Airport Security--Electronic Devices

My wife and I left Houston TX for Europe this past Monday, Sept 23. At IAH (Houston) and at Charles de Gaulle airports, I was old to place my laptop in the tray for security examination.This was expected. Then I was told to add my cell phone, external hard drives, Hyperdrive, etc to the same tray that held my laptop. The Houston (IAH) security person said to add anything that used electronics, except for cameras and lenses. So I complied.

 

I was flying Air France and they had a notice posted about lithium batteries in (checked ?) and carry on luggage. I had to show the agent who checked my passport all of my lithium batteries. She saw the plastic caps on my two extra batteries and said they were OK. She did not ask to see the one in my camera after I told here there was one in the camera.

 

Just be prepared for whatever security or airlines may ask you or require you to do as you fly these days.

 

Joe

Also, if you don't have a direct flight to your destination, be prepared to repeat the experience over and over.

Usually, with a connecting flight, there is no need to leave the secure area, so no additional check. If for some reason you had to exit, then TSA "fun" all over again.

Flying Aer Lingus to Ireland, I had to go through two consecutive inspections in the same terminal, without leaving the secure area - in both directions - despite a valid Global Entry card.

 

In the US, you cannot place lithium batteries in checked baggage, only carry-on. The must be in the intended device, or separate and insulated from each other and metal items. There are strict limits on the total equivalent amount of metallic lithium.

It was charging lithium batteries that burned and sank the dive boat off of the CA coast a few weeks ago. The electrical system on the boat wasn't designed for the number of cellphone and camera batteries that were on board. I realize that not many batteries are charged on a plane in flight but this is a legitimate issue.

At Charles de Gaulle we transferred to our flight to Amsterdam. We left terminal E and took the train to terminal 2F where we had to go thru security and then passport control. It took us an hour--not many people in line. Passport control had only two agents. If more people had been in line we could have missed our flight.

It was charging lithium batteries that burned and sank the dive boat off of the CA coast a few weeks ago. The electrical system on the boat wasn't designed for the number of cellphone and camera batteries that were on board. I realize that not many batteries are charged on a plane in flight but this is a legitimate issue.

The cause hasn't been determined. Still, you don't want to short a Li battery. Even a small battery can produce a hundred amps or more. The bigger problem is dendrites (whisker) formation between plates, which can cause an internal short.

Airport security is getting tougher all the time, and I don't mind it so much- although some airports are over the top (Heathrow, Charles De Gaulle). I've asked in a few international terminals for my film to be. hand checked. Some places have done so, some, have not. At Heathrow I was advised by the security chief at the checkpoint I was at, that film below 800 ISO can withstand X-rays. It is what it is, none of my film, and none f my electronics, have ever been affected going thru security checkpoints, far as I can tell. My time schedule, OTOH, has been!

I have posted about this in the somewhat distant past, but it bears repeating.

 

The ramping up of airport security and the screening of checked baggage and carry-ons has led to major changes in the hardware used these days

 

When airports had to install a large number of x-ray machines at gate security checkpoints, the weight of the older, continuous beam x-ray machine was too much - the lead shielding in those machines to prevent high radiation exposure of the staff that worked all day at the checkpoints was never part of the design of airports - the floors weren't intended to carry that much weight.

 

So machines were developed that used computer control of the x-ray-generating tube and the resulting images. The x-ray tube now fires like an electronic flash - a pulse of x-rays so short that lead shielding isn't needed to keep worker exposures very low. The computer captures the x-ray images and displays them as long as the operator wants, including synchronizing the displayed image to the location on the conveyor belt.

 

The result is that there is no meaningful x-ray dose to film put through the gate security x-ray machines.

 

However, this is NOT true for checked baggage. Modern airports today use CT scan systems to examine checked bags without opening them. A computer analysis of the CT images is used to identify bags that warrant opening for a hand search. In 2012 when I retired, some airports scanned 100% or checked baggage, while others scanned a random sample. I suspect that the number of airports scanning 100% has increased since then, but I have no data on this.

 

Until I retired, I ran a radiation dosimetry system at a federal facility, and had to contend with these effects for people who had to travel with their dosimeters. We ran some experiments, including putting some dosimeters through gate security machines 50 times and still found no measurable dose. But a single pass through a luggage-scanning system delivers 75 or more millirem, and that will fog film. Going through scans twice (going and coming back) will thoroughly ruin your film.

 

So if you still use film (Bravo!) and travel by commercial air carrier, take your film in your carry-on bag, and NEVER NEVER NEVER leave it in a bag to be checked at the ticket counter.

 

Another caution: when the industrialized world increased the rigor of screening, they wanted the rest of the world to do so as well - otherwise, remote, small airports would become the obvious points of entry to the passenger system while avoiding tough security. Many of those airports told the industrialized nations, if you want us to do these things, you need to provide us the hardware. The immediate solution was to give all those old, continuous beam x-ray machines to the smaller countries. So you may yet encounter x-ray problems for your film - the farther you get from the beaten path, the greater the risk. Of course, my information on this may be past its expiration date.

Flying Aer Lingus to Ireland, I had to go through two consecutive inspections in the same terminal, without leaving the secure area - in both directions - despite a valid Global Entry card.

 

 

Sounds like Heathrow, their security is pretty stringent. A U.S. Global Entry card means next to nothing outside the U.S.- its primary good is speeding up time coming back into the USA from abroad, at passport control only. I was able to access an automated passport kiosk at Heathrow, last summer. Sped things up slightly- BUT I didn't get the *coveted* entry stamp in my passport. We were in a rush to meet both a friend (coming in from elsewhere) AND a waiting car service/driver, several terminals away from our entry terminal.

 

 

At Charles de Gaulle we transferred to our flight to Amsterdam. We left terminal E and took the train to terminal 2F where we had to go thru security and then passport control. It took us an hour--not many people in line. Passport control had only two agents. If more people had been in line we could have missed our flight.

 

Far as I know, Charles De Gaulle has perhaps the most strict security of any airport, world wide. I would NOT route through Paris if at all possible. Were I to travel to Paris, I'd probably fly into somewhere else and take the train into the country/city.

Last time I passed through Heathrow was on the way back from India and my carry on held a couple dozen rolls of exposed film. Perhaps it was this that caught their attention? After the X-ray scan my bag got swabbed for explosive residue. We chatted for a few minutes while they ran the sample through a GC-mass spectrometer. When it came back clean I was on my way.

I haven't flown with a camera in years but I remember them wanting to remove lenses from cameras. I'd be concerned with mirrorless cameras today as the sensor is fragile and much more subject to contamination. Are they still pulling lenses?

I have been traveling with mirrorless cameras since 2011 and have never had a lens removed by airport security in the US, UK, Iceland, France, or Hungary.