The ban on carrying laptops and cameras on board aircraft is currently restricted to two administrations, the US and UK, and applies only to flights from certain other countries. It is also said to be temporary, but over the past twenty years we’ve heard all that before. Not only will it cause us to examine our travel packing list, it could focus attention on alternative means of travel.
How soon will it be before there is a general cabin ban on electronic equipment larger than an iPhone? One UK Minister has already refused to rule out a world-wide ban. It’s a dismal thought because most of us now travel with a laptop or tablet; and most of the time we also carry some pretty expensive camera gear. We could most of us manage without using such items during a flight, but how would we react to having to place our expensive and fragile electronic gear in the hold?
Already some airlines are responding to the question by offering separate secure storage for equipment. They are allowing passengers to take their stuff through checkin; the equipment is then placed in secure boxes at the point of boarding and the airlines are guaranteeing safe passage.
Universal
Without doubt, though, we would have to revise our plans if such bans became universal. Would I still carry expensive Leica gear? No. Would I still take a laptop? Only if necessary and I would make sure it was a cheapish version.
Recently I had been considering my computing needs and wondering whether a high-end laptop could serve as a desktop computer and as a travel companion. No longer. Even the whiff of a ban means I will keep my two-year-old MacBook as a travel computer. I probably won’t upgrade it and will regard it as expendable, something that I wouldn’t mind consigning to hold luggage. This provides one example of the way in which any new restrictions could cause people to change their buying decisions.
My iPhone 7 Plus, which is not suspect under the new regulations (yet) is enough computing power to do most of my work when travelling. It is certainly good enough for writing blog posts, although page layouts with pictures are beyond its capabilities. But it is better than nothing. Wherever possible, then, I would travel without iPad or MacBook if such a ban were to come into play.
Film cameras?
Cameras are another consideration. Since talk is currently of “electronic equipment” we might presume that film cameras will be exempt from control. I wouldn’t like to bet on it, though. How will the average security person know for sure what is a film camera? About the only way for the layman to make sure would be to open the back….. So what’s the alternative if we can take only cameras that we are happy to consign to the hold?
Expensive, multi-lens systems will probably be out of the question, except for professional photographers who have no choice in the matter. This alone, if the ban is extended, will inevitably harm the sales of more expensive cameras. Photographers will wonder why bother to own expensive equipment if they are unhappy travelling with it.
I would certainly be inclined to travel with an inexpensive, compact camera with fixed lens instead of with an expensive outfit. The Ricoh GR, the Fuji X100F, the Sony RX100 or the Panasonic LX100 (aka Leica D-Lux) would become more attractive as travel companions. I could envisage packing one or other of these small cameras in my suitcase; but not an M10 with couple of lenses.
Alternatives to air
Another side-effect of further airline packing restrictions will be a move to alternative forms of transport. Within Europe, for instance, trains offer a more comfortable means of long-distance travel, if not quite so rapid as flying. If time isn’t of the essence, taking the train from London to Berlin is more congenial than flying. Unfortunately it isn’t always cheaper, but that could change if there is more demand.
Last September I travelled to Photkina in Cologne by train and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. When you take into account the time you spend travelling to and from airports and the need to check in earlier, the difference in time is not dramatic. For shorter journeys from London, such as to Paris on Brussels, the train is by far the sensible choice even on time. Car travel, too, is likely to become more attractive.
Air travel is already a pain and these restrictions, if extended, will do nothing to enhance the experience. Unfortunately, for longer journeys there is no alternative, so we will still be left with decisions on what to pack and what to leave at home.
Wait and see
For the moment we will have to wait and see. It is very early days. These restrictions could be temporary and, I hope, will prove unnecessary. The ban is predicated on the supposed need for laptop bombs to be manually activated. But this seems to be stretching things. Anything that can be manually activated can presumably be remotely activated by modern electronics. So the idea of a hold full of laptops and cameras inspires no more confidence than a cabin full of the same equipment.
It seems to me, also, that the whole issue could be solved by more effective screening. In this respect, a laptop or camera packed in a large suitcase is less likely to be screened effectively than if it is taken individually through the equipment at security. If screening is not going to be completely effective, there is a real possibility of a total ban on larger electronic devices. We come back to iPhones and Ricoh GRs, assuming they can be excluded on size alone.
I am not optimistic. No one could object to inconvenience if it were proved to be absolutely necessary. But past experience shows that these bans are often arbitrary and over-zealous, not to mention ultimately ineffective.
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Imagine this ban to be in effect. As a photographer spending all that money for a e.g. 2 week trip to a destination like Antarctica, Yosemite, San Francisco, Nepal, Venice, you fill in other top photogenic destinations, with a point and shoot camera? Just because some airline security officials got silly ideas? Leaving my beloved Leica equipment at home, when travelling to Bhutan or India and instead packing my iPhone to make photos? To me this idea is absolutely insane. I’ll stop airline travel altogether.
Checking in laptops, tablets and photo equipment is pretty much like putting it into a shredder, I mean a very high risk to get it damaged, destroyed, or stolen. If airlines will actually do this, a lot of people will think twice about spending their holidays or annual photo trips at a distant destination, spending their hard earned money for airline tickets, hotels, rental cars, restaurants, etc there. Photographers alone form a billion $$$ industry.
With this ban a big slice of the cake will be cut off. Speaking for myself–I’ll stay in my home country (Germany) and will travel by car or train to photograph at home and surrounding countries. During the last 20+ years I did trips to Canada and the US every year. That was a lot of money from a single person.
I think that it is a silly concept to force people to do things they don’t want and expect money from them at the same time. Let us wait and see what will actually happen. I don’t think that checking in electronic and camera equipment is a solution to the problem of keeping terrorists from blowing up airplanes. These guys are pretty creative about finding new ways to hide explosives, so we will never have 100% security. But even if the ban will be in effect, then where will it end up? Checking in everything including our clothing and underwear, having a final cavity check before boarding the plan stark naked? An interesting perspective… 😉 🙂
Am I missing something? Isn’t this travel ban for electronics only from certain Muslim countries?
No, you are not missing anything. You are correct. My point is that these restrictions, once they have been implemented for one reason or another, have a tendency to escalate in scope. For years, for instance, we have had paranoia over the use of electronic devices during take off and landing. It has taken all of 16 years for the authorities to decide that this wasn’t really necessary after all. On the basis of better-to-be-safe-than-sorry, it is easy to justify additional restrictions.
Of course, no sane person would object to a restriction that has genuine grounds for implementation. But it seems to me that there has to be an adequate means of screening electronic gear and, if this is done properly, it doesn’t really matter where in the plane that object is stored. It has been suggested that the reason for this recent reaction has been the existence of a "fake" iPad filled with explosives. Surely, one way to check for this is to ask for all devices to be switched on at the security check.
We shall have to see how all this pans out. But I am not optimistic.
What if the battery is run down in your iPad? I could go on, but there is no point. As for banning things coming in carry-on luggage from so called ‘Muslim countries’, many of the atrocities that have happened in Western Europe have not been caused by people who have travelled from such countries, so this ban is not going to prevent further occurrences. What are needed are some co-ordinated and consistent standards involving IATA and the security authorities in all countries governing what can and cannot be carried on board an aircraft. Air travel is intrinsically an international activity and, therefore, it requires international standards rather than the unilateral measures such as we have seen in the last week. I doubt if chaps carrying Leicas would be high up on the agenda for such discussions but at least there would be a chance of something logical and consistent emerging.
William
Definitely a case for dropping cameras altogether and just using phones like 99% of travellers nowadays.
William
How about hiring gear at a distant destination? Given sufficient demand, enterprising dealers could set up a loan scheme for those who fear the alternative is a smart phone. Disembark, hire a car and hire a camera for local needs.
Probably only good in theory and would depend on quality control to avoid big disappointments.
Or extend our global fellowship to help each other out, on a reciprocal basis, Like holiday apartment swapping.
Digressing, Mike, what was that chap drinking to lay him low on such a shallow sip of his tipple? (Drinking shot above)
I like that idea —AirCam&Lens — or even the rental idea. Don’t worry about Samon and the beer. It wasn’t the first one….
To StephenJ: You may like to know that the Danish word for "freight" on lorries, etc. is precisely "godstransport" !!
We’re dooomed, dooooomed I tell you! …………(Copyright D Croft and J Perry).
And they don’t like it…… ’em
Never mind about the question of travelling with expensive gear that has to be left to the gods of freight management….
What I want to know Mike, is… What goes on in that pub at the end of the street in your last photograph?
As far as airports are concerned, I am already close to removing them from my life and another defeatist move like this would be the cherry on the cake…. Train, or more likely car + ferry, will be my future transport.
I say defeatist because the terrorists have won if the whole world is dancing to their tune. Not only do we do this little dance when they are ‘at it’, we sometimes even sanctify them afterwards… Has the world gawn mad?
Ah yes, the pub at the bottom of the lane…. Much porter and stout drinking, I should imagine. And nary a camera or laptop in sight. In case anyone is wondering, this was taken at the wonderful Black Country Museum near Wolverhampton. It’s a good example of a living museum and well worth a visit (and no need to fly there — they have a trolley bus to cart you around)