New (as of 2019) airport CT scanners

David Polanski · Jun 10, 2021

Earlier this year I had to travel to the States under unfortunate circumstances. I made a point of purchasing my film and having it developed there ('shout-out for Blue Moon in Portland, OR... they're fantastic!). I didn't end up shooting all the rolls I had purchased, so I put the extra ones in a clear ziplock along with one of those warning stickers that Kodak provides for the purpose. When going through security (I was flying back home to LHR out of PDX) I handed the ziplock to the agent and asked for a hand inspection. The agent was quite pleasant and completely unfazed, no questions asked, no hassle at all. I was most happily surprised at how painless it all was. I'm guessing that this may have been in part on account of where I was flying from (urban Oregonians tend to be a rather "laid-back" sort), and so I wonder whether the experience might have been different had it been a somewhat less "enlightened" port of departure...?
Before boarding for the return flight I put a couple of the unexposed rolls in some aluminium film canisters. I haven't shot yet with any of the rolls that made the flight, but will be most curious to see if there's any appreciable difference (fogging etc) between those that traveled in the canisters vs those that stayed in their carboard boxes!

Foto Ludens · Jun 10, 2021

Agulliver said:
Were they asking people to remove laptops and similar from their carry-on bags before going through the scanning apparatus?

I removed mine out of habit both times, but was told in Boston that it wasn't necessary.

Sirius Glass · Jun 10, 2021

David Polanski said:
Earlier this year I had to travel to the States under unfortunate circumstances. I made a point of purchasing my film and having it developed there ('shout-out for Blue Moon in Portland, OR... they're fantastic!). I didn't end up shooting all the rolls I had purchased, so I put the extra ones in a clear ziplock along with one of those warning stickers that Kodak provides for the purpose. When going through security (I was flying back home to LHR out of PDX) I handed the ziplock to the agent and asked for a hand inspection. The agent was quite pleasant and completely unfazed, no questions asked, no hassle at all. I was most happily surprised at how painless it all was. I'm guessing that this may have been in part on account of where I was flying from (urban Oregonians tend to be a rather "laid-back" sort), and so I wonder whether the experience might have been different had it been a somewhat less "enlightened" port of departure...?
Before boarding for the return flight I put a couple of the unexposed rolls in some aluminium film canisters. I haven't shot yet with any of the rolls that made the flight, but will be most curious to see if there's any appreciable difference (fogging etc) between those that traveled in the canisters vs those that stayed in their carboard boxes!

Yes, but if you had flown out of Heathrow the agent would have tossed the film into the scanner to get fried. So much for British civility.

wiltw · Jun 11, 2021

Sirius Glass said:
Yes, but if you had flown out of Heathrow the agent would have tossed the film into the scanner to get fried. So much for British civility.

I have concluded that in Heathrow they use the deaf and dumb for Security, to gainfully employ the handicapped...they do not hear requests and they say nothing in response.

David Polanski · Jun 11, 2021

wiltw said:
they do not hear requests and they say nothing in response.

it's absolutely true that uk offiicaldom, especially at LHR, tend to have blinders on and be completely, zombie-like, procedure driven... it's somewhat baked-in, and it's no small part of why i didn't even bother purchasing film here and bringing it over to the states—'just not worth the potential hassle. i suspect as well that there's a certain perceived classism at work... i doubt any of our titled demi-gods would have a jot of difficulty with making such a request at LHR... i've also commonly experienced that, in general, the more nicely turned-out one is in both attire and manner, the better service one tends to get, and those handicapped zombies can surprisingly morph into actual, and even on occasion endearing, people.

BrianShaw · Jun 11, 2021

At Heathrow, too many times, I’ve had cameras and packages “inspected “ by uniformed men with machine guns. They spoke and conversed. Very polite but insistent and almost always got the response from me that they requested. Once it was a TLR that they didn’t recognize as a camera, another time it was gift-wrapped boxes of toffee, another time it was a monopod that’s they were convinced was an aerial (antenna to us Americans) because they, even with a demonstration, could not understand why anyone would be foolish enough to try holding up a camera with a one-legged device, and once it was just because I re-used a shipping box that had labels from an electronic supplier. It was so consistent that I was convinced they had a BLLO on me. I despised Heathow, but it wasn’t because of the deaf and dumb security personnel… for me they were the easiest part of the process.

VinceInMT · Jun 11, 2021

I hadn’t flown in about 2-1/2 years but did yesterday, from Montana to California. I had applied for permanent TSA-Pre a while ago so I went through the special TSA line where I dropped by bags on the conveyors and then walked through the scanner, picked up my bags and continued on. No taking off shoes, hats, or taking electronic gear out of my bags. I did notice a sign that indicated that their scanners would not fog film below 800 ISO. That was the first time I’d seen that.

Agulliver · Jun 11, 2021

I strongly dislike Heathrow but not because of the security bods, who seem no different to those found anywhere else I've been....but because it's a soul-less place which is also too damned big and too busy.

The whole "take your shoes off" thing has always been an American thing in my experience. Indeed one time at Heathrow my wife asked if they wanted her to to remove her shoes and the security staff replied "No love, this isn't America". As always though, wherever I am, I approach airport security with an air of compliance. I'm otherwise big in pretty much every sense, I could pass for an aging gridiron player or a tall wrestler I suppose. But my demeanour is one of compliance and they pick up on that, I believe. I don't experience LHR as any worse or better than anywhere else.

Regarding Montana, I don't see it on the list of airports with the new scanners. Though not taking electronics out of your bag is a hint that they might have them now.

mark · Jun 11, 2021

I asked at three airports this week as I passed through them. Phoenix said ask for hand inspection, Denver said ask for hand inspection Des Moines said ask for hand inspection.

all three said show up early. These were real busy folks and did not have time for a discussion.

Sirius Glass · Jun 11, 2021

mark said:
I asked at three airports this week as I passed through them. Phoenix said ask for hand inspection, Denver said ask for hand inspection Des Moines said ask for hand inspection.

all three said show up early. These were real busy folks and did not have time for a discussion.

As noted by many others that works in the US and not the UK or EU.

David Polanski · Jun 12, 2021

Sirius Glass said:
As noted by many others that works in the US and not the UK or EU.

i'm curious: prior to covid, had you been travelling to and within the eu much? before the lockdowns i use to have occasion to travel back and forth to paris quite frequently, and the eurostar security both ways never had difficulty with handscanning on the occasions when i've asked for it...

foc · Jun 12, 2021

Someone made a pejorative comment about airport security staff "being deaf and dumb" . Well with that attitude I'm not surprised they felt the ire of the security staff.

Agulliver said:
But my demeanour is one of compliance and they pick up on that,

I totally agree. Show respect and you will receive it.
The last few years (non film related) when I traveled within the EU, I was always asked to step aside after going through the security gate and asked to have my hands swabbed. Because this happened regularly, I asked the guy in Dublin Airport doing the swab why this was always happening. All was nice and cordial and after a brief chat, he asked me what I worked at. I said photographer and photo minilab owner. He asked did I use a wet or dry lab and when I answered wet he said it could have been handling the chemicals. ( BTW the swabs were to check for firearms and drugs).

Anyway my point was that a simple friendly chat and civility and everything was fine. If I had kicked up, well he had all the time in the day to delay and make things awkward for me.

Agulliver · Jun 12, 2021

Sirius Glass said:
As noted by many others that works in the US and not the UK or EU.

In the USA one has the right to a hand inspection on request.

Elsewhere there is no right, but some people report success when asking. I've travelled quite a lot with film and simply never asked as the last generation of scanners wasn't a danger to film.

wiltw · Jun 12, 2021

David Polanski said:
i'm curious: prior to covid, had you been travelling to and within the eu much? before the lockdowns i use to have occasion to travel back and forth to paris quite frequently, and the eurostar security both ways never had difficulty with handscanning on the occasions when i've asked for it...

Having to fly THROUGH Heathrow enroute to many cities within Europe on business, both going out and for coming home, in 40 years of business travel I was never successful in getting film hand inspected AT HEATHROW. Other international airports were not as consistent in defiance of passenger requests for hand inspection!

BrianShaw · Jun 12, 2021

Agulliver said:
In the USA one has the right to a hand inspection on request.

I think a few words are out of order:

In the USA one has the right to request a hand inspection.

AgX · Jun 12, 2021

Well, a right to request something one has anywhere. Unless one is ordered to keep ones mouth shut from the start...

BrianShaw · Jun 12, 2021

AgX said:
Well, a right to request something one has anywhere. Unless one is ordered to keep ones mouth shut from the start...

Right.

wiltw · Jun 12, 2021

BrianShaw said:
I think a few words are out of order:

In the USA one has the right to request a hand inspection.

Indeed, all TSA web information says to ASK FOR...they imply no promises that your request will be followed. Nevertheless, they do state that all their agents are trained in doing hand inspection, and most honor such requests.
I surmise that the Heathrow Security similarly lets you ask, but they are trained that they are not under obligation to grant such requests, so most do not. It is simpler to act as if deaf and dumb.

The movement of film across national borders might be some significant part of the reason that cinema has largely converted to digital movie recording, so they don't need to bother with getting photosensivitive materials through airports, particularly now with CT in use for checked and carry-on?!

Agulliver · Jun 13, 2021

Requesting hand inspection just isn't a "thing" in the UK or Europe as far as I can tell. It's just not been part of flying here. We've had pretty heavy security for at least 40 years, probably longer just my personal knowledge. And we generally accept it.

Cinema moved to digital recording and distribution because it's cheaper, quicker and more convenient. No shipping but also no lab developing, no waiting, easier to edit digitally and no need to scan the camera negatives first....the whole process is streamlined by cutting out film. Film is considered a luxury. There was and no doubt still are correct channels/procedure for shipping TV/cinema film across international borders.....just ask the poor intern who destroyed an entire day's film from the TV series "Lost" by sending it the wrong method back to mainland USA....

Arthurwg · Jun 13, 2021

Sirius Glass said:
Yes, but if you had flown out of Heathrow the agent would have tossed the film into the scanner to get fried. So much for British civility.

Yes, I had the same experience at LHR. Not exactly British Civility.

Arthurwg · Jun 13, 2021

I think the answer is to buy film and have it processed in-country, then have it mailed to you back home. I'm sure it would add to costs, but this could be encouraged as a marketing tool.

AgX · Jun 13, 2021

Could you explain on this marketing tool?

wiltw · Jun 13, 2021

Agulliver said:
Cinema moved to digital recording and distribution because it's cheaper, quicker and more convenient. No shipping but also no lab developing, no waiting, easier to edit digitally and no need to scan the camera negatives first....the whole process is streamlined by cutting out film. Film is considered a luxury. There was and no doubt still are correct channels/procedure for shipping TV/cinema film across international borders.....just ask the poor intern who destroyed an entire day's film from the TV series "Lost" by sending it the wrong method back to mainland USA....

Printing many projection copies of the original and then distributing so many multi-reel copies to theaters was very expensive. In comparison, making digital copies onto single harddrive units, and then shipping a single HD to each theater was much more cost efficient than reels of projection film.
It would not surprise me if they abandoned spinning drives in favor of SSD, due to the great weight reduction and cost savings in shipping copies to theaters!

jay moussy · Jun 13, 2021

Movie hard drives?
I naively thought the media was beamed out to theaters.

wiltw · Jun 13, 2021

foc said:
Someone made a pejorative comment about airport security staff "being deaf and dumb" . Well with that attitude I'm not surprised they felt the ire of the security staff.

I totally agree. Show respect and you will receive it.
The last few years (non film related) when I traveled within the EU, I was always asked to step aside after going through the security gate and asked to have my hands swabbed. Because this happened regularly, I asked the guy in Dublin Airport doing the swab why this was always happening. All was nice and cordial and after a brief chat, he asked me what I worked at. I said photographer and photo minilab owner. He asked did I use a wet or dry lab and when I answered wet he said it could have been handling the chemicals. ( BTW the swabs were to check for firearms and drugs).

Anyway my point was that a simple friendly chat and civility and everything was fine. If I had kicked up, well he had all the time in the day to delay and make things awkward for me.

I said 'deaf and dumb' NOT as a way I interacted in my attitude (always professional, always non-confrontational), but by the historical experience over 40 years of business travel, to not being heard nor given any explaination for the lack of reaction to my request...THEY gave me that impression in their stoic non-response.

New (as of 2019) airport CT scanners

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