Flying with a poster tube as a hand luggage

Question

I am flying to a conference, in which I am presenting a poster.

In principle there might be a problem, as the poster tube:

• is a second piece of hand luggage,
• it is longer than the limit allows.

However, it seems that it works (once I tried with no problem, my colleagues usually have no problem).

Does it happen that one is not allowed to take a poster tube in the hand luggage?

If so, how to avoid this problem? (Advice, tips and tricks are welcome.)

If the question is place-specific, I'm interested mostly in EU.

Answer 1

There are a couple solutions to the "transporting a poster tube on a plane" problem:

1. Most flights allow a second piece of hand-luggage, so that bit is fine. And while it is larger in the length dimension than is usually allowed, I've never had this be a problem. In not-very-full flights, it can be stored on top or behind other bags. On fuller flights, I usually just ask a flight attendant for help. So far the tubes have ended up behind the seats in the last row against the bulk head, and in the coat closet usually reserved for first class. Generally, I find they give you "credit" for trying not to be a problem.
2. As has been mentioned, you can get your poster printed or shipped to the conference location.
3. Cloth posters. These are becoming more easily accessible. While more expensive than paper posters, if carrying a poster on forces you to check a bag, and your airline charges fees for those, the cost difference vanishes swiftly. These can be folded and stored flat in a shipping envelop or bag. Just make sure to take them out and iron them on a very low setting to get the creases out before you hang them.

Answer 2

Sometimes flight attendant staff will be willing to hold a poster for you, since generally they can't safely go as checked luggage, and may not fit in the overhead compartment. You should inquire as to what will be allowed.

One useful alternative I've taken advantage of is to use a printing service in the city where you will be presenting your poster, and picking up the poster there. Nowadays, many will accept things sent by email, file transfer service, or web site. This makes the transfer process easier than before, and avoids the problem of last-minute delays (provided you send it ahead of time!).

Answer 3

I've seen many people checking a poster in, since the size limits for checked-in luggage are larger than those for carry-on luggages. Another solution would be to send the poster by mail (preferably with a tracking system) a few days before to the hotel where you're going to stay, or even directly to the conference organizers, who can check that everything went fine.

Answer 4

Almost every airline allows "a personal item" in addition to your carry-on luggage; otherwise people with purses wouldn't get any carry-on. Your poster tube is probably not "a personal item", but your carry-on could be if it's small enough to fit under your seat. (That's the real reason: there's not enough overhead bin space, but there's plenty of under-seat space. Many people hate having stuff at their feet, though, so the airline can't count on that space being used; saying that you can take a personal item that fits under the seat works for you.) In any case, the way this all works out in practice is that if you're lugging a huge amount of stuff that doesn't look like it'll fit, you'll be asked to check some at the door. Otherwise, it's all okay as long as it will either fit overhead or fit under your seat without sticking out inordinately. I've never seen problems even with backpack (personal item) + carry-on (overhead, fitting strictly within size limits and without requiring lots of shoving to get it to pretend to fit) + poster tube, except on really small regional airplanes with desperately tiny overhead bin space.

Also, if the poster tube doesn't fit in the overhead luggage--it nearly always does--they'll be able to check it at the door to the airplane, just like they do with other overly large and slightly fragile items like strollers.

And, finally, almost everywhere you will present has its own poster printing facilities within a few miles. Any institution of respectable size will have their own, and any city of respectable size--and you're rarely far from one in the EU--will have a copy store of some sort at which you can print at poster size.

So just take the item with you as carry on, and in the extraordinarily unlikely event that something goes wrong and the poster is destroyed, get it printed at your destination. (If you are extra-paranoid, you can get a somewhat tougher plastic poster tube instead of the cardboard ones--bearing in mind that I have yet to see a cardboard one get so crushed that the poster was significantly damaged.)

Answer 5

• I only encountered problems once (with Ryanair - I think they wanted to make me pay for late checked luggage). Fortunately it was going back home. I had to make the poster roll small (it then fit into their hand luggage frame) and I loosely folded the poster. As soon as I was in the cabin I unfolded it again and put it into the roll. Someone frome the cabin staff even asked why the poster was folded and said that this was crazy. Fortunately the creases were not that bad.

• I'd always take the poster with the hand luggage: I once attended a conference where at the first 2 days about 1/3 of the posters had an A4 sheet saying: The poster can currently be found at Alitalia's lost luggage department...

• You could print the poster at the place of the conference. I once presented a poster that was printed by the poster printing service of the conference hosting university (who actually allowed orders from the outside).

Answer 6

I recently flew with a poster to a conference. The dimensions for hand-luggage usually are Height+width+length <= 42" (inches) (maybe 45", don't quite remember accurately). If the 'tube' sums up to less than this you should be good.

As is mentioned in another answer, most airlines allow two pieces of hand-luggage e.g. A laptop bag and maybe your tube, if you don't have anything else.

You are free to carry it with you in the hand unless the tube is arbitrarily long i.e. it exceeds 42 inches in length. If you are below that by length, I doubt the other 2 dimensions would be all that big.

At times they may take it from you right at the boarding gate and ask you to check it in there and then. That's fine. It'll be safe and given to you the instant you exit the aircraft rather than at the carousel.

Some aircrafts are small and may have a separate luggage are for hand bags towards the tail. You can put it there.

If it's a small flight and the tube is not too big (diameter and length wise) just prop it by your leg if you are in a window seat or put it below your seat.

As long as you are within the dimensions and allowable limits of hand luggage (count = 2 weight <= 7kgs) you should be fine