Film/xray + carry on worlwide policies

Name of Airport: Heathrow

Country: UK

Film/X-ray Official Policy: BAA’s statement can be found here.

Carry On Official Policy: The airlines state that Photographers can carry a photo bag with a small handluggage bag, but security at the terminals say otherwise. You are limited to ONE bag only, but there is no limit on the size of that bag

Tips & Tricks: Wear all your camera equipment around your neck and stuff as many pieces as you can in your pockets. This worked for me the other month with a 1dmkII, 70-200 lens + Mamiya RB67 all hanging around my neck. As for film, placing it in your pockets or a jiffy bag and requesting a hand-search is your only bet. Another option would be to buy a 3200ISO film and leave it in the bag and say you have high speed film

Just curious ,how many passes through airport xrays does a fogged film make?
I passed through 4 sets of x-rays on the way from Dili to Yogyakarta and I’m afraid my 5 rolls Velvia-220 will be toast.

• Name of airport: Kolkata/Mumbai/Heathrow
• Country: India/London
• Tips and tricks:Carried camera bag as hand luggage with rolls of film in plastic bag inside. Insisted film not to go through X-ray machine and be checked by hand. No problems although at Heathrow woman “swabbed” each roll individually, checking for traces of explosives or some such!

Daniel I guess carrying all that around your neck was a good excuse for getting a massage when you got to bangkok!

I have used a 3200ISO film trick more than once. It helps convincing the security official that I really want my film hand-checked.

120/220’s can be stuffed into your pockets. I wish I had broght back more of new Fuji film Provia 400X from Japan in my pockets in January. I did not know that they are not available outside Japan yet.

Incheon Int’l – available hand check, no issues. Carried large Domke bag, and a backpack.
BKK – available hand check, no issues.
LAX – available hand check, but will open every canister to verify film, very time consuming.
AUS – will hand check, very thorough.
SFF – will Hand Check, very thorough.

Since I started this all.

USA policies.

XRay and Film —

They always ask what the speed of the film
is since I always have a good deal of 3200 speed
film security doesn’t give me that much of a trouble.
By law, A hand check will be granted if requested.

The tip is to take everything out of boxes, canisters
and wraps into one big clear ziplock bag where they
can see it and just “swab” one item.

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/assistant/editorial_1248.shtm

Carry On —
TSA allows for an additional carry on of photographic
equipment. I have yet to exercise this yet as my
35mm kit will fit in my personal item bag.
This is also dependent on carrier? and I am not
sure if it is covered on international flights.

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/assistant/editorial_1248.shtm

• Into and out of New Zealand (christchurch, auckland and queensland)
• Qantas
• Film/X-ray Official Policy: they were more than happy to hand check my film.
  There is an additional xray scan at entry customs.
• Carry-on: 7kg max on the carry on bag (they will let up to 8kg slide). They didn’t check the weight my personal item.

STI – Santiago, Dominican Republic
XRay: Unhappy to handcheck, they did anyway. I got them on a hugely flight delayed day.

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Connection flights thru Bogota,Colombia

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My first time through, they tried to tell me that everything is x-rayed no-matter what and that it ‘is my country’s fault’ … my country being the USA, and she is probably right, considering all the military personnel there carrying m-16s… stood my ground and after a long drawn-out spanish/english argument with the security supervisor, they finally hand-checked it all. My advice is to stand your ground and not let them touch your damn film. Also, have it all unwrapped and ready for them to check easily and quickly. A press credential comes in handy as well.

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My second time through they didnt even xray any of my stuff, so go figure.

I’ve gone through several airports with fast film, and the always have to open every box, and every canister. A real pain in the but. So the idea of putting things in a plastic bag is a great one that I wish I was smart enough to do when I used film.

Istanbul, Ataturk International Airport.
2 xray points – one as you enter and and one as you board.

Entry they wanted me to separate my ziplock bag of 3200 and tri-x so the tri-x could be run through the xray (why couldn’t they just handcheck everything). They offered to hand check the delta 3200. I gave a stink, they insisted, i had to get on a plane they won. =(.

On boarding they gave me no trouble about hand checking the film.