Film and new airport security measures

[stuny]

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Back when I used to travel with film (usually a ziplock bag full of 60 or so Fuji cannisters out of their boxes) I'd explain in whatever language was appropriate that x-rays are cumulative and I have 14 (or whatever the number was for that holiday) flights. It never made a difference, especially at Heathrow and Amsterdam, both of which usually seem dedicated to making the process as difficult as possible.

Edited July 11, 2014 by stuny

[honcho]

Actually, cracking a joke like that can get you pulled from the line and have you answering difficult questions whilst the plane departs....

 

Quite rightly, too.

 

The last thing I would like to see is Ryanair selling common sense as an upgrade.

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[Tietje]

Every flight I travel with an M - film or not - I get hand luggage searched in major airports. This has happened recently in UK, Australia, UAE and USA.

 

I asked security at Heathrow recently why I was always pulled over and he said the denseness of the M body meant that they could not see through it. That why I was stopped.

 

On Latin American flights with my film M they always insist on scanning the film rather than swabbing each canister - have given up fighting it and just take digital M there now.

 

Last Tuesday at Frankfurt I was pulled over with my M240 (in an old M5 case from which the M had to be removed), and taken to another small room which seemed to have some sort of scanner.. A white card(?) was passed over the M a few times, the two guys watched a monitor, nodded to each other and the camera was passed back to me. This has never happened before either in Dublin, the UK (Manchester, Leeds, London City) or France(Nantes). I just wondered what was going on, is it like this poster says "body too dense"? No problem with the IIIA I was also carrying!

[Herr Barnack]

Actually, cracking a joke like that can get you pulled from the line and have you answering difficult questions whilst the plane departs....

Very true - when in an airport - especially when within earshot of the security folk - never use:

The "B" word (bomb)

The "G" word (gun)

The "K" word (knife)

The "S" word (shuriken)

The "N" word (nunchaku)

The "T" word (tonfa)

The "U" word (urine)

The "F" word (feces)

The "P" word (punch)

The other "K" word (kick)

The other "B" word (bite)

The other "S" word (spit)

[Berlinman]

Last Tuesday at Frankfurt I was pulled over with my M240 (in an old M5 case from which the M had to be removed), and taken to another small room which seemed to have some sort of scanner.. A white card(?) was passed over the M a few times, the two guys watched a monitor, nodded to each other and the camera was passed back to me. This has never happened before either in Dublin, the UK (Manchester, Leeds, London City) or France(Nantes). I just wondered what was going on, is it like this poster says "body too dense"? No problem with the IIIA I was also carrying!

They do thermoluminescence scans. With this scans they can find minimal parts of everything in the particles / dust on your equipment. So if you had put something in there, what would be no film or battery, they will see it. I know it from different airports especially in Germany, where they use it randomly with electronics (cameras, laptops etc.).

[Tietje]

Thanks, for your explanation, I wondered what they were looking for. It was bit nerve racking though, watching €7,500 of camera being handled by somebody else besides me!

[satijntje]

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Heading of to Japan from Luxembourg Airport via Amsterdam soon. 

Let's See how the Security will handle a digital m without LCD

 

john

Edited May 15, 2015 by satijntje

[farnz]

How 'interesting' air travel might have become if Leica had simply continued its naming of the M-line and eventually released the M16.

 

Airport security: "What's in the bag, Sir?"

 

Me: "Just my M16."

 

Pete

[Edward Louis Marit]

Last Tuesday at Frankfurt I was pulled over with my M240 (in an old M5 case from which the M had to be removed), and taken to another small room which seemed to have some sort of scanner.. A white card(?) was passed over the M a few times, the two guys watched a monitor, nodded to each other and the camera was passed back to me. This has never happened before either in Dublin, the UK (Manchester, Leeds, London City) or France(Nantes). I just wondered what was going on, is it like this poster says "body too dense"? No problem with the IIIA I was also carrying!

Exact same thing happens to me every time I travel through Frankfurt.

[tobey bilek]

No jokes with TSA ever.  Specially with the word bomb.

 

Just submit or do not fly.   You will not win any argument even if you are correct because they have all the power.  Now if they had something between the ears to go with the power.

 

Public airplanes are like a crowded bus with bad food.  I just drive.  

[menos I M6]

I have entirely changed my international flight plans to circumvent Heathrow since I made the big mistake once to fly British Airways from Asia to Europe.

I have never ever experienced such rude and inhumane treatment of passengers in security of all ages and all ways of life.

 

I still remember vividly the elderly couple where the gentleman clearly had issues walking and standing for prolonged time, as the ~20 year old, latex gloved security woman rudely demanded him to remove shoes and belt while cracking jokes with her colleagues.

 

I do not know if handling of human individuals has improved any or did further deteriorate in Heathrow but this one single experience has ever since prevented me from developing any curiosity in visiting the isle.

 

Here in Asia and at other European airports I have ever since given up on special treatment in regards of film (hand checking, explosive swabs), as the treatment is very inconsistent (in most airports the security personnel is understanding after it is explained to them why one would ask for a hand check, but some simply are not willing to cooperate at all).

 

I leave film gear at home and only shoot digital when traveling.

 

Funny is how at my last visit through the Düsseldorf Airport, I was punished by security personnel with the most detailed body hand inspection + detailed inspection of all bag contents after I politely asked not to be scanned with the then new full body scanners (as is described as an option via a large sticker on the machines).

It was made clear to me that this detailed check was a form of punishment as the lady did expressively not want to grant that right of refusal to me but I politely insisted.

 

On the latex gloves went …