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Transportation Safety Administration NEW RULES announced

Interestingly the only time I have had to have my camera rucksack open inspected was to be swabbed down for drugs. Easy to forget in these times I guess just how much of a problem drug trafficking still is.
 
faberryman said:
Everyone is in such a hurry to get on the plane and shoe-horned into their tiny little seats. Amazing.
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BrianShaw said:
It's the only way to get where one needs to be...
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No it's not, unless an ocean is between origin and destination. Otherwise, except when subject to spousal duress, like a trip to Australia and New Zealand two years ago, I don't care how long the route: I'll drive before subjecting myself to the dehumanizing experience of commercial air travel. This post coming to you from a retired Boeing engineer.
 
NJH said:
Interestingly the only time I have had to have my camera rucksack open inspected was to be swabbed down for drugs. Easy to forget in these times I guess just how much of a problem drug trafficking still is.
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The swab down is more usually for explosives Leaving Canada though for the UK it was drugs. They have highly sophisticated electronic sniffing devices at one UK airport I went through last Autumn, it's very high-tech security.

A friend who lives around the corner has to take a letter stating his former employment as he tests positive for explosives due to years of contact the tests are extremely sensitive to very low levels (a rocket/missile engineer), he also has to refer possible visits to certain countries to our security forces and they could stop him going.

Ian
 
Sal Santamaura said:
No it's not, unless an ocean is between origin and destination. ...
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I've crossed the Atlantic twice by ship (between U.S. and Europe). It's not fast, but it does work.

Security checks were performed with that mode of travel as well. This was pre-2001.

I've made an uncountable number of train trips in the U.S. and Europe.
 
Well, I have no choice but to fly when I travel since I live in an island country, but I have to say that I'm pretty used to having to take out my camera and lenses already (usually after they've already gone through x-ray) - the most recent was last spring when I flew in and out of Germany. Since I usually travel with 2 or 3 cameras, plus lenses, plus film, they always want to check them out. That said, I'd rather do it after the x-ray than before, if only to be less separated from my gear for as little time as possible.

Japan doesn't usually have as strict checks at the airports as other countries like the US and the UK, but I imagine they'll be stepping things up as we get closer and closer to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
 
I hope that one day I can be just like you, Sal. Airplanes or space?
 
The swabs/patdowns are for explosives. I had the usual nut punch a few months ago in SoCal. I try to make the experience as pleasant as possible for what it is. The TSA guy apologized to me for making me wait. I didn't care. We had a short conversation about what he did and he said he was delayed because they have a lot of guys from the special forces and those guys usually test positive so they have to vet them. Must be nice to be a SEAL then get put in a little room by some minimum wage flunky and be questioned about it, since like, duh, you deal with explosives. Kinda puts the whole stupid security theatre thing in perspective with how ludicrous it all is.
 
Ian Grant said:
he also has to refer possible visits to certain countries to our security forces and they could stop him going.

Ian
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Hi Ian, that applies to quite a few people, I imagine must equally apply to folks working in the military, defence industry and security in many countries. Thing is most people don't realise its better to be safe than sorry. Many don't realise for example that we need to acquire an export license from the government in order to talk to foreign nationals about potential sales of dual use items for example (stuff used in military equipment like electronics which may also have civilian applications) or for that matter anything about such items. Now imagine your an engineer or scientist or military (or was one) who knows about such stuff and you pop up back home after visiting such a country, may well have just been on holiday but its easy to see how people can unwittingly and unnecessarily arouse suspicion. Embargo country list is here:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/export-...ules#how-eco-decides-whether-to-give-licences

Ironically many of the countries on that list are the ones where I imagine the guys referred to by other posters have been operating in recent years.
 
RattyMouse said:
I've never had to unpack my camera bag when traveling through Heathrow.
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It varies. I've had to take it out at Gatwick before now. Chinese* airports all insist on removing cameras as well as laptops etc., and I always have to do so when I go through Vienna and Moscow. Otherwise it's a bit of a lottery, but on the whole I'd say they all "reserve the right".

It is, as has been noted above, no big deal. Never been asked to do anything stupid like open the back. A few times I've been asked to remove the lenscap (I'm almost always with an SLR) so the security agent can check through the viewfinder that there's nothing out of the ordinary (something hidden in the lens or body), but to be honest that doesn't bother me - if anything it suggests a certain amount of smarts on the part of the security agent, which is welcome.



* I've no idea if Chinese security staff are good at finding bombs, but goddamned they are good at finding cigarette lighters. Wherever I've "forgotten" I hid a lighter in my baggage they damned well find it - it's practically become a game now... (Airside in a Chinese airport - or immediate after arrivals at the other end - the man with a cigarette lighter is king...)
 

One time in Osaka, as I was passing through customs, the Japanese official asked if they could inspect my computer. I said fine, no problem. They took my laptop and went into another room. I chatted with the official for a few minutes and shortly thereafter, the guy who took my computer and returned it. I never had that happen before, but they were very polite about it and it took only a few minutes so I was on my way without much delay.
 
RattyMouse said:
I think you can take a boat to Korea!
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Yes, that's true, but I would spend as much time getting to the boat than if I just flew straight there. And, for some reason, I've noticed that domestic flights in Japan are better than the international flights - the domestic terminals are often much better than the international ones, the seats on the plane are bigger and more comfortable, and I get better service (maybe because the flight attendants really want to use their English?).
 
I have not had to take out cameras before x-ray machines in the past. If I have to pull them out now that is OK because some of the inspectors like to look at the Hasselblads and the lenses. So no grumpin' here.
 
I no longer travel by plane TSA is a PIA under the cover of safety and protection, they execute a dictatorship; we are slowly turning into a police state and I'm starting to sympathise with civil revolt;acab!
 
Well radicalism and all other crazy fanatics dictate how we live our lives and we kindly bow and accept so it can only get worse.
 
amazing how much money n effort has been spent on the war on drugs and we are still losing. You'd figure, with the added terrorist watch, drugs could never sneak by anymore... yet its just as rampant as ever.

Makes you wonder just how tight that terrorist and drug screening really is?

stop the exempt inspections and perhaps you might close a few more holes?
 
It will increase the hassle of travel, but what really frustrated me is that I cannot remember the last time I went to an airport and all of the security lines were fully staffed. Frequently half or less of the lines are open.

I already have to remove my CPAP machine and laptop. Having to remove cameras also will cause me to think twice when choosing cameras for a trip.
 
I have pre-check and 90-95% of the time it's well worth it. There have been a couple of times where, in a less used terminal, the pre-check line wasn't staffed. And once or twice where there was no pre-check line but I could still leave shoes on and laptop in my bag (though I rarely travel with my laptop anymore).

There are other options out there, but I don't think they're as prevalent as pre-check - at least US domestic.

It's a fairly simple process. Apply online, go to an office to fill out some electronic paperwork and get fingerprinted. A bit later you get a "known traveler number" that you use when you make a reservation (most airlines allow you to add this number to your profile). During this process, they conduct a background check. You do want to make sure that your boarding pass says "pre-check"; it's the airline that has to apply it based on the known traveler number.
 
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