How to carry film through airports?

Question

I had a business trip with some free time in the evening, so I took my photo gear with me, but on the last moment, decided to leave my film camera at home because I did not want to ruin the film with X-ray scans in airports. I wasn't going to stay long enough to buy, shoot and develop a film during my stay, which seems to be the best way of avoiding X-ray scans.

I want to be better prepared next time, so what would the best practice to travel with undeveloped film?

Answer

• The scanners for checked baggage are a lot more powerful, so take it through in your carry-on.
• If you've only got slower films (ISO 100 or so), there's not really a concern.
• If you have faster films, ask to have them hand-inspected. With anything ISO 400 and below you should be fine but you can have issues if they go through the scanner too many times or decide to blast your bag with more juice because all your big metal cameras look suspicious.
• If you're going to have them hand-inspected, put all your film in a zip-loc bag, and put that on an outside pocket or something so you can yank it out easily (i.e., like your 3oz bottles of liquid).
• Keep your camera(s) un-loaded in case the agent wants to open them. I've never had that happen, but you never know these days...

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