Howdy all,
I'm back from 13 days in Liguria and Toscana Italy. Shot all film this trip, to the tune of 74 rolls of E6 and B+W, with some C41 during late night meals.
I had the dubious honor of experiencing 5 separate airports in the US and Europe, and figured keeping track of security experiences, getting permits, and whatnot might be of value to fellow photographers.
RIC - Richmond International Airport
70 rolls of film in two x-ray bags, my Osprey Atmos 35, and a Lowepro Polo with bodies and filters start their journey -- a request for hand inspection for the film (granted), the bodies in their bag, and the Atmos pack filled with my tripod, 3 lenses, flash, two backup batteries, two sets of backup rechargeable AAs, my neck pillow, and other travel sundries. Hand inspection is a 30 second breeze, but they require that my cameras be removed and rescanned separately from their dedicated bag. I ask to remove them personally, and am told that if I want to handle them, me and all of my stuff need to be rescreened. If the TSA agent removes them, she can just rescan the items in question. I sigh and she removes them under my watchful eye.
Overall grade: B
BOS - Logan International Airport: Terminal B, First Class check in
No, I didn't fly FC. I fly a great deal for my work, so I have the "right" (hah) to use FC check in and security at Logan.
I act coy and place everything on the belt, leaving the cameras in their bag. I request a hand inspection of the film, which is approved, and my film taken to the side. After a few minutes in line, I come upon my packs and shoes, all waiting for me with a dedicated TSA agent. The cameras were OK, and nary a peep came to rescan them. The film, however, was a different story.
The TSA agent removed each roll, thankfully unboxed (he told me he would have required me unbox them if so), and swabbed each and every one. After he did 10 rolls, he dropped the swab into the explosive analyzer and recommenced checking. Needless to say, I was in security a while. The agent was cordial and completely understood, saying he sees "a number" of photographers with a pile of gear come through with film, so he's used to being asked for this "level" (hah, again) of service.
Overall grade: C+
LHR - London Heathrow: Terminal 5, 24 hours after operations commenced
Remind me to check the Heathrow website next time I plan to travel through there, lest they decide to do some major unveiling of their latest screwed up infrastructure project. Had I done that, I would have opted to rent a car or something to get to Milan.
Off the plane, through Terminal 3, to the bus, to Terminal 5, to passport control, and into the first of many queues. Security, using their fancy new system upstairs, was all screwed up because the "automatic tray returns" would frequently jam and require intervention by the company that built them. We waited just under 1 hour to get to the head of the security line.
Then, a small-ish (10"x20"x4") tray is placed in front of me by an attendant. I wear my glasses on red-eyes, and those, including every other potential object containing metal had to be placed in this bin. In addition, my bags were stacked on top of this bin, such that one bin represented one traveler (this, according to the kind fellow, was the new policy at Terminal 5)
I asked for a hand inspection of my film and was denied. I rapidly protested (I had a bunch of 1600 in there, and even in the X ray bag I'm paranoid), but was told that unless I wanted to junk it in the designated rubbish bin, it had to be X rayed. Given the queue, I made what might have been the worst decision of my trip (we'll see what happens when I get the work developed this week) and sent them on through. I was assured that these machines were safe up to ISO 3200 film (how the heck can they see the items in the bags then?!), and that all would be OK.
These new baggage machines are completely automated, with bags flagged for further inspection automatically removed from the pickup queue and routed over to a secure central area (two lines share a central area). As I guessed, my bags were kicked out (maybe the lead has something to do with it) and sent for further inspection.
Shoeless, beltless, and glasses-less, I waited in the surly line for 25 minutes. Four people were in front of me, including a dementia-addled Balkan man trying to get home with the help of a skycap and intepreter (who had large quantities of American cosmetics in his backpack), two extremely agitated Germans who clearly spent a months pay on Duty Free Booze, an Indian couple trying to get through a case of water and various other illegal items, and me, the evil photographer.
When it was my turn, all of the items had to be unpacked. Backpack completely unpacked, lenses removed from protective cases, lens caps removed from lenses for visual inspection, and each item swabbed and placed in a handy orange tote to be quarantined until proven that they were in fact not explosive. 6 Cokin filter holders? Opened, swabbed, and inspected. Tiffen velcro pouches? Opened, swabbed, inspected. Camera? Opened, swabbed, and inspected (she did swab the grip, I think I might have lost my temper if she dare touch the shutter). All in all, there were 28 items that were removed and swabbed, which does not include the change of clothes, small ziplock of chapstick and other sundries, my mp3 player, and so on.
After the explosive screen came up negative (clearly she was unable to detect my impending nuclear meltdown), I was permitted to wear my glasses again and repack all of my items.
Overal Grade: F-
MXP - Milan Malpensa, Terminal 3
Our flight to London was cancelled and we were rerouted through Zurich via Swiss. Shoes can stay on, but belts have to come off.
Security was an absolute breeze, except for my tripod. They took umbrage with the size (it is technically too big, 24.8" collapsed), but when I did my best "I'm an idiot American!" and fumbled through saying "mille grazie", they let me through.
No one even cared about my film bag. My wife (fluent in Italian) asked for a hand inspection and was promptly refused. Most of the time, when it goes through, my bags are flagged and a bunch of questions asked, but not this time...
Overall Grade: C-
ZRH - Zurich International, Terminal E
We had a tight (by my standards, 40 minutes from landing until boarding) connection and picked up the pace through the airport. Once again, a hand inspection of film was roundly denied and I was informed that if I protested we would have to take it up with the senior SecurityNot Officials.
Not a drop was said about anything. I was through security, from dropping my bags to walking up the stairs, in just under 6 minutes, after I stupidly left a watch on and was taken aside for a feel up and cigarette.
Overall Grade: C+
BOS - Logan International Airport: Terminal B, US Airways
O-dark-thirty for a-not-so-early flight, but I had work to catch up on and the terminal is a surprisingly productive place for me.
The TSA guy had no clue what to do with a hand inspection, and his supervisor was equally clueless. In the bags when in the machine -- I guess I'll have that 1968 "Soft Environmentals" view to all of my Ligurian landscapes.
When the bag come out, the machine operator pulled my tray (with the x-ray bag), and asked "What's in it?" "Film", I responded. "OK!", and down the belt it went.
Sheesh.
Overall Grade: C-
No permits this trip, although a (presumably) Nigerian hawker selling knockoff Fendi's in Firenze started yelling at me after I took a picture of a woman purchasing a bag from him.
Good luck on your travels this year... as I travel with my camera gear pretty frequently, and often to "out station" places in Asia, I'll try and keep this up to date with any notes...
Cheers,
-Andrew