Packing that Valuable Camera Gear for Your Plane Flight
Sunday, May 25, 2008 @ 00:42
The last thing you want to deal with at the end of a long airplane trip is finding out that your valuable camera gear has been damaged in flight. Whether we carry our valuable equipment onto the airplane or check it with our luggage, either way we want to have at least some peace of mind that our equipment will make it to our destination safely.
As per the
FAA's website, you are now limited to one carry-on piece and one "personal item" loosely defined as a briefcase or purse on any flight originating in, and returning to, the U.S. These regulations are tightening up and the day is probably not far off when U.S. flights will eliminate the "personal item," allowance just as some international carriers have. This is going to mean that chances are we will not be able to take our camera onto the airplane with us and may one day have no choice but to check it with our regular baggage, leaving it in the care of the baggage handlers.
The trick to optimizing your chances of a safe arrival for your camera equipment is to pack it in a good, secure, hard-sided camera bag, such as a Halliburton case. Also, pack it in an orderly fashion so that if the FAA screeners insist on you emptying the bag of all its contents, you will have a relatively easy time putting everything back together again.
Also, if your camera uses film, you might be wise to store the film in one of the outside pouches of your camera bag. You can buy clear plastic tubes designed for just this purpose from Porter's Camera for about $3 each. These are really handy for putting your film rolls in and make it very easy for airport screeners to hand check without inconveniencing other passengers in line behind you with long delays. Also, you probably will not want to leave a roll of partially exposed film in the camera itself. If the airport screeners required you to open the camera to verify its purpose, the exposed film would probably be ruined, including any shots already taken on that roll.
The FAA will treat camera gear just as they do laptops and other such equipment and that means they will need for it to be removed from its case so that they can verify it does what you claim it does. As to your film, the FAA says that you can request a hand search, rather than a "dump search;" where the screener just removes all contents out of the bag to verify it truly is film. However, whether that request for a hand search will be honored is entirely at the discretion of the screener and will depend upon how busy they are at the security station that day.
Of course, there are no guarantees that film and camera items will make it unscathed to your final destination, but by taking some of the added precautions noted here, you can maximize your chances of a safe arrival for both you and that valuable camera equipment you are bringing along.
