Recently I was aboard a Westjet flight traveling home from Mexico. I normally carry on my camera backpack (full of lenses, chargers, etc) and my camera in it's housing. I tend to get a lot of questions from people asking me what that is (referring to my camera in it's housing). Anyway, there was a delay in departing from the gate when there was an announcement made over the PA asking where the passengers with the underwater cameras were (I was traveling with another friend who did the same thing with his camera and housing). So we identified ourselves and were approached by a flight attendant.
The attendant explained to us that the underwater cameras were explosions risks as they may heat up too much and that we should have had pre-approval from the airline to bring them aboard. I tried to explain that the camera in it's housing was nothing more than a regular dSLR camera, much like many people have inside an aluminum case and that it posed no more a risk than any other dSLR camera than anyone is free to bring aboard. I tried to ask why they felt the underwater camera was more of a risk and was not given a reasonable explanation, just that it was "policy".
I've been aboard over 100 flights where I have hand carried my housing with camera in it without incident, probably with a couple dozen different carriers and have never had this happen before. Even with the outbound flight with Westjet it was not an issue.
I looked on Westjet's website regarding carry-on policies and found nothing on this issue. Has anyone encountered this problem?
The attendant explained to us that the underwater cameras were explosions risks as they may heat up too much and that we should have had pre-approval from the airline to bring them aboard. I tried to explain that the camera in it's housing was nothing more than a regular dSLR camera, much like many people have inside an aluminum case and that it posed no more a risk than any other dSLR camera than anyone is free to bring aboard. I tried to ask why they felt the underwater camera was more of a risk and was not given a reasonable explanation, just that it was "policy".
I've been aboard over 100 flights where I have hand carried my housing with camera in it without incident, probably with a couple dozen different carriers and have never had this happen before. Even with the outbound flight with Westjet it was not an issue.
I looked on Westjet's website regarding carry-on policies and found nothing on this issue. Has anyone encountered this problem?