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We fly with Easyjet from Stansted to Grenoble/Lyon and I have always taken the dewar with me in the plane. We have cleared the dewar transport with Easyjet in advance and carry a letter from them relating to that. I also carry a copy of taylor-wharton certificate of compliance to IATA rules, as well as a letter in English and in French (really useful on the return trip) explaining the nature of our trip and the details of the dewar etc. The main thing has always been to patiently and politely explain everything in detail when asked for fifteenth time and to prepare things in advance. To avoid accidents with the dewar, I take it myself through the security and to the gate. As the dewar does not fit through the normal X-ray machine upright, I ask a security person to escort me to the bulky item X-ray and then back for scanning of my bags etc. You can request for security clearance as well from the airport security chief, but I tend not to. I have never had problems with the security staff, quite on the contrary, apart from a few odd looks after telling them why I carry that thing with me. At the gate, the dewar is put in the hold, usually into a compartment at the very front of the plane (was even asked to carry it to the plane myself wearing their fluorescent crew jacket - they did not allow me to keep the jacket though). At the other end, the airport staff take the dewar out and bring it to me as I get out of the plane. Oh, and to avoid stretching our precious arms carrying the dewar, we drag it along on a folding trolley (cat no. 477-4698 at rswww.com). Do not try taking the dewar on board a Ryanair flight, they simply refuse to taken them. Just to start the discussion with Ryanair, you need to buy a ticket first, after which you are told that you cannot take the dewar on the plane. Then you have to fight to get your money back, and as you might know, they even refuse to refund airport duty on cancelled tickets normally. Marko On Thu, 4 May 2006, Andy Purkiss wrote: > *** For details on how to be removed from this list visit the *** > *** CCP4 home page http://www.ccp4.ac.uk *** > > > On Thu, 2006-05-04 at 20:24 +1000, james whisstock wrote: > > *** For details on how to be removed from this list visit the *** > > *** CCP4 home page http://www.ccp4.ac.uk *** > > > > > > > In pre 9-11 days one of my mates transported a particularly precious > > dewar and samples with him personally - he was forced to buy a seat for > > it at the US end (apparently the conversation was'nt great, and they > > did'nt even let him have the dewars meal and drinks), and frankly I > > think he would be Guantanamo bound or worse if he tried it now. Are > > Eurostar Dewar friendly? > > > > Cheers > > > > James > > Eurostar seem to be pretty friendly for Dry-shipper carrying. They just > ask for a fax (to the head of security and the security control room on > +44(0)207 922 4473) detailing the trains to be used to be sent at least > a week before travel. They also say that you should contact the French > security (Direction de la Surete, 34 Rue du Commandant Mouchotte, 75699 > Paris, France; Fax 00 33 1 5325 3125) for the return trip. > > In the several trips I have made over the years, I've only been asked to > open the shipper once and they just had a quick look in (this was on the > return trip and so I didn't really care!). > > I also carry a letter from the head of department detailing was the > shipper contains and that it must be kept shut. > > On the last trip the security officer was a student at the college, so > there were no problems!! > > Also I should mention that I've only ever taken canes, not autosample > pucks. > > On the whole, I find that the train trip is much more relaxing than > flying, and I always know where the shipper is. The only recommendation > I have is not to come back on a Saturday in February, as everyone's > skiing equipment doesn't leave much room for dry shippers. > > Hope this is of some use. > > Andy Purkiss > > -- > Cat, n.: Lapwarmer with built-in buzzer. > +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ > | Andy Purkiss, School of Crystallography, Birkbeck College, London | > | E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] | > | Phone 020 7631 6869 (Work) or 0776 490 360 (Mobile) | > +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ > > > ____________________________________ Marko Hyvonen, PhD Department of Biochemistry University of Cambridge http://www-cryst.bioc.cam.ac.uk/~marko tel: +44-(0)1223-766 044 / 760 468 _______________________________________
