You'll struggle to get the 200-400 as carry on on most airlines these days together with all your other kit. If there are 2 of us I can get most of the kit in one bag and the 300 in another. The 600 will always need to go in the hold. I would not trust it just to the lens case. I always put it in a non descript holdall wrapped in clothes all of which is in a packsafe mesh. This has been all over the place with no problems at all. Of course it's insured in case anything does go wrong. In my case if it was stolen for the £250 excess most of which would be covered by the airline payout I'd end up with an upgrade to the VR model.
I don't think it's a good idea, as far as I know, airlines do not cover any expensive electronic gear in check-in luggage.
It also depends on the airport. Out of the UK if it's Heathrow you can take 2 bags BUT Gatwick only allow one bag; you won't get as far as security with 2 bags. Recently coming back from Brazil on Air France First class at sao Paulo I was allowed 2 items but the heaviest could only be 9KG (which they weighed) and the other just a laptop bag, briefcase or suiter. I had to put loads of stuff in the hold. As I said just make sure you are insured. Also be careful of the hand luggage symbol there are actually 3 different sizes depending on the country and airline. Mudhopppers in Africa etc can be tricky but they seem to have fairly flexible charging systems for excess baggage
The maximum amount is abount $1500 per person now thanks to the Montreal convention which recently replaced the old Warsaw convention that was based on weight. BUT you need to supply the ORIGINAL receipts! If you don't you don't get paid. Of course sometimes they go missing like the luggage, then it is a fight. So once again I strongly suggest you take out your own insurance. I have a packing list dooh dah on my PDA that I use not only to make sure I never forget anything but so I can keep track of what is in the case if it goes missing.
