photo credit: Tanozzo

This is the surprising advice given by Bruce Schneier about how you could protect your photo luggage when traveling: Pack a starter gun in your luggage. This is definitely considered as a weapon by the TSA and other flight authorities (but it is not dangerous and you don’t need a license to have this “toy gun” normally used to start an athletic race), it has to be formally declared and then it receives extra care from the airline and the law enforcement authorities.

However simple and clean, I never tried such an approach to be sure that photo bags (sturdy ones for sure) can travel correctly by plane.

Last minute thought: Of course, this is to protect checked-in luggage. No airline will ever accept a weapon in the cabin…

photo credit: garryknight

It seems that I was not the only one to be worried about traveling as a photographer. I found this interesting article from Photofocus (Traveling? Better Get a UPS Account).

Things keep changing but I noticed three interesting advices or comments:

1. If you are flying from outside the USA to the US, don’t count on getting any carry-ons onto the plane. I was insisting on limiting the weight of your cabin luggage, but Scott goes further…
2. Flying domestically in the USA is no guarantee that your carry on will be allowed.
3. Get a UPS Account. It’s frightening, but it may become the only way to transport photo gear (checked luggage is too easily/often stolen and too harshly handled -even compared to UPS, DHL, Fedex, etc.) and having an account is great for getting better service. And they don’t even charge you for opening an account.

It seems that being a photographer was a pain in the neck in some cities where you were considered as a potential terrorist just for shooting pictures.

Now, the problem will disappear if traveling with your camera gear becomes near to impossible.

• More than ever, the use of an electronic device is prohibited during the take-off and landing phases of the flight. This implies clearly that photos are prohibited (the camera is an electronic device).
• Weight rules for cabin luggage are enforced with even more rigidity that before. Previous packing advice is still applicable, but flexibility nearly disappeared in most airlines. Make sure that you travel light or delay your flight to a later quieter date.
• During the last hour of flight, nothing is allowed on your knees, not even a blanket or a book. Don’t even think of spending the last part of the flight with a photo magazine of an Art Wolfe book.
• Many products and materials are still prohibited in planes. Be attentive and don’t bring air blowers and liquids (sensor cleaning solvents and similar are better in the checked-in luggage in small quantities).
• The flight crew is generally informed to disable the electronic and network equipments like telephones and WiFi (that we started to see appearing as an option of some international flights). So, do not hope to spend too much time transmitting pictures from the plane; It will be nearly impossible in less-than-90-min flights and somewhat inconvenient on many others. [1]
• On the contrary, identity checks should be re-inforced but with no significant impact on photo travels (if you have an acceptable legal status, of course).

Avoiding the countries considered as “potentially dangerous” is also a good idea since these trigger additional controls and checks that may be source of problems. Currently, the French Ministère des Affaires Étrangères lists Yemen, Syria, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Algéria and Mali (source: Le Monde). But the whole list of country passports considered worth additional cheks by the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) has been leaked and it includes: Cuba, Iran, North
Korea, Libya, Syria, Sudan, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Somalia, Iraq, Yemen and Algeria. You are advised to limit your trips there…

Those -like me- who were relying on the relative calm of the recent months to see the generalization of reasonable measures like those taken by Australia which seemed ready to somewhat relax the rules applicable to the presence of some potentially cutting objects in cabin luggage. But it seems that the opposite is taking place and that it will be more and more difficult to travel. When are we going to see Ryan Air 2006 advertisement prediction of traveling stark naked?