Luton Airport Security, Unreasonable approach for confiscation

[rafkt]

Hi everyone; During the last year, I have been following the forum but never had the chance to post something. Now, I think it’s the time ..

Yesterday I met the most crazy behaviour in an airport ever (London Luton). I am a frequent traveler and as always I travel with my camera gear equipement; including my drone, a Mavic Air. I have travelled through all London airports and midlands airports.

Disclaimer: I always try to co-operate with the security guidelines and be polite (except from yesterday when the security at the end was behaving completely unreasonably). This means that all my equipment is packed and un-packed (per security guidance) during the security check, all the batteries are lower than the limit of 100Wh. They are in LiPo-bags with their ports specifically covered and protected;.


I put in one tray the drone bag (the usual fly-more combo bag), and the bag with the rest of my gear including the extra batteries in another tray. The gear+batteries tray passed the x-rays check and was collected immediately by me. The drone bag stayed for further check.

One lady, who already was behaving in an irritating manner with other travellers as well, approaches me holding my tray (drone bag). She already had showed signs of irritation to me due to the fact that I was standing at the other side of the security desk. She opened my bag, even though I had told her I want to handle these myself per her guidance. She argued that no, she had to do it herself. She handled the Mavic Air without knowing what it is and without my demanding care, she went through the back pockets, removed every cable in a kind of a rude way. At the end, she showed a feeling that she did not know why she was checking the bag in the first place as everything seemed ok. The Mavic Air was sitting aside as it wasn’t a suspicious object at the moment. And then, here it comes;


Dialogue: (between me and the irritated security woman)

• What’s this?
• It’s a drone
• Oh, no no no this is not allowed with you, I have to confiscate it; I will check with my supervisor

(The nearby security man looked at us surpised)

There was no further thought for her; Only the keyword drone was an alarm for confiscation to her.

She took the drone, even though I insisted that I want myself to handle this expensive piece of gear. Her reply was that this gear is now hers, does not belong to me until she says so.

After a while she came back confirming that the supervisor hadn’t allowed for the drone to travel with me and it had to stay back (confiscated). No further details. And that’s the point that I went furious and almost crazy (I couldn’t resist anymore). I started to say that I had obeyed every rule. The battery is discharged to ~40% and I tried to indicate it too. I insisted on the fact that it is much less under the limit of 100Wh and it is legally allowed on board. She said no word about my other bag since that bag had already passed the initial check and no questions were asked. No mention about the total number of batteries etc.

And then, the all surprised security man from nearby stepped in and said to her:
Dialogue: (between friendly security guy and the hysterical security woman)

• What’s this? Oh, a Mavic Air, I have a mavic pro; Of course it can travel.
• No it can’t (she insisted).
• Please check again, I see those all the time and I am allowing on board; It’s legal for it to be on board; We have no authority to keep it.

She went back and then when she returned she said that the manager now told her it is ok to travel but it has to be on the hold luggage and not in my carry on; she had to check it in the hold. Then I was even more crazy, I had lost all my patience at the moment; people nearby were trying to support me since they knew that this behaviour of the security was unreasonable. For the third time, she goes back (after the other security man prompt her one more time); at the end she accepted to allow it in my carry on as soon as the battery was kept separate from the drone.

WTF, this is more unreasonable, I thought. The regulations say that the battery has to be equipped on the device otherwise it should be protected in a LiPo bag with port covers. I didn’t fight more. I said that’s absolutely ok, will do.


I put the battery back on the drone and I left.

During the whole event, there was no mention by the security about keywords like: LiPo bags, port covers, charge level, number of batteries, Wh.
... It’s just a drone.

Lessons:

1. I am always prepared for situations like this; but come on, it is hard to remain patient. I could not imagine something so unreasonable.
2. It does’t matter if you try to point out the regulation or the laws; they try to tell you that they don’t care.
3. The can be rude and nobody give a [Language Removed by Moderator].
4. I could easily lose my flight since I wouldn’t leave my drone there. At the end I don’t know what would have been more costly.
5. We will always be in the target from now on, since many people start becoming drone heaters; they are just getting alarmed in the keyword “Drone”

At the end, there was no further checks or statements about my gear bag which had 5 more mavic batteries, one battery-bank, camera batteries, camera flash speed-lite batteries. They could have clearly checked me for these but no! The drone was the only problem with its just one equipped battery that they found. (As I told the gear bag passed the check during the initial scan). Not even questions about my flight (airline etc.)

My only question that I could ask you. Is there any official authority that I could file a complain about the security of the airport?
Also, how could I have avoided the situation ? I have been traveling with my mavic since its release last year. I have been to airports outside Europe. No issues at all. Any experiences from anyone or advise ?

Hope that this situation will be taken into account by fellow drone-travellers and have the same luck as me (not losing a flight or their drone); As it seems, it starts to be a pure luck if you can travel with a drone from now on.

If you read it till the end, thanks I appreciate it...
P.S

1. Don’t say that you have a drone. It is just an unmanned aerial device (or just UAV); maybe it is less alarming to ignorant people.
2. Why I still think that they wanted to just keep my drone for their personal pleasure ?

 

[Jonthejet]

It sounds like a trip you won’t forget, on the ther hand you seem to have traveled many times with no problems,I guess it was inevitable you would have a confrontation at some point,
You obviously know the rules inside out and follow them, so good on you.you could complain but they will probably say the security person was being cautious. If it was me I’d try and laugh it off and move on, and don’t let it get to you?

 

[old man mavic]

it would seem that further training is required for the staff with regards to carrying a drone on the aircraft,the person concerned seemed to have a preconceived idea of what that was ,based on their own ideas not the actual rules

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Maybe a good idea to use wording like RPA or UAV, then when they look at you funny say remote piloted aircraft, or unmanned aerial vehicle.
I like RPA myself.

I would file a complaint, hope you got the ladys name etc . . . she should brush up in her knowledge of regulations, or not be in that position.
Great you got some backup from the other security fellow too, without him it might have gone differently.

Start arguing with the occasional power hungry airport security people, and you will get hauled away to a little room for as long as it takes to miss your flight, have seen some shocking airport videos, especially TSA in the US.

Hey, good first post and glad it worked out for you.

 

[zocalo]

Glad it worked out and didn't escalate to the private screening room. Definitely helped that at least some staff have a clue.

Also, please do write to the airport to raise the issue. I'd recommend not pointing the finger at specific staff so much as just giving all the details above (and names if you have them), and trying to stress more staff training being the main thing you feel is required. Airport security staff are generally outsourced to a service company, so this should hopefully have a much larger positive effect than just Luton.

As a tip, I have a little A5 plastic folder that I keep all my travel documents in; passport, boarding passes, insurance docs, etc. I also keep a copy of things like photographer's rights, drone regulations, relevant airport security info (especially on LIPOs!), and so on for any countries I'm passing through in there. Ideally in both English and any local language(s), so I can keep the relevant bits in my camera bag during the trip. Can be very helpful when you get someone in need of "additional education", shall we say?

We shouldn't have to do this kind of thing, and so far I've only had to use it twice (both times at airport security), but it's still good to know it's there if needed.

 

[Meta4]

During the whole event, there was no mention by the security about keywords like: LiPo bags, port covers, charge level, number of batteries, Wh.

The reason for that was because most of those things are not required by aviation safety authorities, despite persistent forum myths.

We will always be in the target from now on, since many people start becoming drone heaters; they are just getting alarmed in the keyword “Drone”
... it seems, it starts to be a pure luck if you can travel with a drone from now on.

No it doesn't.
You just ran into an inexperienced security person who hadn't seen a drone before.
She was unusual in that she used her initiative to decide what is not allowed instead of just working from the list of prohibited items.
Now she's learned her lesson and she won't be doing that again.
Think again about the attitude of the other security personnel and how they corrected her and smoothed things for you.

My only question that I could ask you. Is there any official authority that I could file a complain about the security of the airport?
Also, how could I have avoided the situation ?

My only question that I could ask you. Is there any official authority that I could file a complain about the security of the airport?

Let it go. It's not worth the effort.
She's learned her lesson and you caught your flight together with your drone - no harm done.

Also, how could I have avoided the situation ?

Obviously .... to have joined a different security check-in queue.

Don’t say that you have a drone. It is just an unmanned aerial device (or just UAV); maybe it is less alarming to ignorant people.

No ... you'll only confuse people using odd terms that no-one recognises.

Why I still think that they wanted to just keep my drone for their personal pleasure ?

You must be joking !!

 

[Idrach]

Luton? What did you expect? Professionalism?

But, yes, "drone" at UK airports is going to worry people at the moment. You are lucky the other security person knew what was going on.

Anyway - with all of the discussion here, sometimes going on for pages with various experienced people disagreeing about aspects of drone operating law, I'm not surprised that somebody gets bitten by ignorant security folks.

I've not travelled with my drone yet but I must admit that I'm not looking forward to the experience. The travelling. Not the using it at the other end. First attempt will probably be Germany (Schuren) in June.

 

[adam3112]

WOW. I fly abroad often with my MP and I've never had that reaction from security while travelling (yet). I once had them ask what the electrical item was that popped up on the xray and they looked in my bag, but most of the time they don't question it.

I think there's a lot of ignorance from many uninformed people that when they hear the word "drone", they instantly think it's being used to cause trouble.

I'm sure if you told her it's a flying camera or a quad copter, she would of reacted differently. Sadly the law abiding drone community are heavily vilified.

 

[RCdancer]

It's a classic case of someone enamored with their perceived power and self-importance. This is one reason why I now hate to fly. Commercial aviation used to be enjoyable - no more.

 

[MavBoka]

While I live in a small rural area with no large airports for 60 plus miles the word DRONE seems to set people’s radar off here, they say you can’t control them and they are unsafe.. a lot of $50 to $100 drone users here and they don’t understand the rules/regulations of drone users and how high tech drones are. I try to educate but it will take time for people to realize what drones can contribute and that they are not just a toy.

 

[zocalo]

WOW. I fly abroad often with my MP and I've never had that reaction from security while travelling (yet). I once had them ask what the electrical item was that popped up on the xray and they looked in my bag, but most of the time they don't question it.

Similar experiences here. Lots of travel with lots of gear, but only a couple of minor incidents where I've been questioned over it, although I've had my gear swabbed for explosive residue or had someone manually check inside the bag plenty of times. First was the TSA being the TSA, second was someone querying the LIPOs, which I resolved by producing my copy of the regs about carry on and pointing out I'd also put them in LIPO bags, even though that isn't currently a requirement (as noted by Meta4 above).

This incident seems to be more down to lack of training/experience of one particular security screener than anything else, so not really worth getting too upset about. If it hadn't been for the supervisor it might have been a different story though, which is why I think it would be worth some feedback to Luton Airport in the hope it might improve things for future travellers.

 

[bobscheel53]

When asked, I describe my drone as photographic equipment. Or aerial photographic equipment.

 

[Soledamcer]

Drone is a dirty word in the UK. We must start using different language to avoid setting off the fuse. Aerial Camera System seems pretty harmless. We need to take the stress away and stop using the word DRONE, which has had terrible inbred connotations ever since the second world war bombings in London. It's now even more tainted as a Gulf War remote killing machine. Add the ridiculous Gatwick Drone Fiasco and our stupid newspapers will soon refer to it as the "D" word. In future I will only be flying my Aerial Camera System or ACS. Commissions rather than missions. I will not be following the DRONE CODE, I'll be complying with the Aerial Photography Code. I no longer have a drone.

 

[Jonthejet]

(When asked, I describe my drone as photographic equipment. Or aerial photographic equipment.) Bobscheel53, such a great tip, I was wondering what description I’d use when travelling, that’s a great Defuser , in what I Suspect is going to be a testing time for all of us in years to come. Many thanks J

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

(When asked, I describe my drone as photographic equipment. Or aerial photographic equipment.) Bobscheel53, such a great tip, I was wondering what description I’d use when travelling, that’s a great Defuser , in what I Suspect is going to be a testing time for all of us in years to come. Many thanks J

APE, I like it !!

 

[Patrickgood]

After 3 weeks I have to passing the security here in Thailand, on the airport, they also not so wiser either, I think I'll keep it on 'electronic equipment', if they ask.
For example it is still necessary to take off your shoes, or show your tablet, on the other hand in Hong Kong airport, all those things are no longer necessary.

 

[Thomas B]

To the OP:
Be sure you contact the airline and TSA/airport security. Report the names, both those hindering and those helping. Suggest that a training and remediation program be started for these people... no matter what else you do.

 

[Trollistika]

Pretty soon they will ask for our flight logs! Lol. Some will get the joke. And some will get a heart attack.


Anyways, I've seen many horror stories of people traveling with drones. Don't go to other countries with one without expecting a heavy fine after they tell you it's ok to have one in the first place. Search YT on the subject. You aren't the first to be harrased at airports. To some people they had to pay more in fines to get their drones back from airports to the point that it's better to leave it and buy a new one. Awful!

 

[xspwhite]

It's a remote control quadcopter. I would never fly on an airplane.

 

[Herbie D]

Glad it worked out and didn't escalate to the private screening room. Definitely helped that at least some staff have a clue.

Also, please do write to the airport to raise the issue. I'd recommend not pointing the finger at specific staff so much as just giving all the details above (and names if you have them), and trying to stress more staff training being the main thing you feel is required. Airport security staff are generally outsourced to a service company, so this should hopefully have a much larger positive effect than just Luton.

As a tip, I have a little A5 plastic folder that I keep all my travel documents in; passport, boarding passes, insurance docs, etc. I also keep a copy of things like photographer's rights, drone regulations, relevant airport security info (especially on LIPOs!), and so on for any countries I'm passing through in there. Ideally in both English and any local language(s), so I can keep the relevant bits in my camera bag during the trip. Can be very helpful when you get someone in need of "additional education", shall we say?

We shouldn't have to do this kind of thing, and so far I've only had to use it twice (both times at airport security), but it's still good to know it's there if needed.

Rurs
I agree with the documentation part. I’ve been overseas now for 3.5 weeks and scrutinised each countries requirements. It was a pain translating the documents into English, just make sure it’s the correct translation. Keep it with your passport. Never had to use it but it may help them seeing the regulations on their own letterhead.

Definitely complain, at least it may result in a training opportunity for their staff.