Inspire 2 international travel advice sought - cases, limitations

[RhodyInspire]

Hi all,

I'm already very familiar with the battery quantity/Wh/check-in/carry-on limitations (I travel internationally with smaller drones). But as I get closer to taking delivery of the Inspire 2, I'm hoping to get some idea of any new limitations/changes I'll face.

I am accustomed to traveling with a Phantom hardshell and Mavic Fly More bag. Super simple. Overhead storage is never an issue even on puddle jumpers in the States. The Inspire 2 case is gigantic by comparison. Are you all just checking your Inspire cases in? I cannot imagine it would fit in the overhead of the smaller express flights Stateside....though I suppose I could do gate check.

Any case recommendations? Is the DJI stuff good enough? What have you used successfully? Do any of you have a case with luggage wheels and a built in handle?

Is there anything else I should be aware of? Unexpected challenges you may have faced? Typically I'm on multi-leg flights ranging from 2-15 hours each, aircraft of all sizes.

Cheers,

RI/RM

 

[rocstudios]

Hi @RhodyInspire I can't believe no one chimed in through this post since there are a lot of travelers around this forum. Anyway I myself travel 6 or more times a year, I just got back Monday from Asia (Hong Kong and Philippines) - I travel with a lot of gear I2, P4P, Ronin, Cameras, Etc.

As far as case for the I2 - I use the Pelican Case custom laser cut by @Advexure (LINK: DJI Inspire 2 Hard Pelican Case - Landing Mode | Advexure) = They are one of the best drone stores around (hands down)

As far as restrictions and specs - it all comes down to the airline, I normally take Cathay Pacific to travel around Asia due to my mileage - now it also comes down to your ticket class (they can determine how much leeway they can give you) - I had no issues carrying 4 large pelican cases (worse case scenario they will charge $150/excess/piece)

I have heard from some forum users that they have those Media / Press passes and some airline have a special clause to waive your excess baggage (I have never tried this route)

When I was doing inter-island plane trips around the Philippines I had to buy excess luggage anywhere from $50 up to $150 for the smaller prop planes.

-------- COMING BACK TO THE U.S. - this is a hit or miss, sometimes CBP officers would ask you for paperwork and sometimes they don't mind. With the amount of hard cases I had one of them asked what they were and I said camera equipment and they said do you have paperwork - LUCKILY I did - just make sure you have the COR (Certificate of Registration) of the equipment you have, they just want to find out if you bought this equipment prior to trip and not buying them outside (taxable) - sometimes they let you of a warning and sometimes they just tell you to do it next time and of course there is that one that would like to really see everything ...... The form can be used multiple times as long as its the same gear. You do have to actually go have someone from CBP actually sign off on it. FORMS available through CBP website just search Certificate of Registration

I hope this helps you and the rest of the flyers / creatives who plan or currently traveling, especially internationally ....

Goodluck!

 

[Advexure]

Hi @RhodyInspire I can't believe no one chimed in through this post since there are a lot of travelers around this forum. Anyway I myself travel 6 or more times a year, I just got back Monday from Asia (Hong Kong and Philippines) - I travel with a lot of gear I2, P4P, Ronin, Cameras, Etc.

As far as case for the I2 - I use the Pelican Case custom laser cut by @Advexure (LINK: DJI Inspire 2 Hard Pelican Case - Landing Mode | Advexure) = They are one of the best drone stores around (hands down)

As far as restrictions and specs - it all comes down to the airline, I normally take Cathay Pacific to travel around Asia due to my mileage - now it also comes down to your ticket class (they can determine how much leeway they can give you) - I had no issues carrying 4 large pelican cases (worse case scenario they will charge $150/excess/piece)

I have heard from some forum users that they have those Media / Press passes and some airline have a special clause to waive your excess baggage (I have never tried this route)

When I was doing inter-island plane trips around the Philippines I had to buy excess luggage anywhere from $50 up to $150 for the smaller prop planes.

-------- COMING BACK TO THE U.S. - this is a hit or miss, sometimes CBP officers would ask you for paperwork and sometimes they don't mind. With the amount of hard cases I had one of them asked what they were and I said camera equipment and they said do you have paperwork - LUCKILY I did - just make sure you have the COR (Certificate of Registration) of the equipment you have, they just want to find out if you bought this equipment prior to trip and not buying them outside (taxable) - sometimes they let you of a warning and sometimes they just tell you to do it next time and of course there is that one that would like to really see everything ...... The form can be used multiple times as long as its the same gear. You do have to actually go have someone from CBP actually sign off on it. FORMS available through CBP website just search Certificate of Registration

I hope this helps you and the rest of the flyers / creatives who plan or currently traveling, especially internationally ....

Goodluck!

@rocstudios – Great information here and very helpful. We have not ever traveled internationally with drone equipment but we've definitely got plenty of clients that do so this is very good information for us to be aware of.

However, we can comment on the Media/Press passes for airlines. When we used to do a lot more traveling for productions we actually made a "media card" that we would provide to the airline at the baggage counter with our company's business card if we were sure the airline had provisions in their baggage policy for members of the media, production and press. This can definitely come in handy, and yes you do fall under media so making a card that says you're media is true information.

Here is Southwest Airlines' policy for cameras and film luggage:



THANK YOU very much for the shout and appreciation. We hope all is well. Cheers!