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.

Click to expand...

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.