Flying with a hiking backpack.

Macchina

Macchina

Joined
Apr 7, 2006
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I am flying out with 8 friends to hike Havasu Falls next week. We are checking our backpacks ($25 each way :thumbdn:) and flying into Las Vegas where we have a 5 hour drive to the trailhead via 2 rental cars. We will be staying in a hotel the night we land.

We have almost everything worked out, but I am looking for advice on flying with our hiking gear. Should we put security tape or locks on anything? Would their be any benefit to putting our backpacks in duffel bags? Anything we can't bring besides our stove fuel and lighters? I have flown many times, but never with hiking gear or backpacks. We are flying Delta Airlines from Detroit to Las Vegas (no layovers) if that makes any difference.
 
michaelmcgo said:
Would their be any benefit to putting our backpacks in duffel bags?
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Well, that's what my wife and I did a few years back. We "backpacked" Ireland, Wales, and England. We traveled by train, and the packs were so much more convenient than a bunch of luggage.

I found some large zip-able canvas duffels, and we were able to lock the zipper with a TSA approved lock. The main purpose of the duffel was to keep the packs safe and avoid any tears/rips or mangled straps.

The duffels folded down pretty nicely and stayed in the bottoms of our packs for the duration of the trip. Then, they were ready to go for the return trip. In your case though, you could just leave the duffel in the rental car and lose the weight.
 
An old fashioned GI duffel will protect your pack pretty well, I use one for mine when I fly with it. No fuel, a lighter should be ok, but they are cheap and easy to get once your on the ground.
 
I don't know what airlines are like in your country, but i have had some "discussions" with checkin staff who have insisted that I'm not allowed to have a stove in checked baggage. Not a gas cannister or fuel bottle, mind you, the stove itself. I've tried arguing that a butane stove with no gas bottle attached is not a fire risk but that hasn't worked.

Thankfully the carriers have updated their web sites to explicitly say "Camping stoves and fuel containers that have contained a flammable liquid fuel" which means that a gas stove is not considered dangrous goods. For a while I carried a printout of the relevant web page with me when I travelled.
 
SIXFOOTER said:
An old fashioned GI duffel will protect your pack pretty well, I use one for mine when I fly with it. No fuel, a lighter should be ok, but they are cheap and easy to get once your on the ground.
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Just picked a US Military Duffle up off eBay for $11 shipped Priority Mail! I was thinking about doing exactly this a while back, but your post reminded me to find one.
 
I've heard somewhere that the airlines make a distinction between stoves that have been used and those that haven't with the latter being acceptable. Not sure if that means they have to be in the retail packaging or not. Might be a good idea to clean the stove really well and if you have the original packaging, put it in there. Otherwise, just pack it well and hope they don't confiscate it. Stupid rule I think. You could also ship any prohibited items to your destination first.

Back to the original question though. I always put my pack in a duffel. Otherwise, any straps will get eaten by the conveyor material. In fact, on a trip to Morocco, the machinery ate the duffel, but it still protected my pack.
 
I've traveled to Europe many times for stays of a few weeks to months and ALWAYS take a backpack with me. Navigating trains, train stations, and airports is much safer and easier when your hands are free.

I have traveled with a Lowe Special Expedition (monster pack that is really too big for most trains) and a Lowe Contour IV which is much slimmer and a better choice for anything of reasonable duration.

I definitely put them in a duffel bag because a pack without straps is worthless. ;) It also helps deal with oil and general abrasion when they get tossed around in the belly of an airplane and on luggage trucks, not to mention strap chewing backpack destroying conveyor belts.
 
Had knives taken from checked luggage. Only use mail for knives now. The rest I've checked through (minus fuel) no problem.

Zero
 
Zero_Time said:
Had knives taken STOLEN from checked luggage. Only use mail for knives now. The rest I've checked through (minus fuel) no problem.

Zero
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I fixed it for you. What knives were they and were you flying in the USA? Did you complain to anybody/thing?
 
Don't know if I'd put knives in a unlocked, unsecure duffel/pack. Any chance you could mail them in advance?
 
Don't fly with a knife in the daypack, obviously, and I've had zippos disappear out of backpacking rigs too. a small locked otterbox or pelican wouldn't hurt, make sure it's TSA though, and if in doubt take a picture to use as proof if it doesn't show up on the other end. Otherwise I use my 3600 cu. in. Mountainsmith Maverick packed to the gills and it fits fine in overhead compartments and scanning machines. Makes life easy when crossing shitty airports fast, too...
 
we used to put trash bags over them and pull the straps out when we got to the airport so we could carry them through.

Granted this was before 9/11 when we did this often and now a giant trash bag with duct tape all over it would probably throw up a few red flags.
 
michaelmcgo said:
I fixed it for you. What knives were they and were you flying in the USA? Did you complain to anybody/thing?
Click to expand...

710 and a leatherman wave. Think I might have left a surefire Aviator in a checked bag in another incident- not sure on that one. Anyway- all USA. Posted here- one of my earlier posts; consensus it that there might be recourse after several months of fighting. Not worth it to get back to where I was before. I'm registered with Fedex because one of my most frequent destinations doesn't have a USPS box- so FedEx it is. All knives in mail if I need them.

Zero
 
I have flown 3 to 4 knives each time in my checked luggage, no problem. If they have a thumb hole, or a lanyard hole, zip tie them to something.

I hear all the time of people losing knives in luggage, but knock on wood, no problem for me. I fly approx 6x a year, and always bring a few knives and my Leatherman. Never had a problem. I fly Southwest Airlines as much as possible. I hope I can keep saying I have never had a knife stolen.
 
+1 to a cheap duffel for checked backpacks -- keeps them from getting snagged/torn, and it also reduces the chance of theft. The cheaper and rattier the better.
 
Vans makes an adventure travel pack from heavy duck canvas, called the Joel Tudor GI Duffel. It's like a new and improved version of the milsurp bags. There's a duffel carry strap, and the shoulder straps are concealable so they don't get snagged on crap. It's 12,000 cubic inches, so you could easily fit a pack and a body in there too.
 
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