*Updated for 2013*
We’ve flown on nearly every major US airline in the last year, close to 100,000 miles. Not all of it has been for filmmaking, but we have done enough trips with all of our gear to get a solid lay of the land when it comes to flying with film equipment. Oversize baggage fees, media rates, waived fees, damaged equipment, delays, cranky agents, nice agents – we’ve seen it all. In the process we’ve learned a few tips that can greatly help you on your next flight with your gear. Which airline is far and away the best for flying with film-making gear? Read to the end to find out!
Packing
Packing up your film gear as checked baggage on a flight can seem like a daunting task. How are you going to fit all of your stands, tripod, lights and accessories into a case(s) that will actually keep it safe? Notice I didn’t include camera in that list. That’s because under no circumstances should you ever trust your camera to the baggage handlers. Unless you want to end up with a collection of camera parts when you show up at carousel 5, always carry your camera on the plane. Fight tooth and nail, offer your first born child to the flight attendant for that coveted jacket-hanging space near first class, or take it out of the bag and hold on to it for dear life if you have to. Do anything but check it in!
For the rest of the gear, all of which may cost just as much as the camera but is generally much less delicate, get yourself a Pelican case (or two or three, etc.) Pelican makes all sizes of cases, and they come with or without foam. It’s up to you if you want to get the foam, as it’s more expensive and you may not need it. If you already have your gear in a variety of soft bags, it may make sense to stuff the whole bag inside the Pelican case. Or just use a bit of foam to pad the items inside. Either way, these cases are virtually indestructible. Pelican guarantees their durability for life (except in the case of bear attack, shark bite, or children under five – seriously) so you can trust your gear to them. I’ve never seen a Pelican case break or even crack. I’ve seen a handle break off a 20 year old case (which they replaced), but not any damage to the case itself. They should make planes out of the case material. One downside is that these cases are super heavy. The larger ones can weigh over 30 pounds empty. That means you may end up having overweight bags once you fill them up, and consequently hefty overweight fees.
Overweight Fees
Even with a carbon fiber tripod, smaller and lighter LED lights, and minimal gear, our stuffed Pelican case weighs 65 pounds. That pushes it 15 pounds over the 50 pound limit imposed by most airlines for checked baggage. Some airlines like Southwest will give you two checked bags for free, and many times even if they are over 50 pounds. Others like American, United, or Virgin America will give you a “media rate” which is generally $50 per bag, without any restrictions on size and weight. To get the rate you may have to show a media ID like a press pass, or even just a business card. So make sure to carry a business card, a formal press id or a homemade media pass.
Without the media discount, most of the big airlines will charge around $25 per bag, then up to $100 additional for the overweight fee. That means $125 per bag, which in our case would be $250 each way. It could be cheaper to actually buy another seat on the plane for the bags!. On airlines like US Airways that no longer have a media rate, sometimes it’s better to buy an upgrade to business or first class, which can be as little as $50 and will get you two free checked bags up to 70 pounds each. No one said the fee structure made any sense. Below I’ve outlined the fees for the major airlines we’ve flown so that you can be a more educated consumer. *These rates change often, so best bet is to double check before you fly or buy a ticket!
American Airlines (Current as of Jan. 2013)
Media Rate: $50 per bag, up to 40 bags. Need to prove you are “media” – press pass or real business card with company name, website and phone number should work.
Southwest
Media Rate: Two bags checked free. Need to prove you are “media.” $50 per additional overweight bag.
United (Current as of Jan. 2013)
Media Rate: $50 a bag up to 25 bags. Very strict on proving you are media. Website claims you need a company issued “ID” whatever that means. In practice, we had to fight heavily in person at 6 different airports to get the media rate by showing our business card & credit card. Ideally make yourself a “company ID” that looks official, and get it laminated at Kinko’s to be safe.
US Airways (Current as of Jan. 2013)
Still no media rate, agents are overly cranky and sometimes rude, not helpful and will never waive the bag fee. $115 per overweight bag. We were given vague advice about contacting reservations ahead of booking to get the rate.
The Winner
Southwest stands out as the clear winner for traveling with film equipment. The agents are always helpful, you get two bags free (even if they are overweight) and then any excess bags are charged a reasonable $50. United and American tie for 2nd place, with American getting a slight edge for having an official policy on their website. US Airways is by far the worst, and I would avoid flying US Airways in general. One last solution is to get more cases and pack them lighter so none go over 50 pounds. But that means more things to carry, so it is a tradeoff. My preference is less bags even if they happen to be overweight. If you can get elite status on an airline, everything will also be easier. If you get mid or top tier status on most airlines you will get two bags up to 70 pounds for free, a huge advantage to sticking with one airline if you travel frequently.
Good luck with all of your future flights, and just remember to be friendly to the agents and they will be more inclined to help.
Thanks of the breakdown, and I agree on the pelican cases, they are a bit heavier built really really tough. I had no idea about southwest, I will put that on my list. Thanks so much for the great info!
Glad we could be helpful Mike! Keep in mind that the rules are always changing, so it’s always a good idea to check right before you fly, or purchase a ticket.
Excellent post! Is the large pelican in your photo a Pelican 1740? And Southwest allows you to check this? One of these would be perfect for carrying my lights and stands but I had worried about the size and weight. Thanks.
Glad to be helpful. The tall case is the Pelican iM3220 Storm Case. Last year when we flew Southwest they let us check it without an issue. Usually it’s the weight, not the size that is the issue with this particular case. Ours usually weighs 65lbs. If you can get it under 50lbs then you’d likely have even less issues.
Nice post and good info. Just to add a bit, I regularly fly from Minneapolis/St. Paul and Delta has a $50 media rate as well and seems to have no limit, at least as of 4-6 months ago. We’ve taken up to 25 extra cases on projects before.
Good to know Steve, thanks for the info. We just traveled another 25,000 air miles in the last two months and have a couple updates that I will be adding to this post today.
Don’t fly United, they lost one of my gear cases totaling $1400 and sent me a check for $100, and a note saying they weren’t responsible for what was inside the case.
Ouch, that hurts. We had all our bags lost by Delta in December, and had to rent all the gear the next morning as they couldn’t find our bags in time. Luckily we got everything we needed, the bags showed up the next day, and Delta reimbursed us for the full rental. That was nice!
One thing about southwest is connecting flights. Several times something has gotten lost if we change planes. It gets there on the next flight usually, but we’re usually already at the hotel and have to go back and get it. They have ran it out to us before after some complaining. AA reimbursed me for a rental on gear they misplaced and delivered it at 3AM in the morning to the hotel.
Southwest has changed their media rate to $75.
AirTran also has a media rate of $75 – which is the same price as their fee for anything over 2 bags.
If you’re able to fly Frontier, their media rate is $25 (Contract of Carriage rule 225).
Also note – international media rates may differ – Delta’s is $75 and United’s is $70.
Thanks for the update Paul! And yes international is usually even more unfortunately.
One more note – there is a weight limit for any bag, media or not. As far as I know, no airline is going to accept a bag that weighs more than 100 pounds. If you happen to have a bag that weighs that much, you’re going to have to send it air cargo, Fedex or UPS. Air cargo can be cheap, but you must plan in advance – airlines will not accept cargo from an unknown shipper – setting up an account with them takes care of that.
If it’s a bag you don’t need right away, it’s usually cheaper to send fedex/UPS. I’ve sent 70 pound bags cross country for $25. Of course, it takes about 5 days since it’s going by truck.
Good to note the max weight limit. That’s why we advise keeping them under 70lbs, both for your wallet and back!
Nice article! I also travel quite a bit each year. A couple of tips have helped me out a great deal.
I normally carry on a full size camera pack (I primarily shoot outdoor sports and travel doc content) as well as a Pelican 1510 (for lenses). When flying domestic and when enroute to catching overseas flights (I live in a small market town) I despise, but often end up having to fly on smaller CRJ 900’s (Canadian Regional Jet(s) by Bombardier). They are smaller planes and have smaller overhead space. On these flights the airline personal will make an announcement prior to boarding and circulate a gate check tag for all roller bags. On one flight even after pleading my case I was required to check the 1510 case and ended up with a damaged lens (my beloved Zeiss 35 1.4) and a cosmetic dent in my laptop. The next flight I was more successful and got the case in the cabin and took a picture with my phone of the Peli fitting nicely in the overhead while holding the seatback safety info card (which always includes the aircraft model) in the shot. Now when an airline employee asks me to tag my bag (they always do) and doesn’t believe that the case will fit (about 50% of the time) I show them the picture of the case successfully fitting and info card for the same aircraft type.
After the lens/laptop incident I started supplementing the included pelican divider with extra foam. I generally cut extra foam squares that fit under each lens and then a selection of other random foam that I’ll add to any void and normally remove it when I get to my location. On my last trip (which was to Alaska) I had a total of 5 flights to reach my destination. 3 normal commercial flights (one turbo prop Horizon shuttle with overheads too small for the 1510), one charter (no overhead bin at all), and one Otter bush flight (no overhead). So basically, try not to check your bags but be ready because often times you don’t have a choice.
In the winter I’m almost always carrying a ski bag which will fit my well padded tripod, slider, a couple of lightstands and a 4×4 scrim jim, oh and skis. But in the summer for non ski jobs I’ll normally pack all of these odd sized items into a heavy duty rolling golf travel bag. I also have a small 8/12 foot jib that will fit in it as well. The bag is fairly heavy duty without weighing much on it’s own.
When traveling, I’m almost always solo until I reach my destination. One technique that I’ve developed over the years is attaching my rolling bags and cases into a train with carabiners and straps (this is especially handy if carts aren’t available). I can carry two pelican 1510’s, a full sized camera backpack, a full sized rolling luggage bag, my full sized ski bag, my full sized golf bag all by myself. It’s not fun mind you, but it works.
The best tip I’ve found is to just be nice. I’ve saved thousands of dollars (for my clients) over the years with overweight/excess baggage, and change fees by just being really nice to whoever I’m dealing with. I always wondered why certain people I knew always seemed to have more issues and problems while traveling (as well as always being charged more). The reason would generally become painfully clear during the first 10 minutes of a trip. Cheers!
Great tips!
OUTSTANDING information!!! I’ve been flying with gear for 10 years and had no clue about media rates until I happened across this post. It’s a crime that this isn’t more common knowledge–or maybe it is and I’ve just been under a rock. Either way, thanks!
Glad we could help!
Delta sent my tripod to the wrong country once. But they reimbursed for my costs. They’ve also delayed baggage until the next flight.
Also, US Airways is now $175 for oversize and bags over 71 lbs. http://www.usairways.com/en-US/traveltools/baggage/baggagepolicies.html
I bought a Pelican case too. Bummer on the weight, but Delta has broken TWO of my other suitcases, so I have no choice. Bottom line, no airline is trustworthy these days.
Ouch! Another reason to avoid US Airways (although if they ever merge with American we can only hope they take on AA’s policy.)
I travel quite a bit for my hotel and architectural work and this article is spot on. If you are looking to save a LITTLE weight on cases check out HPRC, most come in lighter than Pelican and are built just as tuff.
Great, thanks for the tip!
I’m a freelance commercial photo/video guy usually traveling with 2 carry-on’s and 5 checked bags/cases/cart all under 50lbs.
I’ve flown about 20 domestic flights this year after learning about the media rate in early January. At first, I brought a copy of my business license and a business card. It worked for the most part – with a few agents reluctantly agreeing. Then one time flying back from Houston on United, they gave me an incredibly hard time about the fact that I didn’t have a press pass or that I’m not affiliated with a major news/media network (CBS, NBC, etc.) After 20 minutes of discussion and reviewing their media rate info on their website, they agreed only based on the fact that my home town agent (SFO) allowed me to do so on the original flight to Houston. I showed them the receipt.
After this, I made my own “media press pass” and laminated it, etc. Again, for the most part this works without question, even better than the business license and card. It just looks more official.
I recently flew with Delta and the SFO outgoing agent approved it without question and was very nice and friendly. Then when returning from Salt Lake City, they instantly took my “press pass” behind closed doors to discuss with the manager. She stormed out with a fury saying that I’m not official media and that anyone could print a press pass and laminate it. I showed her their website “Camera, film, video tape, lighting and sound equipment that is tendered by representatives of network or local television broadcasting companies or commercial film-making companies will be accepted as baggage at the fees noted below. Valid photo ID with company insignia is required.” I asked her to specify what “commercial film-making company” meant and replied, “you’re not one” I disagreed, and again, she shot me down. Another 10 minutes of discussion and she started to get more and more angry saying they should bill me the difference that the SFO agent didn’t charge me and then charge me regular rates to get all this equip back home. At that point I realized that she was only looking for a fight and I decided to back off a bit and I asked for a quote at regular rates, when she told me $650, I very, very kindly asked that she match the rate (showing her the receipt from SFO) all with a very sad face, and oddly – she finally agreed. Very strange interaction all in all.
My point to all this (for all of us freelance people) is that it 100% entirely depends on the agent you get at the counter. Some are nice, some are not so nice and some are insanely rude. The “rules” on all of the airline websites are all very vague and not all agents know about or care about getting the media rate for you. One time, an agent literally said, “I don’t have time for this and want to go on my break” — she checked all 5 bags for ZERO DOLLARS.
Good luck out there and always be prepared to pay full rate if you land on a cranky agent.