Carrying cameras on airplanes in the US

[sid]

With all the added "security" at airports these days, how do you tavel with the camera ? I certainly dont feel confortale putting an expensive camera in the checked luggage but then I'm afraid the security personnel will not allow a camera with interchangable lenses onboard. So, anyone got any personal experiences with camera on flights ?

[steven]

Never had a problem taking my camera with multiple lenses onto a plane.
In fact it is one of the exceptions as to additional bags you can take on with you.
I would never trust the airline with my camera.

[sid]

Well, thats certainly good to know ! I'm probably going to be travelling in a month or so and was starting to get a bit paranoid about carrying the camera.

[Bruce Hamilton]

...I'm afraid the security personnel will not allow a camera with interchangable lenses onboard.

You can expect them to look through the viewfinder to make sure you're not smuggling contraband inside, but that should be the extent of it.

[sdommin]

Its not as bad as you think. Lots of people travel with all kinds of cameras, and the security guys know this. If you're going to carry every single lens ever made with you, the worst you can expect is maybe a few seconds of extra wait time while they study your camera bag in the x-ray machine.

I used to be real paranoid about actually using my camera inside the airport, taking pictures of airplanes. I asked a cop one day in the Phoenix airport. He said to go right ahead and take any pictures I wanted (after all, if there was a security risk, they would ban cell-phone cameras - and you know THAT ain't gonna happen!). A few weeks ago, I was at O'Hare in Chicago, snapping away all over the place. No one bothered me at all...

http://home.att.net/~sdommin/ohare.jpg

[Nightcrawler]

Good shot Scott

[tim]

Yeah that's a lovely shot.

[jimsolt]

You will have to comply with the "carry on luggage" rules. In my latest travels cameras were not treated as exceptions, but accepted as any other carry on bags.
Security seems more interested in video cameras than still cameras, but they do check pretty thoroughly.
All in all, it's not much hassle.
I don't know what customs rules apply. I think US citizens returning with foreign made cameras have to be somewhat careful to show they have not bought them abroad and thus don't owe duty or taxes.
Jim

[JAZZ D.P.G.]

:D No hassels at all :D

Biggest issue was when DSLR was still fairly new to consumer users, and I was travelling to NASCAR events every week in a different town. I spent a lot of time explaining how the Digital worked with SLR. Just curiosity on the security part, these are some pretty good people usually.

I've always managed to blow off carry on bag limits by explaining the worth of the camera, lens and computer. Even on the small exec jets 36-50 seaters. 2 bags to help get under seats and in bins. Even had one stewardess move her bag to make room in their "private" bin for me.

Still travel often (Chicago tomorrow) and still no issues.

If your travelling outside your country, be sure to carry proof of purchase of all equipment or "carney" slips showing you left with the equipment. Could save some hassels on return.

Enjoy your trip, and get lots of pictures.

[steven]

I've never had any problems in the U.S.. Coming in from overseas is a different story, though.

I went to India and back and had no problems.

Bloo Dog, did you have problems?

[ssim]

I work for an airline and generally there aren't many problems travelling with your equipment. I would make sure that your carryon does fit the size and weight restrictions set by your airline. In many cases alot of airlines turn a blind eye to slightly oversized bags. Every so often airlines will start to enforce the rules to the letter of the regulation and I've seen many travellers who are challenged at the boarding gate and had to surrender part of their carryon to be checked.

On some of the small jets, the normal sized carryon that would fit say an Airbus A319 certainly won't fit. Most airlines have a "valet" service which you put your carryon bag on just as you enter the aircraft and then it is sitting there for you at your next stop. I have done this dozens of times and have never had a problem. This luggage usually gets handled very well as the ramp agents know that the owners are sitting inside the airplane watching them handle their belongings.

Passing through security is not all that difficult. As has been said above, you get a little more scrutiny. The ones that bother me are the the security agents that are interested in photography and take the time to go through your equipment just to look at it.

Your biggest concern when travelling should be the amount of carryon that you have and can you fit it in the overhead.

[primoz]

I never had any problems with cameras. I usually need to take lens of camera, take off caps from lenses in backpack, they look through lenses, they look through viewfinder and they wish nice flight. Yeah probably it would be different if I would be nasty complaining why they need to do this, but if you are nice they are nice too.
Only "problem" I had was last year when going back from LA to Europe and I couldn't convince women on Lufthansa check-in that my 20kg backpack is camera only... "nah cameras are not that heavy" Hmm.. actually they are... can I take them out so you will see? After I took them out and bag was all of a sudden 2kg it wasn't problem anymore and I could carry all 20kg with me on plane :) And I never put cameras or lenses to checked luggage. You never know when it will drop from 5m height :)

[Red]

A question I've been meaning to ask for a while is has anyone flown with a lighting kit?!
I might be spending a few months in Chicago this summer, and want to take mine with me, but it certainly won't fit all the way under the seat in front of me! It's pretty weighty too.
If I wouldn't trust them with my body and lenses in a padded bag, I certainly wouldn't trust them with fragile bulbs in a barely padded kit bag!
So how are they dealt with?

[ssim]

At some point in time you just have too much gear to carry on the aircraft. This is a dilemma that I am currently facing. I have some rather large glass and investigated several options. One was going to a Pelican type case. A specialized type case like this is just screaming "I have real expensive stuff inside me". After going through a number of websites of some very experienced and well travelled photographers I have elected to get a very good hard sided suitcase. It looks pretty normal. I have good padded cases for my glass and I put these inside the suitcase and away I go.

This does represent a new challenge when you are going to check this as baggage. In the US and Canada you can request a manual inspection of the baggage in your presence. You unlock the bag and then lock it back up after the inspection and make sure that they apply the inspection tape. If you check it without doing this the security agencies have the power and the rights to break the locks if they so desire to inspect the contents.

Having worked for the airlines for 30 odd years, do not show up at the gate with an attitude that it is your god given right to take everything you own on the aircraft. If you were lucky enough to get past security with it all doesn't mean that you will get on the aircraft. If you get past the gate agent with it you still have to deal with the flight attendants on board, they actually have the final say. If your bag will not fit in the overhead or is too heavy or if it will not fit all the way under the seat in front of you, chances are you are going to be asked to surrender it. Depending on how full a flight is you will find some flight attendants may make room in a closet for it but I certainly wouldn't count on it.

[PhotosGuy]

A question I've been meaning to ask for a while is has anyone flown with a lighting kit?! If it's an elaborate kit, I'd put it in a hard case with the bulbs removed & wrapped in foam. OTOH, you'd be amazed what you can do with a couple cheap old Vivitar 283s which I travel with.;)

[Claire]

I used to be real paranoid about actually using my camera inside the airport, taking pictures of airplanes. I asked a cop one day in the Phoenix airport. He said to go right ahead and take any pictures I wanted (after all, if there was a security risk, they would ban cell-phone cameras - and you know THAT ain't gonna happen!). A few weeks ago, I was at O'Hare in Chicago, snapping away all over the place. No one bothered me at all...



Sdommin,
Wow, I'm amazed you actually were allowed to take pics in the airport. I was thinking about that the other night. With all the terrorism stuff going on, not to mention regular weirdos, I thought security would be very tight on not photographing inside airports. When you say "snapping away all over the place", do you mean you were walking around with the camera taking pics here and there? Nobody bothering you at all?

/Claire

[12345Michael54321]

A few weeks ago, I was at O'Hare in Chicago, snapping away all over the place. No one bothered me at all...
Yeah, in the US taking pictures in airports is typically not a problem. It's not like these are secret installations, the physical layout of which must be kept out of enemy hands. O'Hare is about as sensitive an installation as Yankee Stadium, and is visited by more people.

Just don't assume all other countries are similarly reasonable. Some are, some aren't. There are still lots of countries where it's a criminal offense to photograph an airport, a train station, a power plant, a factory building, a police building, a courthouse, a school building, and all sorts of other things.

Back in the olden days when dinosaurs roamed the Earth in their pre-petroleum form, I once came rather close to learning all about East German jails, when I happened to take a snapshot at a train station in that country. The way the gun-toting soldier type ran over to me in a near-panic the instant I lifted camera to eye, you'd have thought I was raising an RPG launcher to my shoulder for immediate use. (All turned out well, I never did any prison time as an arch-spy, and I even learned a few things about getting around photography restrictions in Iron Curtain countries, the details of which are beyond the scope of this post.)

[JAZZ D.P.G.]

:evil: Did someone rat me out to airport security for my previous post on this thread?:evil:

I was "randomly selected" today for the intensive search of packages and person. (No, not the rubber glove:mad: )

As I was flying into Chicago from Ottawa, with custom/immigration pre-clearance in Ottawa, the US guys decided to be a little nicer to me, and didn't get too detailed.

Both bags onto the CRJ, in the overhead.

Yet, I had to stand and watch as the secrity people went through the computer and camera bags, swabbed everything mechanical. The oohhs and aahhs over the 70-300 DO were good, but still. They were quite careful when I described the contents before releasing the bags to them.

Still, I didn't need the attention, bad day.

Stuff I needed for work was not prepared by the person organizing this trip.
Taxi had an accident on the way to the airport. Wait for second cab.........
Detailed search at the airport.

Almost didn't get on the plane:confused: But I figured the rule of three had already occured, should be safe.:rolleyes:

Tommorrow is another day.

Go Illinois (NCAA basketball)

[ssim]

Both bags onto the CRJ, in the overhead.

Your bags can't be that big as the overheads in the RJ are about as big as my glove compartment on my car.

Luck was with you but two carryon's are allowed though one is supposed to be up in the overhead and the other under the seat in front of you.

[JAZZ D.P.G.]

Both bags onto the CRJ, in the overhead.

Your bags can't be that big as the overheads in the RJ are about as big as my glove compartment on my car.

Yeah, but as an experienced traveller on this route, I knew to keep them as small as possible. The computer case is just for the computer (Compaq EVO: really small), and the camera bag was not my regular one. I just brought the D60, 28-135 and 70-300 with batteries, charger, 550. Combined, no bigger than a large computer bag. Short trip, limited opportunites, this time.

Normally, the camera case is under the seat. This is a decent sized Roots knapsack that holds just about everything.

ps: If needed, I would have moved one to below the seat. Full flight, but lots of space.

[Jackal]

I was at Ohare a while ago snapping pictures in the airport and no one bothered me. I was standing right next to the check in. I don't think there's a problem taking pictures in an airport at all. It's not like there's anything secret that they need to hide that you can't find on the internet.

I wouldn't dare put my camera inside a check in luggage. Especially film cameras with higher ISO's that will be destroyed by the Xray machines. I keep my cameras in carry on bags.

The Xray machines that scan check in baggage are extremely more powerful than the ones you put carry on luggage in. They'll destroy any film if I'm not mistaken. So carry all film with you in carry on luggage. There's a law that states they must hand check your camera and film if you request it...instead of sticking it into the scanner.

Of course a digital camera doesn't have a problem being put through an Xray machine. Heh.

I want to go back to chicago now that I have a good camera with me instead of a film camera. My mom is a flight attendant so I travel for free. =)