Air Travel with an EXO K4 (25" frame)?

[mthayr]

As the title says, I'm curious if anyone has experience traveling via airline with their K4 pack. Thinking of picking up a 2200 bag for mine and wondering if I can "get away" with bringing this on with me as a "backpack" carry on. Anyone done it, anyone tried and got shut down at the gate? What airline if so?

Thanks!

 

[jdmaxwell]

Not with K4. But carried on my K2 6400.
Alaska Airlines

 

[Nine Banger]

I have the 2200 and the 3600.

I think the 2200 will get tagged as too big, especially with a lid but I don't know this for sure, just my impression.

I put my pack inside a bigger travel bag and set it up on the other side.

 

[eltx]

22” is the longest dimension in most airlines’ carry on policy. YMMV with enforcement

 

[TL406]

Flew with a pretty much fully loaded K3 4800 last August, MT to CA. Was fine, no issues.

 

[WeiserBucks]

I flew Alaska Airlines with another member here last September who carried on a K4 and they didn't even blink an eye throughout 4 flights.

 

[V2Pnutrition]

Just finished 6 flights with a 2200, trekking poles, and fully loaded. No issues for space in an overhead and never had an airline employee/TSA suggest concern either.

 

[PredatorSlayer]

I take my KUIU 3600 with the tall frame as a carry on all the time. Nobody has said anything.

 

[SloppyJ]

I'm sitting on a return flight right now. I chose not to take my k4 2200 because it was quite a bit bigger than the max size. Subd for more reports though. What I've found with most things is that if you're cool and don't make a big deal about it, typically everything is fine.

 

[Dking]

good to know.

I take my KUIU 3600 with the tall frame as a carry on all the time. Nobody has said anything

 

[croben]

I ran into a guy at the airport about a month ago carrying a K3 4800. I asked him and he said he never had any issues flying with it as his carry on.

 

[D S 319]

No issues with SG 6900, If they wanna complain they can put a pink tag on it at the gate for me.

 

[kylem]

I flew with a fully loaded Exo with no issues or questions asked last September.

 

[Fever Buck]

Steve has a video on the website about this. Basically says to run the bag standard and if someone says something, just quickly remove the stays and stow them in the bag. That way it can compress down to the required length. Only thing I’d be concerned about is if they’d allow the stays to remain in the bag with you.

 

[geriggs]

I did it on a frontier flight. Had no issues.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

It’s not a problem until it is. Flights are all full now, and occasionally you get a gate agent that’s a stickler. No big deal if you don’t mind gate checking, usually they will do it for free. Mine is usually full of optics and electronics so I don’t want to do that, just fly with it in a checked duffel.

 

[Fowl Play]

Yeah.. agree with above. Not a problem until it is. I’ve done about 8 round trips flights with my K3 4800, packed very lightly and cinched down very tight. Was never an issue until the Delta gate attendant called me on it on the last leg of a flight on my elk hunt in ‘20. Thankfully I knew it was a possibility so had packed a super compact secondary bag in my K3. I removed it, to pull out all my optics and other expensive stuff I was carrying. Had to check my K3 at the gate. Glad I took my expensive stuff out. I don’t know what they did to my pack but somewhere between that gate and baggage claim it looked like a tiger attacked it. Lid was torn off, major cuts down both sides. It was wild. Repaired it all but it sucked.

 

[mthayr]

Here is the video referenced above

 

[Aghunter]

I flew Alaska Airlines with another member here last September who carried on a K4 and they didn't even blink an eye throughout 4 flights.

do you know what size bag?

 

[WeiserBucks]

5k I think.