Belize: Airport Travel Security

I'm traveling to Belize next week and would like any info on airport security

there these days. I'm going with family and will carry cameras and video. Will

there be a problem with a carry on camera bag? Thanks

Any problems will be with the airline, not Belize. We were there a few months back with two roll aboards full of underwater camera gear and had no problems.

 

Just check the airline's published size and weight limits for carry on.

 

If you are connecting to one of the smaller airlines they may jerk your carry on away from you and check it.

 

I had that happen and my camera bag came on a later flight and everything was still ther.

Victor -

 

You won't encounter any problems entering the country at Goldson Airport in Belize City, and I doubt that you will encounter any problems on your return flight out of Goldson on a major airline.

 

What you may find is that if you are connecting with a flight to one of the outlying areas in Belize, the plane will be very small and there won't be enough cabin space to carry on anywhere near as much as you can on an international flight. In that case, you will probably have to check something. But given the size of the plane, it's also likly that you will be on a first-name basis with the pilot, and you may have to help him load the luggage!

 

So don't worry - enjoy the trip.

Thanks for the info. With the rules changing all the time it's really helpful to get your input.

i concur with the above comments, and would like to add that while travelling in Belize in

2004 i had no problems with photo gear. airport personnel seemed very aware and familiar

with it, and i had no problems getting my film hand checked on every occasion.

my suggestion is to take all your cameras and take it on the hand luggage, it's safer

Thanks. Since the travel restrictions were up ticked to include liquids, I'm feeling more paranoid about travel and TSA rules. They post taking your shoes off is optional and then make you take them off. So, getting info from recent travelers is always appreciatied.

All your stories have nothing to compare to what I've been through. I've worked o'seas since '89 to the present and used to bring along boxes of documentation with me, as it used to be cheaper than a shipment was. A couple stories I will share follows, as if I related all of them, most will just stop reading.

 

I was flying first class from Chicago to Seoul, Korea in '91 wearing a Chicago police leather (I needed it, it was a damp bloody cold in Korea). When the stewardess took to my coat to hang-up she mentioned how heavy it was. I replied: That must be because my gun is in it. Moments later the Captain came to my seat asking me if it had been declared and cleared pre-flight. I said it was a joke. Nothing further happened. Try that today in any class.

 

I arrived in Algeria a few months after the military canceled the '92 elections. The Gendarmarie detained me four hours looking through my documents under the protection of soldiers with AK-47's. Hell, I was importing them, not exporting info-tech. Fortunately, the client knew my schedule and intervened. One of the soldiers asked for my boxing tape (all of it) in order to connect two cartridge magazines for his AK. My assigned Toyota Landcruiser got stuck in the beach near where I lived, so I walked home. That night, when my "jeep" was found, I was awoken by a squad of Gendarmarie. I was eventually evacuated, as the FIS were cutting the necks of foreigners in their sleep because we were helping the "false" gov't.

April 22, 2007

Returned from Belize 2 weeks ago. No problems in either direction. They seem to have relaxed the liquids rules as people were carrying bottles of liquid [water etc] aboard and no one was unhappy. Security in Belize is pretty much what goes on in the US. At the small local airport there was none. In Belize city there was the usual x-ray machine. Little hand checking going on. My camera carry on had - three cameras, one video, lenses and accessories. It never ceases to amaze me that all that goes through without a peep. I guess I don't look threatening.