Sheet film on airlines

[Joel Brown]

I plan on carrying empty film holders along with a couple of unsealed boxes of 4x5 sheet film in a duffle bag on board my flight to Ireland. Has anyone ever had unsealed boxes of film opened for inspection? I am also having a couple of boxes of film mailed in advance to the B&B I will be staying with as a backup in case things don't go well on my flight over.

[Eric Rose]

This has been discussed before, but here is how I do it. Just pack your film holders as you normally do and carry the film on in your pants pockets. I wear those cargo type pants with all the big pockets on the legs etc. Make sure you have the film out of the foil bags. The foil will set off the detectors and then they will want to x-ray your film boxes.

Good luck with the goons.

[ronald lamarsh]

I just put my film in one of those lead film bags which alerts the personel that it is film and you should have no trouble.

[Bruce Watson]

I've had the screeners ask to open them. What I do is look them in the eye and politely explain to them that opening the boxes will ruin the film. It's easier to explain if you have a reject negative along to show them what this stuff actually is, and they can see that it fits the box. For that matter, I always have an empty box along and I can show them how the box works. If the conversation is still going on by then (it usually isn't) I offer to let them open the film boxes using my Harrison film changing bag. I've never had them take me up on that offer, but they usually can see that I'm serious about light damage at that point.

Also, have rubber bands around the boxes in both directions so they won't open accidentally or when dropped. Finally, plaster the boxes with labels that say "DO NOT OPEN" and "DO NOT XRAY" on them. This actually helps - it shows that you aren't being a pain-in-the-ass on the spur-of-the-moment.

The easy way (if there is any easy way to deal with travel anymore) is to ship the film ahead to your first destination. Ship it home when you are done. Or buy film on location and process it on location. Either way, you don't have to deal with this crap.

Really, these days I avoid the airlines unless I'm going farther than two day's drive. Airlines are more hassle than they are worth, even if you aren't carrying a camera.

[Michael S. Briggs]

I second Eric's advice.





If there are any questions, carrying a printout of the TSA's advice for film might help: http://www.tsa.gov/public/interapp/editorial/editorial_1035.xml.
The advice states that sheet film and large format film should be hand-inspected instead of x-rayed.

[tim o'brien]

I don't fly with opened boxes of LF film. Either I have it shipped to where I am going to be, or the boxes are sealed. Come to think of it, I don't want any of these inspectors to take anybody's word as to what is in the box if it's already been opened. Imagine... no you can't look in the box, no you can't xray it for weapons, then no you can't take it on the plane. I also bring a lead wrapped package to ship this stuff home with after it's been exposed. I won't carry the exposed film on the plane either.

Remember, a box of film is just a box, maybe with film in it.

And the 'goons' are the only thing between you and some idiots taking over your airplane, no matter how well or how bad they do their job. How about a little respect for people doing one nasty job with a bunch of generally OK customers with a smattering of real royal a-holes thrown in.

tim in san jose

[Michael S. Briggs]

The inspectors don't have to take anyone's word for what's in a box said to contain film -- the TSA has inspection techniques other than x-raying, such as the magnetometer wand for sensing metal and a gas chromatograph for detecting explosives. The magnetometer inspection is why it is best not to use the metal foil envelopes inside film boxes. The TSA says that you should ask for hand inspection for large format film instead of x-raying, so ask and they will use their alternative techniques.

[Dennis Mairet]

Fuji quickloads solve the inspection problem pretty well. You can take them out of the box without light damage. By the way, I have put 100 ASA film through the xray machine without noticable damage.

[mark blackman]

TSA advice is only relevant within the USA; hence it is irrelevant for the majority. You should not have any problems putting film through the hand baggage x-ray. But don’t include any metallic containers in the same bag as the system will automatically increase the power to 'see' through them.

[Robert Eaves]

I have found that traveling with Kodak Readyloads or Fugi Quickloads is the way to go. If they need to open the box of film to inspect, it won't be ruined.

[Richard Fenner]

As some have indicated above, remember that Europe isn't the US, and definitely don't suggest 'but in the US they HAVE to give you a hand search'. Also, do something few people seem to bother with - expose a couple of extra sheets of each emulsion you use, and keep them in your hand luggage but separate from the rest of your film, and don't try to get special treatment for them. Process with the rest when you return and see if it made a difference. It would help if you took the film to someone else to check as well - it's amazing how easily you can find a 'difference' when you're hoping/expecting to find one!

[Lars Åke Vinberg]

I have flown with 8x10, 4x5, and rollfilm internationally over the last year. In most coutries it is actually not a problem to ask for hand inspection, except in Europa and in the U.S.

At my last departure from LAX, I asked for hand inspection of my rollfilm and 8x10 sheetfilm. There was a TSA office on duty that was a bit overly cautious - he insisted on opening every single sealed rollfilm to check for chemical explosive traces inside the sealed wrapping. Then he wanted to open my unsealed (but taped) 8x10 sheetfilm boxes in daylight, even though I explained that that would ruin film for thousands of dollars. Then he wanted to break the seal on the sealed boxes of 8x10 Velvia and VS to look inside those boxes. At that point, after one hour and fifteen minutes, I said Fine, I give up, Xray it all. But he would not accept that, insisted that the boxes might still contain explosives and that he had to actually look inside the boxes anyway. At that point I finally asked to see his manager. I finally got through the inspection without any Xrayed film, but it took over two hours.

In Chile, Argentina, Brazil, no problem. In New Zealand, Australia, no problem.

Coming back from Chile via Brazil into Miami, I had to Xray all my luggage at Customs. When I say the gigantic Xray machine thay had I refused to put my film through it without documentation that it was safe for film. I was immediately approached by two guards with hands on their guns, and taken away to a room where I was strip-searched, and all my baggage Xrayed and searched.

I think that what annoys me most about this is that the U.S. security officers, unlike in all other coutries, do not even make an effort to be polite about it. I will stop right here as this is not a political forum.

My recommendation if you have to travel with film is to get slow film, and to trust the carry-on xray scanners for at least a few scans. Or ship film to your destination - if you travel from the U.S. to another country then film is most likely much more expensive at your destination, if at all available. I saved about US$3000 by shipping a package with my 8x10 film to Australia - film price for sheet film is more than twice that of in the U.S.