New (as of 2019) airport CT scanners

Fatih Ayoglu said:

Yes you are right, affordability and availability. However because Munich is a hub for Lufthansa as well as Frankfurt, I expect them to update their scanners soon, if not have already done so.

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Just found, regarding Munich, as of April 2025



...still almost one year off from full implementation as planned.

Just gone through Dublin and Amsterdam/Schipol, both with CT scanners, both hand-inspected the film. In fact, in Amsterdam the agent actually ASKED if I wanted anything hand-scanned!

I think the word has got around in the airport security world that CT scanners can damage film.

I just passed through security at the Tromso, Norway airport. The four scanners all appear to be old-style but I requested and received hand-inspection with no difficulty.

I’ve just come back from a trip PDX -> AMS -> BLR and back by the same route.

- PDX was no problem as usual: all CT, easy hand check. They asked about the filters but understood the answer.
- AMS had a security check on the return trip. CT machines, and they were willing to hand-check the film but they were confused by the filters that were in the bag with it. No big deal.
- BLR was something of a nightmare at security. The machines were old-style X-ray, but they required all kinds of things to come out in a separate tray—all electronics, all cables, anything made of metal—and then they flagged my camera and film for hand inspection. They didn’t seem to understand what the film was, but after staring at it for a while and my clumsy attempts to explain it, they let me pack it up and proceed. Security was very slow and gave the impression that they were under guidance to check anything and everything.

Bengaluru/Bangalore would have been fun for a good street photographer who grasped the culture, but I couldn’t make anything of it. I shot a roll of HP5+ on the street, just because I was there, but I’ll be surprised if I get anything worthwhile out of it. Not much of a landscape/cityscape photo destination. To be fair, I only saw a couple of districts in a very large city.

-NT

Continuing onwards…

I just passed security at the Svolvaer, Norway airport. This is by far the smallest airport I’ve ever been through - one 3000-foot (1 km) runway, one arrival door, one departure door, no jetway (walk on the apron), and one CT scanner used for both checked and carry-on bags. No problem getting hand inspection for my 120 film.

They’re very fussy about cameras and electronics - it all has to either come out into a bin or be opened (in the case of my camera pack). Also creams and liquids - they spotted a small tube of hand cream my wife forgot to put in the plastic bag.

My final stop in Norway, the airport in Bodø, uses a Smiths CT scanner for cabin luggage. Once again I had no trouble getting someone to do a hand inspection, and once again I had to take the camera and lenses (but not the filters or other items) out of the pack and put them in their own tray.

To summarize, I had no issues getting my 120 film hand-inspected in the Tromsø, Svolvær, and Bodø (all in Norway) airports.

Just seen in the news today, and grabbed a screenshot where they show a current CT scanner line.
Barcelona airport will start to roll out CT scanners in Terminal 1.

However, note from the screenshot that little icon! A roll of film with a cross over it.

Seems to show that Europe wide the policy is/will accomodate hand checks for film.

I flew Luton to Heraklion 11 days ago, and as hoped the staff at Luton were happy to hand inspect and swab my film. The guy who did it was probably in his 40s and recognised the (mostly yellow) boxes immediately.

Flying back today Heraklion to Luton and I have a dilemma. The battery in my Nikon F601M died with 20 out of 24 exposures of Fomapan 200 taken. No big deal in terms of wasted exposures but I cannot get the film out, and have not been able to source a new battery here on Crete. So do I assume Heraklion still has X-ray scanners and take it in my carry on bag, with the knowledge that *if* they've upgraded to CT scanners the film is highly likely to be damaged....or do I take a chance in checked luggage where the chances are still there but perhaps less high. A couple of years ago I did exactly the same with the same camera (I never learn) and flew ACE-LTN with it in checked baggage loaded with FP4+ and had no issues.

Dilemmas.....

It is 6 years since I last flew out of Heraklion and over 3 years since the most recent report I found in this thread. So things could have changed. However this airport is also run down with no money being spent on it because a new airport 20km away is going to take over (and Heraklion will be closed to civil aircraft) in 2027. So maybe they're just not going to install CT scanners at Heraklion. It's a gamble whatever I do.

Agulliver said:

So do I assume Heraklion still has X-ray scanners and take it in my carry on bag

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I got a hand check on Iraklion for my film rolls without any problem - in keeping with the rest of the population of Crete, security personnel were relaxed and friendly. Maybe you can explain the situation to them (with hands & feet, since they probably won't understand English well enough) and see if they're prepared to swab the camera as well.

We flew out of the airport back in May of this year; I don't recall having seen CT scanners there. It's also not the kind of airport I'd expect to upgrade to CT very soon.

You can use these on your film bag to help with the language barrier. Your mileage will vary.



I've never seen CT scanners in Greece. I don't think they have the money to install them nor do they want to negatively impact tourism.

Thanks for the advice. As the film is stuck inside the camera I think I'll take that camera in m cabin bag and hope for the best with the high probability that the airport security is still X-rays.

It will be interesting to see if the new airport due to open in 2027 has CT scanners.

Agulliver said:

new airport due to open in 2027

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It's offtopic, but I wonder what the odds are it's really opening in 2027. I think there was some fuss involving contractors. Don't really recall the details.

loccdor said:

I don't think they have the money to install them nor do they want to negatively impact tourism.

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The former, sure. The latter: the whole point of CT is to make the process more efficient and easier also for travelers. It's only the film community who experience the disadvantages. For everyone else, it just means quicker turnaround, shorter queues, less fuss with taking stuff out of your bag and the possibility of bringing bottled water etc. on board.

koraks said:

It's only the film community who experience the disadvantages.

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Don't forget about the 20 people in line behind me who became annoyed that I delayed them by talking to the security guy for several minutes about how I wanted a hand-check. A German started complaining and asking why anyone would still use film.

loccdor said:

A German started complaining and asking why anyone would still use film.

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Well, in any case, that couldn't have been Mirko from ADOX, haha!

koraks said:

Well, in any case, that couldn't have been Mirko from ADOX, haha!

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Thankfully Heraklion airport wasn't busy (it is inadequate for the passenger numbers it experiences) so no long lines. I am confident that the scanners were older x-ray units but I should find out today when I develop B&W film.

I'd agree that it's a money issue. Heraklion airport in particular is run down, in part because it's going to be replaced in two years. For 99% of passengers, CT scanners will be more convenient and will hasten the process of getting through security. No more removing laptops, tablets and sometimes even cameras from bags....no removing your liquids, and potentially lifting the 100ml limit. For us, it means waving a bag of photosensitive material at the security people and asking for a hand inspection. Where I've done this in the last three years, it hasn't slowed the process. My bag goes through the x-ray as normal and the ziploc of film is taken aside to be swabbed and and looked at when the security bod has a moment, which might mean I wait an extra couple of minutes but nobody else does. Airports are also getting better at this, it's clearly something many staff are now aware of. The difference between 2023 and 2025 seems tangible to me.

Prest_400 said:

Just seen in the news today, and grabbed a screenshot where they show a current CT scanner line.
Barcelona airport will start to roll out CT scanners in Terminal 1.

However, note from the screenshot that little icon! A roll of film with a cross over it.

Seems to show that Europe wide the policy is/will accomodate hand checks for film.

Click to expand...

2 summers ago I flew into and out of Barcelona and on my way out I was asking for a hand check and the guy was like "only above 1600ISO" and I had a few rolls of Delta 3200 on my and I was like "yes. I am above that threshold, hand check my film." I was getting a little irritable (airports and all I guess) so I definitely feel like I'm on a list in Barcelona airports books now haha

Just a quick update, developed the Fomapan 200 and as expected no fogging. As of late October 2025 Heraklion airport is still using older X-ray scanners.

London Luton has been all CT for a little while now but I've had no issues whatsoever getting film hand inspected there. They are well set up for it. They also have a convenient way of checking shoes when they want, without the passenger having to take the shoes off.

Lam-Bartll said:

2 summers ago I flew into and out of Barcelona and on my way out I was asking for a hand check and the guy was like "only above 1600ISO" and I had a few rolls of Delta 3200 on my and I was like "yes. I am above that threshold, hand check my film." I was getting a little irritable (airports and all I guess) so I definitely feel like I'm on a list in Barcelona airports books now haha

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An update is that I actually went through BCN a couple weeks ago and all the lines were CT scanners... Showed the film to an agent who directed me to hand it over by the metal detector where they swabbed it.
Agent didn't look very happy at having to to that, but anyways sadly Spanish airport security has a history of not being the best of jobs with some strikes a couple years ago.

Now am traveling in Asia and my outbound from Europe (Sweden) was CT. No problem... Till turns out the film swabbed positive for explosives!! Had to go through a not unpleasant manual screening but wondering what home/forest environment thing could have contaminated the films. Same bag that went without problems in the BCN check...

Since then I went through a couple old Xray points and all had the film safe stickers. Haven't had issues previously with the old ones so I suck to let them go through rather than whatever if the films still trigger some alarm!