Film Friendly Airport of the Year 2014: Kansai International Airport, Japan (KIX)!

[mnemosyne]

In this dark age of ours, where we read a lot about how frustrating it can be to travel as a film photographer ... the ignorance of security staff at airports and the near impossibility to have film hand checked and people constantly worried about x-ray damage ... I would like to announce that not everything is lost...
While traveling out of Osaka/Kansai International Airport (KIX) in Japan this April I experienced some great service by the security staff!
As always I put the clear plastic bag with my film (about 30 rolls) on the tray in front of the airport scanner, which immediately caught the attention of the operator who asked me if it was okay for the film to go through the scanner or if I wished a hand check ... The last time I flew out of KIX in 2012 something very similar happened, one of the staff took the clear plastic bag from the tray and started to check it manually in the background without even bothering to ask me ... So now I am starting to think that this was more than just coincidence or luck but maybe some kind of policy by the airport security ... Anyway, great service and KIX gets my vote for "Film Friendly Airport of the Year 2014"!

 

[Dr Croubie]

I wish I had one to add to this list, but my nominations would probably come up under the heading of 'worst' (especially when I've had good service carrying TMY and TXP, then months later at the same airport I had to argue for 10 mins to get my Delta 3200 not xrayed).
If I ever go to Japan (and I hope to one day), I'll definitely consider Kansai as the place to get in and out...

 

[RattyMouse]

KIX was a good experience for me too. After my trip to Kyoto I flew back to China from KIX and asked for hand inspection of about 30 rolls of 120 film. The security guy jumped right on to that without any argument at all. He tapped each roll to check for their solidness and weight. Took him 30 seconds if that.

Japan is great!

 

[skysh4rk]

I had similar experiences in both Beijing and Hong Kong airports late last year. As soon as they saw my big bag of film, the security staff insisted on hand checks; I never even had to ask!

 

[j-dogg]

I got a hand check easily at Orlando and Sanford airports. Good guys over there.

 

[kossi008]

I'm not doing handchecks and have had no problems so far...
But I would like to add Boise Airport (BOI) because they had a sign near the check-in counter warning me to leave film in the checked baggage. And I suddenly remembered that I had actually forgotten to take my film out of the suitcase!
So I took out the film, put it in my hand baggage and breathed deep grateful sigh. Thanks, Boise Airport!

 

[jeffreyg]

I've never had a problem having film hand checked in the US. Once in Italy I asked for my film to be hand checked and the agent said the x-ray was safe but another agent standing there said "that's high speed film, we should hand check it". The only airport it was refused was in Paris. The agent may have been having a bad day fortunately the film was okay.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

 

[RattyMouse]

I have passed my film through many scans now so the idea of hand checking film seems an obviously unnecessary request.

 

[Nuff]

In Australia they are a pain. But when I showed them my ISO 1600 and 3200 film they checked it without issues. I had a quick chat with the guy and he said for high ISO film, they will do hand checks, but the ones in normal range, they will not.

And I used Narita airport many times. And they will do hand checks if asked. The only time I had an issue was with ISO 3200 film loaded in a hassy back. They wanted to X-ray it. So I had to remove the film and I only had 4 photos on it.

 

[VPooler]

Tallinn Lennart Meri airport will honor hand checks, if any of you would ever happen to travel in Estonia. Just present them plain rolls in a ziplock bag, remove them from containers to save time. They don't really care about ISO rating, just be nice to the people and they will be nice to you.

Whereas in London Luton airport I was promptly, yet politely sent to hell.

 

[Pat Erson]

When you arrive at the airport do you keep your exposed films in their plastic canisters or have you gotten rid of them to make hand inspection easier?

 

[02Pilot]

I recently had an almost surreal experience at New York's La Guardia of all places. While waiting to plunge my belongings into the abyss of the X-ray machine, I casually asked the resident security agent if the machine was safe for film; I was essentially just making conversation, as I wasn't carrying anything over 400 and I wasn't going to bother with hand checking. He asked if I had film, and when I replied in the affirmative, he volunteered to hand check it in spite of the rather substantial line of people waiting to go through security. I was shocked but pleased to accept his offer.

 

[RattyMouse]

When you arrive at the airport do you keep your exposed films in their plastic canisters or have you gotten rid of them to make hand inspection easier?

Back before I started letting all my film get X-rayed, I used to store my exposed film in a very large clear plastic bag. The security guy could see immediately what was in it.

I now just let all my film get X-rayed. All the time.