Comments on: Packing heat with your light

By: Andy Gibb

Andy Gibb — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:53:59 +0000

Love it.

Reminds me of old advice when bombs were such a big threat. Carry your own bomb on board: the odds of their being two bombs on one plane are infinitesimal.

By: Felicia

Felicia — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:09:33 +0000

My husband regularly travels with his camera and 500 mm lens as carry-ons, and hasn’t encountered any hassles from TSA (yet!). I suppose it depends on the mood of the agents on duty when you go through.

Very strange stuff with those “weapons” rules, though!

By: Nate

Nate — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:52:17 +0000

@Grant- When I traveled to the SuperBowl of Birding last year, I carried my tripod in my backpack because my bag was too small for it to fit. It stuck out the top and was very obvious what it was. I didn’t have any trouble getting it through security and even had a TSA agent talk to me about photography and show me pictures on his iPhone. I think the key is to be very up front and friendly about what you’re doing and what you’re carrying. I don’t know whether things have changed, but I assume that for the most part I’ll have the same experience in the future. I’ll find out next week.

@jason- It’s a strange loophole, and I’d have no problem taking advantage of it if I had too. I’m not a gun person, but a starter pistol seems fairly innocuous to me.

By: jason

jason — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:33:48 +0000

That’s fascinating. I had no idea weapons got such special care. What a clever way to keep your other goodies protected. I don’t fly much now, but when I did I tended to keep all my camera gear in a carry-on bag, but it still got manhandled and tested and all that jazz. This seems much smarter.

By: Grant McCreary

Grant McCreary — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 04:59:29 +0000

To those who fly with scopes, how can you carry on a tripod? I’ve always had to check mine, mostly due to lack of space in my carry on luggage. But I always figured they’d give a hard time about it.

By: Nate

Nate — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:32:50 +0000

@John- I’m carrying on my scope when I fly to Massachusetts next week. Last year I didn’t have any problems. I’ll let you know how it goes this time…

By: John

John — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:29:06 +0000

It’s the TSA, so rules don’t have to make any sense.

The last time I flew, I carried my binoculars and camera in my carry-on luggage. (In fact, I’ve never checked luggage on a flight.) I’m hoping that airline security will be more sane by the time I fly again.

By: Nate

Nate — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:09:46 +0000

@Seabrooke – Yeah, nothing like a mixture of airline security and firearms to get people’s dander up…

By: Seabrooke

Seabrooke — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:55:58 +0000

How wild is that. Fortunately, I don’t have that much and it can all be fit into a carry-on, but something to keep in mind perhaps for if I start collecting more. It was interesting reading some of the comments at the original site you linked to – got quite a reaction from some people!