I do a bit of photography with film - yes it does still exist, no I am not a hipster - and this is probably the worst thing I could think of happening the next time I get on a plane. CT Scanners ruin undeveloped film. A niche problem yes, but not all of us need to carry liquids with us on to a plane either.
In America they have these CT scans and they're great. Although I'm not sure why we still take our boots off but that's by the by. The TSA agents manning these machines are all too happy to take my film and check it by hand so it doesn't touch the scanners. I've done this several times and every time there's not been a bother. I have a nice chat with them and I'm all too happy for them taking the time to do this. Last time I was boarding a flight the TSA agent was telling me that he used to do film photography when he started at Newark and that his first day on the job was 9/11. I've learned a lot from these TSA guys.
British airports, specifically Heathrow, are fucking wank. I asked them nicely to do it, and I swear the guy reacted like I had asked him to do a random drug test. The whole world fell out of his arse basically. He's huffing and puffing with the check (which, for the record, is a swab around the canister to look for explosives/drugs). He said "maybe you should get digital mate, it's much easier". I had to bite my tongue, because I wanted to tell him that not having to fly at all was much easier but here I am with no choice in the matter.
If Heathrow's attitude changes then there's no problem with this CT scanner. But I know they won't. So I'm not sure the next time I travel how I'm going to handle it. Whether I buy the film when I'm there (if I can) and then find a place to develop it (instead of me doing it) and then hoping when I get the negatives back the scanner doesn't knacker them before I scan them.
Yeah, I know, I sound like a prat that I'm moaning that this scanner is going to allow people to bring bottles of coke with them from Tesco on to the flight to save a few quid. But like everything in the UK, everything is a good idea until it's executed, then it's never the sunny uplands that were promised.