 kilos/18 lbs. On May 4th in Joberg they weighed ours just after checkin and before we reached the gate area, limit 8 kilos/18 lbs. They let 8.4 pass but not anything over. They did not weigh camera bags, briefcases, purses, etc.

Did they weigh backpacks?

I saw one lady who had a small backpack and a carryon they did not weigh the backpack. I think they would have weighed large backpacks that were used as carryons.

This is not good news. My camera bag usually weighs 35 lbs and my camera stuff that won't fit in that bag is in my backpack and it weighs a lot, too. I'm going to Ethiopia in Sept but I think I'll fly in/out of Kenya. As if the tickets aren't expensive enough they gouge you on excess carry on weight.

I have just returned from another great trip and two hunts in South Africa and Namibia. I had a total of 9 flights- Delta SEA to Amsterdam, KLM to JNB, all internal flights on SAA, and SAA JNB to WA Dc and United to SEA. No carry on weigh in on any of these flights! SAA did hand inspect and hand patted down every carry on and pax prior to boarding at the gate headed for WA DC.
A fellow who was in camp in Namibia flew Lufthansa Biz Class out of Seattle to Frankfurt and at check in they really hassled him on carry on weight forcing him to load some of his hand carry into checked luggage! They stated Max limit is 8KG or 17.6lbs.
In all my years of international travel an a biz traveler, and further extensive pleasure international travel,mostly Biz or First class and some coach like my last trip over to Africa, I have NEVER been questioned about any carry on??!!
FYI, there is a stated wieght limit on overhead storage bins-by the Aircraft manufacturer, probably set by the FAA, and this is a safety issue..they don't want them overloaded and fall open or come crashing down on passengers and causing injuries...and liability to the airline. This can and does happen in turbulence.
Clearly, the new weight limits and checked bag charges have caused a big move to carried on items...
Ain't air travel fun these days!!

Got in the wrong line at IAD and paid overweight on my checked luggage and was threatened on the carry on, but got by by paying for the checked bag. ai say wrong lin because a friends bag was heavier but they didn't look at it in another line.In Africa I was wheeling my wifes carry on and wearing the same overweight back pack. They only picked on the one I was wheeling for my wife. But yes we were weight both ways. The clerk in East London got the overweight waived. All this 2 weeks ago.

I wish airlines just charged by the pound.

Passenger + stuff = fare.

quote:

Originally posted by Duckear:
I wish airlines just charged by the pound.

Passenger + stuff = fare.

No kidding; it costs more to haul a guy 300 lbs with nothing than it does to haul my skinny 150 lbs carcass plus 100 lbs of baggage.

Re back packs, I often use one a carry on as I can leave it on my back regardless of how heavy it is and even if they check the size of other carry on bags, they never ask to for the back pack (or they don't notice it).

quote:

Originally posted by 500N:
Re back packs, I often use one a carry on as I can leave it on my back regardless of how heavy it is and even if they check the size of other carry on bags, they never ask to for the back pack (or they don't notice it).

Until my most recent trip on Ethiopean Airways, I had never seen an airline weigh a bag at the gate. EA weighed just about every carry on bag and made most folk check bags that were in excess of 15 lbs. including back packs. I knew mine was about 25 lbs. and I pulled as much stuff out of it as possible and combined them as my one "personal item" or crammed them in my pockets. I then sinched the pack down as tight and small as I could and they said it was small enough without weighing it.

Still in airport coming home from Africa. In JNB they were weighing carry ons, but if you told them there was cameras or a computer inside, they waved you through. Both of mine were 50% too heavy.