chollie

I travel with two P&S cameras (one is spare). They're a bit larger than a pack of cigarettes.

They're not super-expensive like folks' SLRs, but they are no longer manufactured. I've traveled to seven continents with these little guys and they are the absolute best camera I've ever had. I'm not worried about losing my photos, because I'll remove the SD cards and keep them with me, but I'm going to be upset if some yahoo loses/breaks/steals my cameras, only to find out that they aren't worth anything to anyone except me.

I won't even have the comfort of believing for one second that my sacrifice was for a good cause or that it made anyone one bit safer.

artemis

You ARE a typical tourist. Let's face it, many people these days travel with multiple electronic devices, and for good reasons.

(My usual kit: iPhone, iPad Mini, 2 mirrorless camera bodies and 3-4 lenses or two small point-and-shoot cameras if I need to go really light).

I think that's a big part of the problem. The DHS in many ways is like a carpenter with only a hammer: everything they see is a nail. OF COURSE nothing could be more important than improving security! It never occurs to them that perhaps that's not true. Did they ever stop to think that perhaps the public would prefer to face the very small risk of a laptop bomb going off on a plane in order to enjoy the convenience of being able to travel with their camera and Kindle in the plane cabin? Maybe not every potential security threat needs a response.

What happened in Nice at the Bastille Day celebration was horrible, but in the aftermath I didn't see anyone serious proposing greatly restricting access to trucks, even though that would certainly prevent that particular form of attack from happening again. Ditto pressure cookers and the Boston Marathon bombings. Why can't responses to potential aviation threats be measured and proportionate to the actual danger?

Buster

That seems pretty normal to me. I routinely travel with 2 phones (one work, one personal), an iPad, a Kindle, an Anker charger with cables, noise cancelling headphones and sometimes a battery pack.

artemis

SIX electronic devices?! You are clearly a terrorist.

petaluma1

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/cons...m_npd_nn_tw_ma

EarlVolFan

Why would this apply to Global Entry members? We've been vetted and would not bring unknown electronic devices back with us?

richarddd

I often travel with a phone, a tablet, a laptop, a camera with multiple batteries, sometimes a second small camera, plus a bunch of chargers, cables and cords. I'd prefer never checking a bag.

Do checked bags get significantly better screening?

Security at some non-US airports seems much better than the TSA.

richarddd

And we get the lighter security of pre-check in the US.

They'd probably say we could have been subverted.

wco81

I don't know if this article was posted in this thread or another one.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-us...-idUSKBN1881L0

Says DHS Secretary John Kelly or some top officials of DHS will go to Brussels next week to talk about this ban, discuss all the issues, before making a final decision.

chollie

Even if I were checking a bag, I would never check any of these items. Not voluntarily.

notquiteaff

I hope they fly commercial and check all their stuff into the hold.

wco81

Do EU airport people know or even care about GE people?

I guess they could set up separate lines for GE people, after you show them your GE card and they would let you carry on electronics as before?

But that would assume that DHS is tracking the GE people, satisfied with their vetting, willing to give this special treatment.

CosmosHuman

Exactly, I am GE. Fully vetted. I want too know as well.

wco81

There will be Global Entry Gold memberships, which lets you carry on electronics as before, only $500 a year.

exerda

You're applying too much logic to the issue. Remember, this is DHS we're talking about.

The rumor is indeed that it's going to be expanded to much more of Europe. There's an aviation security forum next week in Brussels where the topic is going to come up, undoubtedly. Someone also snapped a photo of Delta signage already prepared for the roll-out, from what I understand (I'm assuming it wasn't from one of the already-banned airports, as DL doesn't fly to/from them TMK, as they suspended IST service).

I'm as annoyed by it as you are. I have stuff I cannot check, and FedEx is going to be costly and inconvenient (but no way in heck am I putting $30k in camera gear into the hold--particularly when my commercial photo policy refuses to cover gear in checked bags). And there are tons of lithium batteries in my camera bag...