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Airport Advice Anyone?

So, I’m heading off to Las Vegas on Monday for the anti-workshop and the WPPI convention. I’m running around like the proverbial chicken trying to get myself organised (of course, it always comes down to the last minute!). I’ve not flown to the States in over ten years and I know a lot has changed since then, plus I have only a small layover in Atlanta before my connection flight to Las Vegas so time is going to be tight. So…can anyone give me some advice. If you’ve flown recently can you give me any tips to help everything run smoothly for me through the security checks in particular? I’m going to have a laptop and camera equipment to get through so I’m particularly nervous about that. One thing I did discover through a bit of internet searching is that my camera batteries (being lithium batteries) CAN’T go in my suitcase, they have to be in carry on. Is there anything else I should know?

24 replies on “Airport Advice Anyone?”

Last Summer Heathrow were very strict about only bringing one bag through security, but last January I saw someone with two bags who must have passed a couple of security personnel.

I’d say bring all your electronic stuff with you into the cabin, just in case your checked in luggage gets lost. At least you’ll be able to work, and hopefully the airline will give you an allowance. (You’re not flying BA are you?)

Just keep your passport and tickets handy, have a pen with you to fill out the forms on the plane, and remember to keep the address of your hotel(or wherever you’re spending your first night) in your pocket as you’ll need it before hitting immigration services.

Walk, walk, walk, and if you have a window seat take your camera out 🙂

1. As you’ve mentioned, do you have any spare li-ion batteries for your gear? Make sure they’re in your hand luggage, and in a resealable plastic bag. One battery per bag.

2. Carry-on liquids have to be in 100ml bottles or smaller, and must all fit into a 1L resealable (zip loc) bag. If it’s not 1L, or it’s not zip loc, they won’t allow it on. I tried a 750ml Tesco freezer bag with a plastic clip, and it wasn’t allowed.

3. There are some weird rules around lighters and matches, but being a total anti-smoker, I let others worry about these problems.

4. Best to travel with ‘flat’ shoes and no belt – saves you having to remove either, leading to an embarassing incident such as when my kecks fell to my ankles in Belfast Int last month. It wasn’t an attractive sight.

5. Remember, that once through security, you can buy whatever liquids you like in the shops. This isn’t a ploy to increase profits at airports, no way José!

6. This is like rule 5 for Lightroom: don’t worry about it. Be prepared, but don’t worry. Enjoy your trip.

Tips for travelling through the States:

Don’t have a beard or look “a little bit foreign”.

Have a good time! And learn lots. 🙂

Been a lurker on your blog for a while. Great photos.

Stephen above is bang on, but there is one other thing that will make it a lot easier: I live in the US and travel a bit, both internal and international. My advice is if at all possible do not check in luggage. Get a good small roller / carry on, you really never need as much stuff as you think. If you can get away with one pair of extra shoes you should be fine. It’s not like Heathrow where they are ridiculously strict about one bag. You will get away with a smallish roller carry on and a shoulder bag / back pack. I have a Quantaray Pro back pack for my camera gear, it also holds my lap top, travel docs, book, ipod etc.

Bring as few toiletries as possible, your hotel will have most of them anyway. If you do bring stuff, follow Stephens advice above and keep the zip lock bag handy, it has to go through the X-Ray on its own.

Also check in online if possible, if not use the automated system or curb check in, (its worth the $15). If you check in at home, and you have no luggage to check in, you can knock about an hour of off your airport time before you leave, and another hour when you arrive. You also avoid lost luggage, (of the last 6 times I have had to check luggage it has gone missing 3 times).

i travel through belfast a lot (and security to and from this airport is still, IMHO, the tightest in Europe or US) and the swabs on my camera bag have always had me taken to one side- last time the security guy at last explained to me that it happens to a lot of photogs and that the reason is the cleaning fluid – so not even 100ml – i would put any cleaning liquids in the hold if poss. That said, this is not a problem i have encountered at any other airport but i generally keep it in the hold anyway

i am really trying to find a pdf i had from a photographer that gave really good tips on airport security but damned if i can find it.

Give us plenty of tips from the expo – doing my first wedding this year and need all the help i can get

t.

hi there, I’m visiting Ireland in April so I was searching for Irish blogs to read. I found your blog and have been back to visit. I love your photos!
As far as travel in the U.S. goes – do you have to go through immigration in Atlanta and then switch terminals to get to your new flight? Or is the flight connecting? I don’t think you’ll have to go through security again but you might, so make it easy on yourself. Your laptop has to come out of the bag and go in a plastic security bin separately, plus you’ve got to take off shoes, coat, etc. so make sure to wear shoes easy to come on and off, and carry the laptop in a bag that you can get it out of easily. Any liquids need to be in a quart-size ziploc bag in small containers if you don’t check them with your luggage. Don’t worry – it’ll be fine! I travel all the time in the U.S. (I live in New York) and I’ve had no problems. Oh, and I disagree about doing curbside check-in. That’s a rip-off. You can check in online before you leave Vegas and when you get to the airport you just check your bag at the counter. It’s very easy.
Good luck! Hope you have a great trip.

You guys are the best! Seriously good advice everyone and lot of stuff I didn’t know and never would have thought of (Stephen I knew about the batteries but didn’t know they had to be in their own plastic bag!). John Mc…I don’t know if I can condense it all into one small roll-on. It’s really good advice though so maybe I need to rethink just how much I really need to bring. I’m going to print everything out and go through it all, even if I don’t need everything, at least I will feel prepared and that will help put my mind at ease.

Emily, I don’t know how the connection in Atlanta is going to happen. I’m presuming since it’s my first entry point into the States that I will have to go through security there.

Toast, I plan to blog while I’m there (if time permits!) and will be taking lots of notes. Congratulations on your first wedding shoot! Thanks for the info on the cleaning fluid…another tidbit I hadn’t thought of.

Thanks everyone! I knew bloggers would come to my rescue 😀

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Give yourself tons of time for check in – flew to NY from Shannon a month ago and the pre-immigration checks took hours. Not sure if it is the same for Dublin.

And have a great time.

I plan to be at Dublin Airport about 2 and a half hours before take off so I’m hoping that will give me enough time to get checked in. My main worry is the lay over time at Atlanta. When I was booking the flight, it was a choice between a short amount of time (an hour and a half) or 24 hours!

Hi Claire. It all sounds like fun!

If you have at least 5 hour stopover in Atlanta then you could take the DART(!) (they call it MARTA – Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) into the city. I went to see a tour of the CNN studios some years ago while there on a similar stopover to Las Vegas. But on second thoughts if you are on your own…maybe be careful…single white female etc.

I am very very jealous.
I was in the states in august and didn’t have any major problems with one backpack as hand luggage with my camera and docs etc. Thankfully this time I didnt get the full search as I got through to passport control like 3 summers ago.

Have a great time!

Vegas, Baby! Expect immigration to suck. It’s long and hot – I think they do it so anyone planning a terrorist act will be so strung out they’ll crack by the time they get to the desk. Take arnica for jet lag, before and after – but you have to carry it with you and explain that it can’t be x-rayed or it’s antidoted, so maybe just take it before and buy more there 🙂 I’m always handing over my little bag of pills and it’s not a problem, but it makes me tense anyway!

Have a good one!

“Getting there” is not part of the pleasant travel experience, in my opinion. Experienced traveler Stephanie Booth vents her frustration on her Ireland-USA connection last week throughout her twitterstream visible at http://www.twitter.com/stephtara and she often uses the #travel tag to highlight the most interesting perturbations.

Claire,
I don’t have much advice for your travelling plans – other than to wish you good luck and enjoy the trip.
I do agree with some of the posts here about Belfast airport, very strict – basically I always plan for absolutely NO liquids in my hand luggage. I expect US airports to be at least as cautious.
My bag always gets ‘special’ treatment at security due to the huge amount of gadgets typically living on my briefcase, never mind the photo-bag.

Would it help any if you wore your ‘Fluffy’ badge and maybe carry the blog Award? 😉

Learn lots and enjoy, looking forward to seeing any photos from your trip (got plenty mem cards with you?).

All the excitement in just two words… VEGAS BABY!

Thanks again everyone. My bags are packed, ready for tomorrow morning, and I’ve taken on everyone’s advice and so hopefully I’m a lot more prepared and have a fighting chance of it being relatively pain-free. If it doesn’t work maybe I’ll be taking the MARTA after all John! Thanks again for all the links and advice. Davy, my Fluffy badge will be taking pride of place on my camera strap so maybe it’ll be like those religious medals…St. Damien, patron saint of travelling bloggers!

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Really!? Good tip Aisling, thanks! I’ll have to tag on with groups and pretend to be with them 😀

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