> I'd like to ask those who have recently concluded > travel if there have been changes to airport security > since this summer? Are the screeners using more > powerful xray machines? Is it safe to have film pass > through the xray or should I ask for a handcheck? > More importantly do they still do handchecks with a > smile?
If you're in the states, they have to do a handcheck with a smile. If you've got time, demand one. No sense worrying about being an ass when your film's on the line. If you could find the FAA regs on the net (and I'm sure they're out there), print them out and give them to the checker. With that in mind, I flew to Uzbekistan this June with about 30 rolls of film and 15 packs of Polaroid 667 and 669 film (for my Land Camera 101, I love that thing :). I used two lead bags to hold the 35mm film, and carried alllll the film on the plane with me. My film was checked in Denver, Newark and London, and I managed to get it hand-checked in denver and Newark (I don't remember about London). On the way back, my film was run through X-Ray machines in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, three times in Frankfurt Airport in Germany, and once more in Washington. And after all was said and done, I took it in and didn't see a single bit of X-Ray damage. I guess the lead bags worked.
