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Carry on climbing gear @ Sydney Airport: problem 16-Jul-2006 At 9:00:30 PM ecowain

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It always seems to vary, and be up to the discretion of the particular person that you deal with on the day.

I've flown with 70+ biners as hand luggage, been told that was OK, but no slings allowed in hand luggage, cos they might be weapons (but the bag of biners was fine, not heavy of anyhting...).

But then another time, I've been told that carrying a few biners and cams as hand luggage is unacceptable, and been made to check them in.

One guy I was standing with in the queue had called the airline multiple times to arrange to carry his kayak on board as sporting equipment with no extra charge. It was all sorted, checked, and double checked, and he got to the airport and they asked him for about $800 of excess to carry the kayak! He was in tears.

Flying back from the US after 9/11, my climbing gear was checked in and no problems, but they decided to cut off the hipbelt of my WE pack to check inside it. When I complained about this at the baggage carousel pickup, I was told that it was done for security reasons, and there was nothing I could do to gain recompense. That strikes me as ridiculous.

Stoves often give a problem. In previous years when asked about whether the fuel bottle was flammable, I'd drop a lit match into the bottle in front of them, and watch them tense up before absolutely nothing happened. Wouldn't recommend that now though. The question that they actually ask though is if you are carrying anything flammable. Assuming that you have appropriately cleaned your stove and fuel bottles, they are no longer flammable, at least in my understanding (please correct me if I'm wrong). Therefore, as far as I see it, if you have done the necessary cleaning, you are entitled to say that no, you are not carrying anything flammable.

One of the worst experiences I had going through customs was with an alarm clock designed to look like dynamite with a timer. That didn't go down too well.

And make sure that the immigration guy gives you back the correct customs card! If you turn up at quarantine with a card for Emily Bennett or suchlike, and a bag full of weird climbing toys, I can guarantee that it'll take you upward of 3 hours to sort out the mess! Now I always check.

Enough rambling. Here's to getting all the ski and climbing gear through Sydney and over to NZ in a few weeks.

owain.