Just talking from the laptop access, safety and security perspective (i.e. having it available until the gate, less likelihood of pilfering, less likelihood of breakage than just 'taking it off at the gate and throwing it into the hold as is' etc.) and have just updated my post accordingly to avoid any confusion, rather than battery safety, which is a real can of worms in itself. IMO it is not a good idea to put lithium ion batteries in the hold at all but it conflicts with the 'gadget in carry-on' ban.

with the baggage issue in SSH after the metrojet incident, my company held these in a separate warehouse and sent them back via dedicated cargo flight

I volunteered the glasses because I had a tip they were doing full bag searches at the gate. And they we're. Every carry on was hand searched at he gate and all electronics were powered on and size checked (in the case of phones / tablets).

So where are we with non-computing & non cellualar carryon items ?

eg How will an SLR camera + zoom Lens be treated?

Afterall SLR will have Li-on battery, LCD screen 2" x 2.5" , and plenty of room to hold explosive putty stuff.

My CAI-LHR-MIA is next Wednesday!

Does anyone else get the feeling that in 10 years time, we'll be saying "Do you remember the days when we took electronics onto planes?".

A bit like "Do you remember when people used to smoke on planes?"

Regarding cameras it seemed a bit spotty. Check-in staff were checking SLRs. On the other hand, the guy in front of me for the final, manual security check at boarding had a very small point and shoot and they didn't send him back.

​​​As for the specs, mock all you want, but I can't hear you because I'm too busy concentrating on the fact that I'm wearing glasses with a camera.

We got two SLRs with many zoom lenses and one compact camera through Amman security on Monday morning with no issues. They inspected every one going through, and only asked us to turn them on.

The check-in staff had a large bin that they were throwing the battery packs into. Wonder if BA (and other airlines) will be doing a bumper resale business for them!

If that is literally throwing, then it's only going to take one cheap battery pack suffering damage for the whole bin to go up in self-oxidising flames. That will be amusing to watch... from a reasonable distance. Be sure to film it, on your phone.

So are you saying you lost the Li-on batteries from your SLRs at checkin

ie
checkin in staff remoed slr li-on batteries and threw batteries into that large bin ?? (my Nikon Li-on batteries are $60 each and I have two) :td:

You were very lucky compared to this person.

http://loyaltylobby.com/2017/04/25/a...st-be-checked/

How long did it take to get the items returned ?

Our power bank was confiscated at CAI last weekend as couldn't go in hand carry or check in. Was told they can't ship it back, only option would be to come back to Cairo (but couldn't then return directly to LHR in any case) or have a friend pick it up.

I traveled CAI-LHR in J yesterday with onward travel to SJC and the following may help.

1) I stayed at the Le Meridien at Cairo Airport, got up at 5am for the 0530 shuttle and was at the airport at 0535. (BTW, I arrived the previous night from DXB on EK. When you get into the immigration hall, you can take the left or right queue and I would recommend taking the right hand queue as, although they look similar, the fixed metal barriers to route you to the immigration officials are shorter on the right and on getting to the front of the queue was around 25% quicker than taking the left hand queue)

2) Flight leaves at 8am and the previous flight to this from T2 leaves nearly 2 hours previous which results in T2 being empty. No queues or any issue getting past first security checkpoint (but have your passport and itinerary either printed out or on your phone for inspection)

3) As my journey was CAI - LHR - SJC I wanted my bag short checked so I could recover in LHR (LHR - CAI due to arrive LHT at 1210, SJC flight leaves at 1455). The guy at check in was a bit hesitant but went to chat with the manager and it was no problem. All laptops, chargers etc need to be checked and therefore I just had my Bose Headphones and passport, wallet etc as carry on.

3A) I did have a complication with my onward LHR-SJC Boarding pass as I have 2 passports and my Egypt visa is in one and my ESTA is registered for the other. Therefore he was not able to give me by SJC boarding pass which was no issue as I would just sort it out in LHR (see later point)

4) No issue with immigration (empty) and in the "lounge" in about 5 mins. Lounge is pretty cr*p but nice view of the airport and wifi works ok

5) Left the lounge at around 0710 to go to gate E04. 5 min walk to the gate. 2 queues, one for males and one for females. Of course a couple of Egyptian males tried to jump the 20 person long male queue and feign complete surprise when told this was ladies only. The first guy got away with it but I made my displeasure obvious and then told the other guy the back of the queue was that way so off he went (queue jumpers are not my favorite people). My Bose QC15 were inspected and no issue carrying them on however i did have 3 AAA spare batteries for the headphones and he was going to confiscate those before agreeing they were no threat!! The guy in security has a rigid plastic template through which all electronic items (except headphones) must pass. One guy was upset as he had a small square power bank which did not fit and was confiscated. Another woman had a rather bulky old style phone which also did not fit but, after much deliberation was allowed to keep it.

6) Flight left 5 mins late. Food was average (Avoid the salmon starter) and we arrived at 1210

7) No one at immigration in T5 and so waiting for bags at 1225. By 1300 only about 20 bags had come out. By 1310 it said all bags delivered so a few of us query at baggage services and after first saying that was it, then it seemed one container had got lost but was now coming. 1325, bag delivered (and we wonder why everyone hates checking bags)

8) Back up to First wing. Can't give me my BP as ESTA is not associated with my first passport used to checkin in Cairo. Despite swiping 2nd passport - no dice. Anyway, a phone call and about a 5 min wait, all previous passport details removed and new ones put in and it all works (and it definitely helped that I had my ESTA confirmation showing it did not expire until 2018 printed out to prove it was not my issue (ie not having an ESTA). Through first wing in 2 mins, quick shower , drink and back off to B gates. SJC flight pretty good although I notice that on the 789 there is a lot more interference if the guy in the seat behind bangs his foot rest (you can really feel it in your seat).

Summary:

1) Short check no issue in Cairo
2) Don't take anything electronic and over the size limits past check in as it will be taken off you (exception is headphones). This includes power banks.
3) If you have two passports and traveling to the US then probably best to enable them both for ESTA's to avoid my issue
4) Even though I had nearly 3 hours connecting time, 1.5 of that went away with clearing UK immigration, baggage delays and BP delays. No issue but just goes to show how time can disappear quickly
6

I guess to avoid this insanity is not to fly on BA or other airlines imposing this security issue on flights to the UK. I'm going to Frankfurt and thankfully can fly Royal Jordanian without the electronics ban.

Did you see what happens with SLR cameras? My camera equipment is not the cheap kind, and though it is fully insured against theft or any source of damage, I'd hate to have to buy replacements for all.
The battery in it are more than 15mm thick but I could check in the OEM battery ($65) and keep a cheap clone ($15) in the camera to show that it works and would not care too much if they took it away after checking the camera is in working order.

I also have a flash with 4 AA batteries in it. Any issue with that?

For the short-check, how long was your connecting time? The Monday schedule shows 2h45 between the arrival from CAI and departure to SJC. I am on the SFO flight which only has 2 hours. Did you still have some spare time?