Carrying consumer electronics on a plane

[hellarda]

Hi all,

Flying to Belfast on Thursday for a training camp, and I am mid doing my final project for my final year at uni. I need to be able to work on my project for the 6 days I'm there. In order to do so I need to take with me an ARM MCU board (think green PCB with LED display) and a breadboard with some potentiometers on it.

I am only taking a carry on bag. Do you reckon this will be an issue/has anyone has any experience doing something similar?

Cheers

Ali

 

[Dis86]

Worst 'I'm going to take down an airliner' post ever.

Think through what you're carrying is going to look like. Also training camp in Belfast doesn't sound great...

 

[Caged]

Take some supporting documentation with you regarding the event you're attending, pack the devices in their original boxes if you can.

 

[wez130]

Could you not post the items before hand to avoid any awkwardness?

 

[Mynight]

Just leave the modelling clay at home and you should be good.

 

[HangTime]

If it's that critical I'd consider paying for checked baggage.

I once took a Shuttle (SFF PC) in hand luggage and it got some scrutiny at security, and that was years back before the London bombings, going to Sweden not Belfast...

 

[Supernova]

I've taken prototype electronics on hand luggage before that looked really dodgy (in 2015) and it was okay. Luckily we were going to Germany and not the USA.

We had a LOT of different coloured wires; about 30 feet of 10 individual strands intertwined, and various unfamiliar connectors on either end. We also had a lunchbox-sized plastic box that had been hacked with a saw to allow a number of PCBs inside it to protrude out the sides. We were also carrying a display that could not power on because the plastic box full of PCBs that looked like a bomb powered it and fed images to it from a laptop. The lunch box PCB that looked like a bomb needed a 12V supply to run, which we weren't carrying, so we could not prove that any of this was genuinely harmless. To top it off, we had packed it all in a small suitcase and used blocks of foam to stop it moving inside the case. These looked like C4 on the xray, mixed in with hundreds of feet of wires and PCBs. The faces of the security staff!

We were taken into a room and questioned. They swabbed everything, tested it, and let us carry on with all of the above. Soooo, you'll be fine!

 

[Semple]

Just leave the modelling clay at home and you should be good.

As HangTime mentions, if it's really that critical to you, i would just pay the £20 for checked luggage and place it in there.

Worst case scenario is they either refuse to let you board the flight, or refuse to let you carry your electronics project on you in person. Either way means you lose out.

 

[Clav]

Why risk it over the relatively small sum of checked baggage?

 

[Rifte]

Boarded a flight once with 2 x unboxed GTX 980s in bubble wrap and static bags.

3 x unboxed HHDs

Security (Heathrow terminal 4) looked at them for about 5 seconds and let me through.

 

[Jeps]

They will probably pick it up in the x-ray machine and pull you aside for a closer look at it and ask you some questions. I can't see them not letting you through with it though, anybody with a bit of common sense should be able to tell its not a bomb.

 

[Will Gill]

I'd call the airline/security to be sure, Pre 9/11 we were travelling to Israel to do some fibre/fiber splicing and the security for El Al destroyed a £6000 splicer....Also nearly totalled a way more expensive DWDM tester too.

We eventually got the money back but it rendered the entire trip pointless

 

[Rifte]

I'd call the airline/security to be sure, Pre 9/11 we were travelling to Israel to do some fibre/fiber splicing and the security for El Al destroyed a £6000 splicer....Also nearly totalled a way more expensive DWDM tester too.

We eventually got the money back but it rendered the entire trip pointless

OUCH!

I was carrying an unboxed PS4 through security in Doha a few years back and they were a little rough with how they handled it (removing the bubble wrap etc), and they dropped it on the floor doing it.

Luckily it still works fine......

 

[Semple]

I'd call the airline/security to be sure, Pre 9/11 we were travelling to Israel to do some fibre/fiber splicing and the security for El Al destroyed a £6000 splicer....Also nearly totalled a way more expensive DWDM tester too.

We eventually got the money back but it rendered the entire trip pointless

Was that via the airtport/airline? or through your own insurance?

Just wondering how liable security staff are when it comes to inspecting your property. At the end of the day, dropping something valuable to the point that it breaks or damages it, should really be treated as neglect and bring disciplinary procedures to that member of staff.

 

[Efour]

It's only Ireland.
Just declare it before you go through the scanners. Take your work too. I dont see any issues.
Or pay to check in that will be scanned too though and they are just as likely to call you off the waiting lounge to explain it.

I would go with an extra hour to spare and just be upfront and honest.

I've taken a full tower pc in parts and a gas chromatograph through in hand luggage.
They are not idiots...

 

[Diddums]

Just strap it to a few candles, you'll be fine.

 

[Will Gill]

Was that via the airtport/airline? or through your own insurance?

Just wondering how liable security staff are when it comes to inspecting your property. At the end of the day, dropping something valuable to the point that it breaks or damages it, should really be treated as neglect and bring disciplinary procedures to that member of staff.

El Al (airline and provider for the IL security staff) shelled out after a 2/3 month claim debacle. As you correctly point out, if they break it they should pay for it. The delay in payment came from trying to explain the difference between two exactly same model numbers, no idea what the manufacturer was thinking of there!

 

[Rroff]

Worst 'I'm going to take down an airliner' post ever.

Think through what you're carrying is going to look like. Also training camp in Belfast doesn't sound great...

This is cracking me up - just trying to imagine explaining the purpose of my visit as "training camp" if I had something that looked like this in hand luggage:

 

[Semple]

"it's an alarm clock, honest sir"

 

[Rroff]

^^ I know someone who tried to take the fallout bomb clock thing on a plane - that didn't go down well.