Travel by plane. (1 Viewer)

[Pepitogrillo]

Hello,
soon I will travel by plane and I would like to take some small binoculars in my cabin luggage, does anyone know if this is possible?
Thank you.
paul

 

[opisska]

Not only possible, but strongly encouraged. I would never put anything that has optics in it in the checked-in luggage and in general airlines are supportive of that and will even allow some extra items on board, if they are fragile, because it's leas hassle for them than dealing with the complaints about the optics being damaged during baggage handling. I have even brought a foldable 15cm Dobsonian telescope as cabin luggage a few times

 

[Jos Stratford]

Absolutely no restriction on taking binoculars as cabin baggage so long as you meet the airline requirements for overall cabin baggage sizes and weights, often 10 kg and standard cabin bag size (but can be less and smaller with some airlines)

 

[Steve Babbs]

I have actually heard of someone having issues somewhere in the Middle-East but absolutely not a problem elsewhere. I generally take scope, camera and, on last trip, thermal imager in hand-luggage.

 

[yarrellii]

I very rarely flight without with some sort of optical equipment, be it binoculars or something like scope and tripod. Never had any trouble (I always comply with the airline's size restrictions). Last week I took a day business trip and took with me the tiny Nikon 7x20 CF III, the guy on the X-Ray control stopped me and said there was something weird in my hand luggage, I asked what it was and he said that I was carrying "some sort of small bottle", which made me very curious (since I wasn't). He scanned my bag and discovered the "strange bottle" were the Nikon

Fun fact: if you pass your binoculars through X-ray control and look at the screen you can see the internals... I remember smiling once I took my 7x42 FL and could perfectly see the Abbe-Koening prisms on the screen. I asked for permission to take a picture of the screen but the security staff (logically) denied my request. So, there you go, security controls are a fun way to discover your binoculars/scope in a new way.

 

[The BulbMogul]

travel all over the world and never once had any issues with carrying optics in my carryon ever...! You should be just fine..

 

[Pinewood]

Hello,

I actually had trouble with a binocular in my checked luggage. It was x-rayed in Frankfurt, causing some inquiries.
Edit: If I recall correctly, it was 1979, shortly after a bomb exploded in Athens Airport.
Stay safe,
Arthur

 

[opisska]

Yes, it raises curiosity sometimes. I am constantly "randomly" selected for a special check, I am pretty sure it's remote controlled and based on what they see in my luggage (I am usually carrying loads of optics AND a container full of pre-filled syringes). But it's at worst a few minutes of delay, not an issue at all.

There can be issues getting optics to Morocco, Jordan, Egypt and similar countries, but these are not related to flight but border security and the same problems occur when entering the countries by land.

 

[Pepitogrillo]

Yes, I am more concerned about the issue of customs, the X-rays, that they stop me and say that I cannot take them in the cabin, I have carried a binocular in my checked bag without any problems, but in hand luggage I already have my doubts.. would I have to take the invoice?
Thanks again

 

[Maljunulo]

There can be issues getting optics to Morocco, Jordan, Egypt and similar countries, but these are not related to flight but border security and the same problems occur when entering the countries by land.

I don't wish to appear to be dim, but someone is going to have to explain to me how binoculars are a threat to “border security”.

The mind boggles.

 

[Jos Stratford]

Yes, I am more concerned about the issue of customs, the X-rays, that they stop me and say that I cannot take them in the cabin, I have carried a binocular in my checked bag without any problems, but in hand luggage I already have my doubts.. would I have to take the invoice?
Thanks again

View attachment 1452901

This might be an issue if you carried the binoculars in their original box, looking totally unused, etc. But in reality, customs will not take an interest in someone carrying binoculars that are clearly for personal use - virtually all persons passing through customs have valuable electronics or optics (laptops, cameras, etc), this is normal everyday travel, not in the remit of customs.

 

[Jos Stratford]

I don't wish to appear to be dim, but someone is going to have to explain to me how binoculars are a threat to “border security”.

The mind boggles.

For the small number of countries (eg Algeria, Jordan) that have an issue with binoculars/telescopes, their rationale is not border security per se, but that the optics could be used by militant groups within those countries.

 

[Thotmosis]

I don't wish to appear to be dim, but someone is going to have to explain to me how binoculars are a threat to “border security”.

The mind boggles.

In some countries it is also forbidden to take pictures from the airport. Like e.g. at the airport of Heraklion, Crete and Goa , India because there are also military plains there.

 

[opisska]

I don't wish to appear to be dim, but someone is going to have to explain to me how binoculars are a threat to “border security”.

The mind boggles.

They are perceived as a threat to national security somehow - and this is prevented by confiscating them, where else than at the border?

I mean I consider it as dumb as anyone else but it's a thing that really happens - sometimes people get their scopes, binoculars and cameras confiscated at the border and only returned when leaving the country. It's rare but it happened even to the Big Year WP crew in 2017 (in Egypt) and for example to my personal friend (also in Egypt, but his daughter started crying and they relented). I only found this important to note in the context of this thread to clarify this is not a problem of airline security and thus it's not solved by putting it into checked-in luggage.

 

[Maljunulo]

Thank you for the responses.

I will refrain from comment, since we don’t come here to to listen to political rhetoric, even though it seems to pop up now and again.

 

[Pepitogrillo]

My travel plan is in the UE, in the Canary island....

 

[yarrellii]

My travel plan is in the UE, in the Canary island....

Last time I visited the Canary Islands I brought a 8x30 Habicht with me (my partner a Kowa 8x32) on the hand luggage, and had no issue whatsoever, neither have I traveling extensively across Spain by plane 😊

 

[fazalmajid]

For the small number of countries (eg Algeria, Jordan) that have an issue with binoculars/telescopes, their rationale is not border security per se, but that the optics could be used by militant groups within those countries.

I flew a lot to or through the Middle East in the 70s and 80s, and photography near the airports was strictly prohibited, specially in Israel, Syria and Saudi Arabia, the concern was espionage and reconnaissance for military purposes by an adversary nation-state, not militants or insurgents. Of course the enforcement was by the air lines, so how effective they expected it to be, I have no idea.

 

[Binastro]

Re post #16.

On our trip to Tenerife/La Palma we took a large trunk with a 6 inch Newtonian in cargo.

I took as hand luggage in the cabin a Celestron 5 in a close fitting case from a Zoomar 500mm f/5.6 mirror lens. On a small wheeled trolley that went in the clothes rack compartment in the cabin.

A Celestron 20x80 Japanese binocular in its case around my neck.

A Minolta camera with standard lens in its case on my shoulder.

Camera, binocular and book were free of weight allowance. I don't know if this is still true.

These two islands are used to astronomers with gear.

La Palma is very steep and hire cars going off the edge are not survivable.

Any normal binocular should be fine in the Canary Isles.

The Canon SX730HS resolves much better than a Canon 18x50 IS, so these compact cameras should be more at risk of being taken away than a binocular.
A large bridge camera even more so.

I was told to stop taking photos of an old Javelin aircraft at Manston airport, because it was a military airport.

I nearly always had a 10x25 binocular in my pocket on numerous flights, or a 7x23 EWA reverse prism binocular.

Regards,
B.

 

[Trinovid]

soon I will travel by plane and I would like to take some small binoculars in my cabin luggage, does anyone know if this is possible?

If they fit on your person or in your carry-on, they'll be allowed.

Also on the 'other' subject, spies traveling to other country's tend to look like normal people, making everyone suspect when it comes to questions about national security, here and abroad.