Flying with Cams / other climbing gear

Flying to AZ for a climbing trip next week. I’ve never flown with all my gear, and I’m a little apprehensive about flying with my cams. What tips do you have for safely transporting cams and other climbing gear across the country?

Put your rack in your carry on bag. Sometimes TSA pulls you to the side and opens your bag to look and sometimes they don’t. I’ve flown quite a bit in the US and never had a single issue.

I’d rather pack the weight of the rack around the airport then check the rack and it get delayed or lost. Clothes are much cheaper to replace. 

Barry M wrote:

Put your rack in your carry on bag. Sometimes TSA pulls you to the side and opens your bag to look and sometimes they don’t. I’ve flown quite a bit in the US and never had a single issue.

I’d rather pack the weight of the rack around the airport then check the rack and it get delayed or lost. Clothes are much cheaper to replace. 

I was wondering whether it would be best to check vs. carry on! 

A good tip I read was to pack all of your cams and other expensive/difficult to replace gear in your carry on, and pack your rope in your checked luggage since it’s cheaper and easier to replace if it does get lost. Also, place a climbing book/magazine/guide on top of your gear in your carry on in case they do open it up and happen to not know what climbing gear is, it might give them a hint.

Oh and put your nut tool in your checked luggage, I guess some people have said they’ve been pulled aside because the nut tool looks suspicious.

I flew with cams, slings, carabiners and more in my carry on for the first time just this past summer and didn’t have anyone even open the carry on. 

I carry on my cams and helmet sun glasses etc and check pretty much everything else.  

Put your helmet in your carry on. I've heard of people having their baggage tossed around and their helmet broke when they got it back. 

We flew Europe - USA - Europe a couple of times and put all climbing equipment into checked baggage. Ropes and helmets went into one bag with outdoor clothes and tent, all metal went into another bag. Never had any problems. Also, we chose the one airline that included two free checked bags per person which helped tremendously.

my Camalot #4 and # 3.5 were stolen from checked bags after check in on US domestic flights

French airport security at CDG stole all of my locking biners from my carry on, in front of me, saying they are weapons.

you can get robbed either way

prob safer to try carrying on

I've always checked for both domestic US and international flights (UK, Greece, Mexico, Chile).  Never had a problem. 

International and US domestic flight rules for carry-ons are two very different animals.

I put my rack in carry-on...once, and only once, on the way out. Always checked it after that miserable experience.

If your rack makes it all the way down here, where are you planning on climbing? 

Marc801 C wrote:

International and US domestic flight rules for carry-ons are two very different animals.

I put my rack in carry-on...once, and only once, on the way out. Always checked it after that miserable experience.

Can you elaborate? In your opinion is it better to check or carry-on for domestic?? 

I flew to Vegas in Dec with rope, sport & trad gear and put everything except my helmet in checked baggage. Take pictures of all your gear laid out before the trip so if anything goes missing you can file a police report and/or make a renter's insurance claim. I put neon colored zip ties on my duffel bag zippers to keep out casual lookers and then it's super obvious if anybody went into your bag since they'd have to cut them. Pad your cams in your checked bag, none of mine got damaged flying SW from Seattle and back. 

I considered bringing a harness on my carry on in case my bags were delayed I could still climb on other people's gear but ended up just checking everything. 

I put a climbing magazine in with my gear in case anybody was weirded out by it. The stories of people having carabiners and cams confiscated or forced to check/mail because they looked like weapons made me feel like it was a roll of the dice putting anything metal in carry on depending on what TSA agent was having a bad day.

I just rack up at security and stay strapped for the flight.  How else are people gonna know I trad climb?

Flown dozens of times with gear as carry-on and rope as personal bag. No problems, I prefer to have my gear with me. 

Greg R wrote:

Flown dozens of times with gear as carry-on and rope as personal bag. No problems, I prefer to have my gear with me. 

I take the rope as a personal item also, I use a roller bag that fits under the seat for my personal item so it’s on less bag to carry. 70m and a set of draws easily fits in a under the seat roller. Takes some of the weight out of your pack.  

Laura Bichajian wrote:

Can you elaborate? In your opinion is it better to check or carry-on for domestic?? 

I've always checked all climbing gear - after that first time, I just can't stand lugging/carrying that much stuff through the airport and then dealing with stowing it on the plane.

Matt Heinen wrote:

If your rack makes it all the way down here, where are you planning on climbing? 

Mt Lemmon !

I've never had a problem once in the U.S. bringing all my gear (rope, rack, draws, etc.) onto a flight. The only thing I check is my mini knife. That's it.

I flew domestic texas to colorado and back. Had everything carry on. Didn’t bring my cams that time but had my nut tool and no issues on the way there. I picked up some moses tomahawks while out there and they got flagged on the way back but once I explained what they were (they also still had the tags on them), there were no troubles

Keep your nut tool separate so they can see it isn't sharp. It will always get looked at.

I get flagged for my pack about half the time, but rarely get any push-back (it has only happened twice, both times in Barcelona interestingly, they said "next time we will make you check it" both times). Security has never made me check the bag. I don't hesitate anymore.