The Conundrum of Air Travel

I'm not a stranger to air travel and in recent years I have been on two wonderful photographic holidays to the USA, complete with a heavy camera bag.  We are planning a trip in May and I definitely need to take a good range of cameras and lenses to be able to capture everything we are likely to see.  However, this time we are flying with Emirates and they are limiting cabin baggage to one bag, and it can only weigh up to 7 kgs.  This is in line with new IATA guidelines and severely restricts options to carry everything in one bag.  it is likely to be introduced by many other airlines in the near future, if it hasn't already.  I've already been told that they are now weighing cabin baggage at check-in and as we are transiting through Dubai, I don't want to take the risk of being required to check my baggage in for any of the flights.

A quick tot up of weight, even for my Olympus system (which I was intending to take), comes out at about 8.5 kgs, and even then I am compromising on the lenses I would ideally want to take with me.  That doesn't even allow for a spare body.  I didn't even contemplate taking the Nikon system.

I was hoping that there are blippers out there with experience of Emirate flights in particular, but also more generally and can provide any suggestions for dealing with the limitation.  I've already got a Paramo Halcon jacket, complete with about 10 pockets, so I can carry some of the lenses, just in case I'm asked to weigh the bag.  One other thing I was wondering is if anyone has carried equipment in hold baggage, and if yes, what was your experience?

I imagine this might also prove useful to other people if I get some comments so I'm happy to collate the information and share it with people if you think it's worthwhile.