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Whenever you are carrying more than tourist luggage, you are advised to call the airline to find out about costs and restrictions. (It’s usually best to call the reservations number, even if you actually buy your ticket online, because the reservation clerks are trained to handle baggage questions.) Be aware that on short-haul routes, the airlines often use tiny airplanes with very limited baggage capacity. For multi-airline flights, you should assume you will have to obey the most restrictive rules in any category, and you may have to pay multiple fees.
A few suggestions that may work for you:
TSA has published a screening guideline that allows you to take one extra bag of photographic equipment (in addition to the normal “one carry-on and one personal item”) through security checkpoints. However, each airline can decide whether or not it will let you carry the extra bag onto the plane.
If you fly one airline a lot, it may pay to join its business club (e.g., US Airways Club, United’s Red Carpet Club) as well as its frequent-flyer plan. You may be allowed an extra piece of checked baggage free of charge.
When you buy your ticket, ask the reservation agent to make a note about your status as “media” in the ticketing file. If you buy online, call the airline after you book the ticket.
You may be able to send overweight/oversize cases through as air freight. This is usually handled by entirely different staff, often in a different part of the airport. Although passenger-counter staff rarely know much about the freight system, the freight-counter staff often know the passenger system quite well.
If you have additional hints and tips, please send them to ASMP to be added to this list. Your fellow members will be grateful for sharing your hard-won experience.
Increasingly, the airlines are using small commuter aircraft for short hops and feeder routes. These “puddle jumpers” have limited baggage capacity and almost no carry-on space.
On the other hand, you can often bypass the airport’s baggage handling system. Carry your bags to the gate, where you will be told to gate-check them. Accept the gate-check tag, but ask if you can carry the bags to the plane. Usually, at the door to the plane you can hand the bags to a crew member, who will tuck them into the baggage compartment. (All the regular baggage has already been loaded by this time.) On arrival, the crew member will often let you pick up the gate-check items right at the plane.
It may even be possible to stow one bag in the flight crew’s luggage area, which is onboard. The recommended procedure is to ask the flight attendant to ask the captain’s permission for this, which shows that you know the ropes. It helps to explain that the gear is very delicate and you are concerned with vibration and hits from other bags that may shift during flight. It also helps to smile and, especially, to keep the discussion low key and discreet; the flight attendants might be willing to do a favor for one passenger, but they won’t be keen to have all the other passengers clamoring for similar treatment.