safety of film through airline checkpoints
 

I can't seem to get a definitive answer on this..will we be all right with 200 or 400 speed film through several checkpoints? Our tour company says that airlines refuse to do hand checking. We will be leaving from Orlando, to Dulles, then to Frankfurt, then to Bologna...same route back. Will our film be ok? Thanks for your help. This is our first trip to Europe. Lynne

I have never had any problem with film going thru my carry-on luggage. I now take all the film out of the box and place it in a plastic bag so anyone can see what it is. I've never had any film spoiled, used or not.

This topic was covered quite a bit several months ago.<BR><BR>While 400 ASA film is most likely ok, I bought a small film-safe(lead lined) bag and kept it in my carry-on.<BR><BR>My biggest concern was that I was never asked to open the carry-on for a visual check. The bag should have caused a hole in the x-ray.<BR>

This Summer, I went through 8 security checks with 400 speed film in my carry on bag. They would not hand inspect it. Good news - the pictures were perfect. My friend put film in a lead bag & handed the security team the lead bag. They looked inside & put it through the machine. That worked perfectly because the film was safe plus the security team did not get concerned over the lead bag when it when through screening.

One more vote for using a lead-lined bag. You can get one at any camera supply store for around $20. I've used one successfully for several years. This summer, the security person did open my bag after it went thru the x-ray conveyor, saw it was a film bag and handed my carryon over to me. Used to do the see-thru baggie thing, but nobody wants to handle anything manually anymore, and I don't want to slow things down worse than they already are. Overseas, have had even less cooperation with hand-checking, even before 9/11. So - lead bag it is.