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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?
Kodak claims that the x-ray scanners for carry-on baggage (as opposed to bags that are checked) shouldn't damage your film. So if you take all your film in your carry-on, you should be all right.
If you really don't want it scanned with the x-ray machines at all, you can request a hand inspection.
Bring your film in your carry-on bag and ask to have it hand inspected instead of put through the X-ray machines. It's a common practice and you shouldn't encounter any objections.
This question, and most answers, are more than 10 years old now, and the situation has changed in the meantime.
Firstly, as has been said, don't put film in checked luggage. The scanners used for checked luggage are strong enough to damage film after one pass.
Putting film in your hand luggage used to be relatively safe. The effect is cumulative, and it used to be the case that film needed many passes through the scanner before there was any noticeable effect. The French civil aviation authority did some tests and found, for example, that ISO 400 negative film could withstand up to and beyond 24 passes through a hand luggage X-ray scanner (ref). However, airports are currently in the process of replacing old X-ray scanners with newer CT scanners. I know that all UK airports for example are supposed to have CT scanners fully rolled out by 2024. These newer scanners will harm film even at one pass. To be honest, it's not easy being a film photographer air passenger anymore. I would advise arriving at the airport with plenty of time to spare and requesting a hand inspection of your film, rather than allowing it through the scanner. Sometimes, it's necessary to be a little insistent, or to ask to see a supervisor. I was made to wait recently in Hamburg airport until a police officer was available to look at my camera, and he insisted that I open the camera, so of course I had to rewind mid-roll first. Most staff have no idea that these CT scanners can damage film, and some I think don't even know what film is! Kodak Alaris has made available some sticker templates that you can have printed to put on your film pouch, which may help to convince airport staff not to put your film through the scanner. Fujifilm too issued a short press release warning against these new scanners. I'm kind of hoping that there will be enough film photographers going through airports that the granting of hand inspection of film will become widely routine.
One other thing I do is always include a sacrificial roll of Ilford Delta 3200 with my film. I don't know how many times this roll has been through airport screening, and I never intend on actually shooting the roll! But sometimes airport staff have been told that film up to ISO 800 is fine to go through the scanner, and by having this one roll of 3200 with me, it sometimes gets me a little more sympathy.
The alternative to all of this is to buy film at your destination and have it developed before you return. I did that in Paris this year - but it's not so easy/cheap to do for many destinations. X-ray / CT scanners do no harm at all to film that has already been developed and fixed.
I haven't shot film for a long time, but when I did, the way I countered the objections (some smart*$$ always seems to know better) is to have one roll of ISO 1600 film at the top of the bag. Then they have to hand inspect. Cheesy trick, but it always worked for me.
Ideally, the answer is have the film get hand inspected each time. Always.
X-rays are just like any other type of light for film - it exposes the film (and it gets through the film canister). You will occasionally see statements like "security check point that said film under ISO 800 would be unharmed going through the checked luggage x-ray machine" which is not completely correct. A better phrasing of this statement would be "film at ISO 800 speed going through this X-ray scanner once will not show noticeable effects in normal situations"
Key points there:
From the TSA web page: How to Get Through the Line Faster
Film. Pack undeveloped film in your carry-on bag. If you have film that is faster than 800-speed, tell a TSA officer who will manually inspect the film instead of placing it through the X-ray.
Note the carry on bag bit there. Higher power X-rays are used for checked luggage. If you believe you may have trouble, get a printout of that page. Also for travelers within the United States if you are really having trouble you may quote FAA regulation 108.17 (government printing office - pdf (page 335, second column, section e)):
If requested by passengers, their photographic equipment and film packages shall be inspected without exposure to an X-ray system.
All that said...
Consider getting a leaded bag. Note that the TSA does not advice this for US domestic flights (hand inspection is always an option so this causes more difficulties in these cases).
The TSA will (should) always allow for hand inspection of the film. Other countries may not and require the film to go through the scanner. A leaded bag (amazon) can help reduce the amount of exposure the film gets.
Having a leaded bag for your film (take it out before going through the scanner and inform the agent that this is a leaded bag with film in it) will have many TSA agents realize that its pointless to put this through the scanner and the hand inspection is the only option. This will not necessarily make them happier and may slow down the entire process (the bag will need to be inspected too).
Consider getting some high speed film (that you aren't likely to shoot) and carry it with you.
Avoid having film in canisters
While this can reduce the amount of fogging due to X-rays if they do go through the machine, when hand inspecting it is a pain to take each roll out of the canister and swab it. You don't want to get the TSA agent any more annoyed than they already are. You both want to have you go through the security process promptly and efficiently.
If you must have canisters, avoid the dark plastic ones. In the event that you have a more easy going TSA agent, they may just look at the canisters to see that they are film. Opaque canisters would then need to be opened to see that there is film in there.
For international flights the advice from the TSA is (from Transporting Film (linked below)):
If you are going to be traveling through multiple X-ray examinations with the same rolls of undeveloped film, you may want to request a hand-inspection of your film. However, non-U.S. airports may not honor this request.
If you plan to hand-carry undeveloped film on an airplane at an international airport, contact the airport security office at that airport to request a manual inspection.
You may still consider bringing a lead-lined bag if you are traveling through airports in other countries as their policies may vary. Check with your airline or travel agent for more information on foreign airports.
See also:
Modern scanners used for hand baggage these days don't tend to cause problems for film. Back in the day it was a problem but the old scanners used then used much higher energy levels and produced a lot more radiation. By comparison today's scanners are very safe for film but if you still don't want your films scanned make sure you put them all together in a transparent bag so they can easily be visually inspected, airport security staff are well used to this and it won't be a problem.
I recall that the x-ray machines for carry-ons were marked "Film Safe". This page seems to confirm that, though the person still recommends hand checking.
Unfortunately, there is a good chance that the film in your disposable camera was damaged by the X-rays used to scan your checked luggage. The scanners used for checked baggage are more powerful than those used for carry-on luggage, and they can cause a film to become fogged and overexposed.
If you've already taken some photos with the camera, you can try developing them and see if they were damaged. However, the photos will likely be blurry or have other problems.
There is no way to fix the film that X-rays have damaged. However, you can prevent this from happening in the future by always carrying the film in your carry-on luggage and requesting a hand inspection by security.
Here are some tips for flying with film:
