White-tailed Eagles on Mull

I have spent the morning catching up on some blogs and websites I haven’t visited in a while and saw that Martin of Mullcharters has posted a short video that was filmed for a BBC documentary.

Although the Eagle was not very close to the boat in the video, it does give some idea of the experience!

So, if you find yourself on Mull next Spring/Summer, I highly recommend that you book yourself on the Lady Jayne for a wild Eagle experience of a lifetime! I created the photo at the top of this post on the Lady Jayne.

Talking of Mull, if you want some expert guidance on seeing the wildlife available on the island, have a look at Marcus Conway’s Mull tour next spring. It looks like you need to book soon as there are only a couple of places left!

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Comparison of airline baggage restrictions

Following on from my recent post about flying with camera gear, I thought I would look at various airline baggage restrictions (allowance seems too positive a description in most cases).  Click through to see a comparison of several airlines.

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Please note that this information is gathered from the airline websites on 5th October 2009 and is presented here for illustration and comparison purposes only.  I had to convert some fees from Euros and USD to GBP.  If you plan to travel, you should contact the airline to find out their current restrictions and charges.

I have used the restrictions and charges for Economy travel, without any special frequent flier discounts.  I also used the fees associated with early payment – some airlines charge more if you pay at the airport.  All the fees are per flight so if you make a return journey, you need to double the fee.

I haven’t included other fees associated with flying, such as booking, check-in, airport tax etc. Be careful with these, on one well known budget airline, a £10 fare became nearly £100 after I added a bag and the ‘extras’ such as checking-in to the flight, paying by credit card etc…

The comparison tables below show the airline website, number of bags you can check, maximum weight you can check, number of hand luggage bags and maximum size, maximum weight of the hand luggage and any charges for bags and excess baggage.

To start, I picked some of the better known budget airlines operating from the UK. 

Airline	Checked luggage	Checked allowance	Hand luggage	Max weight	Baggage charges
Aer Arann	Limit not specified	15kg	1 (20x28x43 cm)	7kg	£6.50 per kg for excess
airBaltic	0	20kg first bag then 32kg per bag. Fee applies	1 (50x40x23 cm)	8kg	First bag £9, then £13 per bag.  £9 per kg if bag too heavy
airberlin	Limit not specified	20kg	1 (55x40x23 cm)	6kg (8kg for laptops)	£9 to £18 per kg depending on destination
Air Southwest	2	20kg	1 (53x34x22 cm) You can also carry a laptop from some airports	7kg	£6 per kg for excess
blue1	Limit not specified	20kg	1 (55x40x23 cm)	8kg	£5.50 to £10 per kg depending on route
bmi baby	0	18kg Fee applies	1 (55x40x23 cm)	10 kg	£13 to £15 per bag.  Plus £10 per kg if over 18kgs.  £30 for over-sized hand luggage (per item).
easyJet	0	20kg Fee applies	1 (55x40x20 cm)	No Limit	Fee for luggage, depending on route then £10 per kg over limit.
flybe	Limit not specified	20kg	1 (55x35x23 cm)	10 kg	£10/kg for first 3kg, £15/kg for 4-6kg, £20/kg for over 6kg
Thomas Cook	0	20kg Fee applies	1 (43x28x23 cm)	5kg	£8-£20 for 20kg appears to be a hard limit.
Jet2	0	22kg Fee applies	1 (50x38x26 cm)	10kg	Fee for up to 3 bags based on route. £8 per kg over allowance.
monarch	0	20kg (max 20kg including hand luggage on charter flight) Fee applies	1 (56x45x25 cm)	10kg (5kg on charter flight)	£10 - £16 per bag based on route. £9 per kg over allowance.
Ryanair	0	30kg Fee applies	1 (55x40x20 cm)	10kg	1st bag (max 15kg) £15, 2nd bag (max 15kg) £35. (these are £35 and £70 if you pay at airport!). Excess charge of £20/kg.
Thomson	0	20kg Fee applies	1 (55x40x20 cm)	5kg	From £6.50 per bag, varies based on route. Excess fees not documented.

And here is a sample of ‘traditional’ airlines.

Airline	Checked luggage	Checked allowance	Hand luggage	Max weight	Baggage charges
American Airlines	1	23kg	1 (56x45x25 cm) plus laptop bag, handbag or briefcase	No limit	2nd bag £31. Overweight bags £31 per bag
Air France	Limit not specified	20kg	1 (56x35x25 cm) plus laptop bag, handbag or briefcase	12kg	Approx £13 per kg overweight.  Note that the allowance and charges vary based on route.
British Airways	1 (2 for flights to USA)	23kg (46kg flights USA)	1 (56x45x25 cm) plus laptop bag, handbag or briefcase	No limit	£25 per oversize bag (up to 23kg)
KLM	1 (or 2 if based on piece concept)	20kg plus golf bag not exceeding 20kg (or 46kg if based on piece concept)	1 (56x35x25 cm) plus laptop bag, handbag or briefcase	12kg	£4.50 - £27 per kg depending on route.  Under piece concept, £137 for extra bag or £45 for excess weight.
Lufthansa	No limit (long haul has a 2 bag limit)	20kgs (long haul is 46kg)	1 (55x40x20 cm)	8kg	£4.50 - £37 per kg depending on route.
Virgin Atlantic	2	46kg	1 (56x36x23 cm)	6kg	£35 per bag over 23kg. £90 per extra bag

Quite a variety of baggage rules and charges.  Notice how the hand baggage size varies!  Something to watch out for.  Some airlines were very specific about bringing a coat, umbrellas etc.  Most of the budget airlines were very specific about hand baggage rules.

Looking through these tables, it seems that flying with camera gear is now pretty hard and will almost always incur excess fees.  Maybe the approach is to carry your over-size camera bag to the aircraft door and hand it over to be put in the hold by hand.  Not ideal but better than it going through the nightmare of normal baggage handling.

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Flying with camera gear

A recent thread on Birdforum started by Marcus Conway has got me thinking about travelling with my photography gear now that I am back in the UK.

As I mentioned a couple of years ago, I don’t tend to travel very light!  It seems from the comments on that thread that I have been lucky, I guess travelling with larger airlines and avoiding the budget carriers where possible has helped me avoid problems.  Click through to read more.

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I also use bags that are within the legal hand baggage requirements specified by the UK Government.  These guidelines seem to be used by many airlines but I always check before travelling.

My large backpack is the Lowepro Photo Trekker AWII and it takes my Canon 500 f4 IS, a couple of pro-size Canon bodies and several other lenses.  The straps do make fitting the bag in the testing cage a little bit difficult, but there is no problem getting it in an overhead onboard.

About a year ago, I got bored of carrying my heavy backpack and purchased a THINKTANK Airport International V 2.0.  This rolling bag is designed to meet most airline hand baggage size limits and still takes nearly as much stuff as the backpack but is easier to travel with plus has great carrying and security features.  This is the best built and designed bag I have ever owned.

I also have a Peli 1620 Protector Case – I remove most of the foam and it fits my Photo Trekker full of gear.  Great if I have too much gear for either of the other bags and can stomach the excess baggage fees.  I then carry a smaller Lowepro Mini Trekker AW with one body and minimum lenses I need (e.g. a Canon 400 f5.6 and Canon 17-40 f4).

None of this covers the weight involved with all this gear and restrictions the airlines put in place.  This is something I plan to look into further and will post up my findings soon.

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Barnies

A few Barn Owl images from my recent trip to the UK…

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North Norfolk, UK

I have just returned from a couple of weeks back in the UK, visiting family and friends…and getting a week with the camera up in North Norfolk.

While in Norfolk, I arranged to meet up with some photographers from www.ukbirdphotographers.net – we had a great couple of days and it was good to put some faces to names.  Some of the people I have known for a few years but never actually met!

More images if you click to read more.

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