Hi,
We are going to Egypt and Jordan for 20 days in March 2019. We are avid photographers and carry nice gear. For those who have recently been to Egypt and then travelled on to Jordan by air, did you have any issues carrying your camera gear, batteries and iPads on board the plane or were they confiscated and placed in the hold. I have also heard of batteries being outright confiscated.
Hi Mary,
I am so glad you asked these questions. My husband and I are going in February. I haven’t heard anything about that. We will be taking our phones and cameras. Will start searching on the internet and will post if I find anything.
Yes, I have seen mention of this on a couple of forums and have been searching for answers as well.
Hello,
I was in Egypt 3 months ago. I brought with me a DSLR camera and a laptop, both with batteries. My sister brought an iPad. Both of us brought our electronics with us in our carry-on without issue. I have also heard stories of them being confiscated, but I experienced no such issues.
It's possible it depends on which country you're flying to/from. My flights were Athens to Cairo, and Hurghada to Istanbul, as well as a domestic flight from Cairo to Aswan.
Enjoy your trip!
Thanks, JJ. The report of confiscations was a before a flight from Hurghada. The person reporting this was a Brit. I am not sure that would make a difference. We will be flying from SFO to Cairo, Cairo to Amman and Amman back to SFO.
I just heard from a friend who was in Egypt in January and he had no issues although security at the airport had many levels he said. Perhaps the person who reported the incident in question had an axe to grind and was just fed up with the constant harassment of the touts which is a real issue.
Hi Mary. I visited Egypt, with a side trip to Jordan, back in 2010, so not terribly recent, but I can attest to the fact that security in the airports is very tight. The Jordan airport security confiscated what I thought was a relatively innocuous item – masking tape – from my carry-on, on my flight back to Egypt. First, to explain why I used to carry that item, it’s because when I used to travel with checked luggage, I would place masking tape over the lock securing the ends of the zipper, because I had a prior experience where it got ripped off while it was probably travelling on some conveyor belt, as the lock probably got caught on something. The luggage was still zipped up when I received it, but without the zipper tabs, I couldn’t rezip it once the luggage was opened rendering a rather expensive item useless. So from then on I would take along a roll of masking tape when travelling, and once I taped up the lock and zipper tabs on my checked luggage, I would have to put the roll of masking tape into my carry-on. When I asked why they were taking away my masking tape and why it was considered a dangerous item, the agent said nothing but made one gesture – sealing his mouth shut with his hands. I guess I was too naïve to even imagine that it would be used for such a purpose! I was more amused than annoyed, and rationalized that I should be comforted that their security is so thorough.
But, it does sound like you shouldn't have problems with your camera gear based on those with more recent experience. Good luck, and have fun!
Somewhat related to your question. I flew through Cairo last summer - few in from Munich and connected onto Entebbe, Uganda and ran into problems with my very expensive pair of image stabilizing binoculars which was in my carry on bag. The camera was no issue in the carryon but the security guys forced me to pack the binoculars into a backpack and then check it. I was not happy but thankfully, the binoculars made it without any damage.
Hi Arnold,
Thanks for your reply. I had heard the same thing about binoculars in Jordan. I would imagine that a 150 to 600 telescopic lens would be treated the same way. I see no reason to take either with us.
