Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/05/21

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Peter goes abroad, returns to tell about it!
From: Ken Wilcox <klw.51@comcast.net>
Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 08:50:10 -0400
References: <5.1.0.14.2.20020520210818.00a134e0@pop.2alpha.com>

Peter,

An interesting story. I, for one, do not feel any safer for the 
Draconian procedures and civil liberty violations being undertaken in 
the US and elsewhere.

As a photographer with serious health problems I would not even try 
to fly anymore. Medications all must be in original packaging. (I buy 
large quantities that would be onerous to carry along.)  I am 
diabetic and must bring testing equipment and syringes along. I also 
must take along a large electronic piece of equipment, a dialysis 
machine and supplies of liquid dialyte. Any special food that I need 
to bring I MUST PROVE are actually foods.

All the foolish and useless restrictions simply make air travel for 
me, and those like me, impossibly difficult.

Ken Wilcox

At 9:52 PM -0700 5/20/02, Peter Klein wrote:
>I'm back, having unsubscribed for a couple of weeks while traveling 
>in Switzerland and Provence. Film is at the processor, should be 
>back in a couple of days, so I may scan a pic or two this week, 
>obligations permitting.
>
>First off, I would like to thank Nathan Wajsman for meeting Katya 
>and me and taking us on a delightful walking tour of Zurich.  It's 
>always great to meet other LUGgers, and Nathan was a delightful 
>guide and conversationalist.
>
>Second, let me add a couple of data points to the airport X-ray 
>arena.  As I've always done in recent years, I took all my film out 
>of the plastic canisters and put it in zip-lock plastic bags.
>
>* Seattle-Tacoma International:  My request for a hand inspection of 
>my film was politely honored after I noted that X-ray exposure is 
>cumulative, and I would be going through several airports.  They not 
>only looked at my film, but swabbed the outside of one or two 
>canisters with a chemical test.  My film was checked both departing 
>Seattle, and after clearing Customs on my return.  Yes, they X-ray 
>the hand baggage when you leave the International arrival area. 
>International arrivals are already within the secure area of the 
>airport (and some go on to connections).  Plus, they want to look 
>for the dreaded fresh fruit they wish to keep out of the U.S.
>
>* Geneva:  I asked for a hand scan, it was curtly refused.  When I 
>gave my "cumulative" speil, the woman asked her supervisor, who said 
>(without even looking at me) it would be fine and I had to let her 
>scan it.  So I did.  The fact that I asked in French did me no good.
>
>* Amsterdam:  Again I asked for a hand scan, again it was refused. 
>This time the woman at the scanner was very polite and apologetic, 
>and said that she was sorry, but it was policy.  When I arrived 
>there from Seattle, there was no X-ray to transfer to my Geneva 
>flight.  Arriving from Geneva to go to Seattle, there was a fairly 
>heavy-duty security check, including interviews, hand luggage X-ray 
>and the occasional pat-down and "remove-yer-shoes please."
>
>There seems to be a case of "ISO inflation" going around airports. 
>Last February, the Sea-Tac people said that ISO 1000 film would be 
>fine, but all it took was one roll of 800 film among my mostly 400 
>rolls to get a hand inspection at both Sea-Tac and Los Angeles 
>(LAX).  This time, I was told that up to 1600 film would be 
>perfectly safe.  I'm not sure if someone has done some testing or 
>that they've simply upped the numbers to cut down the number of hand 
>inspection requests.
>
>I'm not upset about this.  My goal was simply to minimize the X-ray 
>exposure, just in case.  If I didn't have a good lab here in 
>Seattle, I might have taken my chances with on-site film purchase 
>and processing. But for the moment, I followed Ted Grant's rules: 
>Ask politely for a hand inspection, and if they say no, let 'em 
>X-ray and don't worry.
>
>More to come...
>--Peter
>
>--
>To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html


- -- 
_____________________
Ken Wilcox
klw.51 at comcast.net
- --
To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html

Replies: Reply from "B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net> (Re: [Leica] Re: Peter goes abroad, returns to tell about it!)
In reply to: Message from Peter Klein <pklein@2alpha.com> ([Leica] Peter goes abroad, returns to tell about it!)