I just read the article on 'Getting digital files home safely'
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/home-safely.shtmland wondered how you will cope with the no cabin luggage policy rules that are now in force? I have a similar strategy to yourself which is now messed up as all the data ends up in the hold.
To add to that, an airline I've used frequently in the past [Easy Jet] which had an "if it fits in this space you can take it on board" policy now says they've increased their hold allowance to 25KG from 20KG [these are short haul flights] as no cabin luggage is allowed. Now as my camera kit can weighs close to 16kg on it's own I have a problem.
A rival air line [Ryan Air] suggested this week than passengers only bring one bag. I just got back from a month in Sweden using RyanAir with 3 bags, (1)-clothes+ duplicate hard drives [18kg], (2)-mountain bike+heavy bits like shoes, power supplies, convertors...[unknown weight but unlimited amount allowed as it's sports goods at £15 extra each way] and (3)-my camera back pack as cabin luggage [16-8kg full] but I put camera and 24-70mm f2.8L over shoulder and fill my pockets with batteries and other small objects to make the 10Kg limit, though I've never actually been weighed with Ryan Air yet. Others have, a friend who weighs 45KGs when wet had to pay for being 1kg over.
Now I also have to consider more protective kit than the LowePro Stealth back pack I use. Great capacity and fits on plane but limited padding. Having said that I doubt much else other than a hard case by someone like Pelican will protect cameras and the even more fragile laptops than go along with them these days. And a hard case will weigh about 7-8kgs on it's own. Plus theft of gear is more likely esp as you are not allowed to lock cases on some flights.
Let's hope cabin luggage will be allowed back on. There are talks here in UK of making it permanent.
jjj