Welcome to Laser Pointer Forums - discuss green laser pointers, blue laser pointers, and all types of lasers

Buy Site Supporter Role (remove some ads) | LPF Donations

Links below open in new window

FrozenGate by Avery

Quick; Taking 450mw Laser on a plane?

C

Cuddly Ninja

0
Joined
Nov 27, 2010
Messages
61
Points
0
Hello,
Tomorrow I am going from England to Portugal on a monarch flight.
I quickly wanted to know if there are any laws stopping me taking my 450mw green laser on the flight (Check in luggage, not carry on)
I have read all of the previous threads but I wanted to know if anything had changed as they a quite old.
It cost me quite a bit of money so I am a little concerned,
Thanks for the help!
 





I wouldn't. All it takes is one grumpy/incompetent/"Ooo I want that!" customs agent and your laser is gone. FWIW I wouldn't take my lasers on a plane within the US either unless absolutely 100% necessary.
 
LtKernelPanic said:
I wouldn't. All it takes is one grumpy/incompetent/"Ooo I want that!" customs agent and your laser is gone. FWIW I wouldn't take my lasers on a plane within the US either unless absolutely 100% necessary.
Click to expand...

I suppose,
It's just I have hardly gotten any use out of this thing,
Put me back £240, now with diminished value.
 
Last edited:
It's really hard to say what would happen honestly. Laws can vary widely by country or even states/provinces/localities within a given country.

If it looks like a flashlight you'd probably be ok. Just leave the batteries out and if they say anything just say it's a flashlight and you left them out to prevent it accidentally getting turned on in your bag. Unfortunately it all comes down the what the airport screener (which in the case of the TSA here in the US scares me a lot -- they're incompetent idiots. They've prevented women from bringing bottles of breast milk on a plane many times) or customs agent decides. I can see a couple possible scenarios.

1. Nothing happens and you worry for nothing.
2. They confiscate your laser at the airport or in customs.
3. You get detained at customs, questioned why you have nearly a class IV laser with you, the laser is confiscated and you're sent home on the next flight.

Obviously the last one is the highly unlikely nightmare worst case scenario but honestly unless you have a real need for the laser leave it at home and enjoy your trip. I'm sure you can find a cheap green somewhere once you get there if you absolutely need a laser.


Oh and again FWIW I *never* put anything of value in my checked bags.
 
LtKernelPanic said:
It's really hard to say what would happen honestly. Laws can vary widely by country or even states/provinces/localities within a given country.

If it looks like a flashlight you'd probably be ok. Just leave the batteries out and if they say anything just say it's a flashlight and you left them out to prevent it accidentally getting turned on in your bag. Unfortunately it all comes down the what the airport screener (which in the case of the TSA here in the US scares me a lot -- they're incompetent idiots. They've prevented women from bringing bottles of breast milk on a plane many times) or customs agent decides. I can see a couple possible scenarios.

1. Nothing happens and you worry for nothing.
2. They confiscate your laser at the airport or in customs.
3. You get detained at customs, questioned why you have nearly a class IV laser with you, the laser is confiscated and you're sent home on the next flight.

Obviously the last one is the highly unlikely nightmare worst case scenario but honestly unless you have a real need for the laser leave it at home and enjoy your trip. I'm sure you can find a cheap green somewhere once you get there if you absolutely need a laser.


Oh and again FWIW I *never* put anything of value in my checked bags.
Click to expand...

Alright, thank you!
I will think about it,
I am scrolling through Spanish/porchagese Law, not finding much.
 
It cost me quite a bit of money so I am a little concerned

That would be enough for me; It's not worth the risk. If there's a doubt, don't do it. You'll only kick yourself if it does go astray for whatever reason.

It's just I have hardly gotten any use out of this thing,

Oh come on, surely you don't need to take it on holiday to use it. If you find the laws you're looking for and there's not a problem, fairy nuff, but personally I wouldn't want to go flashing a laser around in a foreign country if I wasn't 100% it was ok. 450mW of green is going to be one hell of a 'look at me' beacon. :D
 
As long as its checked baggage and not carry I wouldn't see a problem (at least in the USA)
I have carried firearms and knives in checked baggage with no problems.
 
I Have done this several times in the US. Just keep everything separated and if you can break the laser down and put the parts in your shaving bag, roll some in socks, etc... Spreading out the parts the better. Check some, carry some, I even carried on some parts in my camera bag, like the batteries and chargers. One time, put the business end of my 445 in my lense case.

If there is still a concern, then just ship it and save the hassle of worrying about it.

Good luck!
 
Last edited:
I wouldn't risk it.

You could break it down in as many parts as you could and put it in your suitcase scattered around, and maybe even in your families/friends suitcase if you travelled with some.
 
I was thinking about how I would do this the other day.

What if you just took the lens off? Couldn't it then pass as more of a flashlight than a laser? Even if they did turn it on they would only get a really bright colored flashlight instead of an actual beam.

I would still keep the batteries and tail cap separate though. I also heard that you might not want to take individual li-ions especially if they are unprotected.
 
Last edited:
In checked baggage minus the batteries you are not going to have a problem. There is nothing in a hh laser that looks any different from a CREE flashlight and without the batteries it's not even going to appear to have much substance.

I'm assuming that there are no import restrictions in place in the country into which you are heading and your question is about aircraft rules.

Under NO circumstances WHATSOEVER take it on the plane as carry on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.





Back
Top