[MossyRocks]

They should send Karen the bill. How can someone be so idiotic so as to think a camera bag full of gear is a bomb?

Given my experience with the TSA when I was still exclusively shooting film this seems entirely possible. Never failed when I brought my camera bag through security I would get pulled aside, have the bag emptied, everything examined in detail, get questioned about the release cable, have everything swabbed down to check for explosives, etc. What is worse is that a number of times I have brought through banned items unintentionally because I was out hunting the weekend before and left a fist full of shotgun shell or rifle round in the inner pocket of my coat and they never found them.

[UncleVanya]

I just wonder if there was something more. Perhaps a poorly phrased joke or animosity between the two on the flight? At this point we may never know. It seems pretty irrational behavior on all sides except for the poor guy with the camera! But we don’t have a lot of facts.

[luftfluss]

What the woman did was criminal here. Good for at least one year in jail for making a false complaint, and I reckon with a little checking in the Code, I bet I could find a couple of felonies as well. Probably what she really needs is a nice safe institution where she can get some rest and therapy. ("They're coming to take me away, ha-ha, they're coming to take me away, ha-ha, and I'll be happy to see those nice young men in their clean white coats, and they're coming to take me away, ha-ha.")

Unless she knowingly made a false complaint, she did nothing illegal.

Homeland Security is protecting these folks, because they don't want to discourage people from reporting suspicious objects/individuals.

What we need are smarter less stupid humans.

Unless she knowingly made a false complaint, she did nothing illegal.

Homeland Security is protecting these folks, because they don't want to discourage people from reporting suspicious objects/individuals.

What we need are smarter less stupid humans.

Good points all. So it was merely a case of simple negligence which inconvenienced a hundred other people and caused them actual damages; I hope they all sue her. The phrase I recall from school days that applies to such a person is "officious intermeddler".

[reh321]

Given my experience with the TSA when I was still exclusively shooting film this seems entirely possible. Never failed when I brought my camera bag through security I would get pulled aside, have the bag emptied, everything examined in detail, get questioned about the release cable, have everything swabbed down to check for explosives, etc. What is worse is that a number of times I have brought through banned items unintentionally because I was out hunting the weekend before and left a fist full of shotgun shell or rifle round in the inner pocket of my coat and they never found them.

After 9-11, when I traveled with film, I handed the camera to TSA, explained what it was and what it contained, and asked them not to put it through the X-ray process. They never gave me a problem.

[bertwert]

Given my experience with the TSA when I was still exclusively shooting film this seems entirely possible. Never failed when I brought my camera bag through security I would get pulled aside, have the bag emptied, everything examined in detail, get questioned about the release cable, have everything swabbed down to check for explosives, etc. What is worse is that a number of times I have brought through banned items unintentionally because I was out hunting the weekend before and left a fist full of shotgun shell or rifle round in the inner pocket of my coat and they never found them.

I flew with my bagpipes once - should have seen the confusion of the security agents when they looked at the x-ray. Bag emptied, everything swapped etc etc. Kicker was, once I got to my destination I found a penknife in my pipe case that they missed!

[Serkevan]

I flew with my bagpipes once - should have seen the confusion of the security agents when they looked at the x-ray. Bag emptied, everything swapped etc etc. Kicker was, once I got to my destination I found a penknife in my pipe case that they missed!

A month ago I brought my coffee grinder with me when I went to spend a couple weeks home in Spain. I suppose a tubular chunk of metal made it, ahem, interesting on the X-Ray. They even did explosives test on it! The faces on the security checkpoint's guards would be worth a photo, if that weren't very illegal

Usually lenses all take a trip out of the backpack, they scan them all separately almost every time... but I forgot to take out the grinder, hah (6 AM flight, so at 5:30 I was a tad asleep).

[Paul the Sunman]

Given my experience with the TSA when I was still exclusively shooting film this seems entirely possible. Never failed when I brought my camera bag through security I would get pulled aside, have the bag emptied, everything examined in detail, get questioned about the release cable, have everything swabbed down to check for explosives, etc. What is worse is that a number of times I have brought through banned items unintentionally because I was out hunting the weekend before and left a fist full of shotgun shell or rifle round in the inner pocket of my coat and they never found them.

When I was living in N Ireland in the early '80s, during "the troubles", I used to sometimes fly from Belfast to London. At that stage, there was a dedicated terminal at Heathrow for just this route. After disembarking from the plane, we were funnelled into single-file to enter the terminal, where uniformed and non-uniformed police and security would eye-ball us and pick out the shifty-looking ones for further investigation.

Most people went through unchallenged. However, I was always pulled out of the line and interrogated. Something about being a tall strongly-built bloke with a beard set the red lights flashing (figuratively). On one occasion, I had had enough, and started tearing into them, saying "Why do you always pick me? What about that little old lady with the knitting over there? Why don't you ever check people like that?". On hearing my Australian accent, they saw the humour in the situation and waved me on.

On another occasion, I was walking around Belfast early one foggy Sunday morning, taking pictures of old abandoned buildings along the River Lagan with my OM-1 (see below). An armoured car rushed past and came to a screeching halt. The rear doors flung open and several soldiers with automatic weapons and red brushes on their hats (in the manner of Marvin the Martian) piled out and surrounded me. Why was I taking pictures of them? (I wasn't). Again, I obviously have that terrorist look. I eventually convinced them I was no threat (again, the accent may have helped) and they left, thankfully leaving my film untouched.

The treatment you get from security officials can depend on who you are, or more to the point, what you look like. The real terrorists are the little old ladies with knitting.

[MarkJerling]

The airport drug / explosive dogs always like me. I have no idea why. Whenever we fly anywhere I can virtually guarantee I'll be pulled out of line and swabbed. Results always come back negative for all contraband so I have no idea what it is about me that they like so much. Maybe it's the biltong in my pockets.

[MossyRocks]

After 9-11, when I traveled with film, I handed the camera to TSA, explained what it was and what it contained, and asked them not to put it through the X-ray process. They never gave me a problem.

It was never the film but the camera, lenses, and release cable.

[reh321]

It was never the film but the camera, lenses, and release cable.

Sometimes I traveled with film sufficiently fast to fog if X-rayed several times.

[Serkevan]

The airport drug / explosive dogs always like me. I have no idea why. Whenever we fly anywhere I can virtually guarantee I'll be pulled out of line and swabbed. Results always come back negative for all contraband so I have no idea what it is about me that they like so much. Maybe it's the biltong in my pockets.

I get pulled for explosives checks sorta often, like maybe once every five passes through security (no clue what people experience in general). There's no dogs in the airports I go through, so I have no clue why. Some days, if I went to the airport on a Friday evening, I'd be mighty worried because I have no clue what components they check for and I worked in a chemical lab.

[aslyfox]

I thought there might be some cross over between these threads

PentaxForums.com → Photography → Travel, Events, and Groups → experiences traveling on airlines with cameras

Read more at: experiences traveling on airlines with cameras - PentaxForums.com

[Parallax]

Homeland Security is protecting these folks, because they don't want to discourage people from reporting suspicious objects/individuals.

What we need are smarter less stupid humans.

"The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right" ~Mark Twain

[MossyRocks]

Sometimes I traveled with film sufficiently fast to fog if X-rayed several times.

That was never me. I usually had for fast film was some Fuji 200 but mostly I was shooting some Kodak 100 speed, Fuji 100 speed, or Ilford PanF 50.