Metal Detector Wiped my Cards!!

[sunday driver]

Just got back from Frankfurt Main into Bristol (nice trip, nice route, nice Embraer, nice crew).

Paying for the car park at the machine in the (Impressive) Terminal, only to find that my Visa didn't work, nor my Barclaycard, nor my Mastercard, Amex, Gold Amex or Gold Visa.

Now I know times are tight at SundayDriver Villas, but I usually manage to keep at least one card in the black.

Thinking back to Frankfurt (been thro there many times before), this time, as well as the usual queue at security at the entrance to the departure hall, there was an additional check at the UK departure gates (D4 to D8) with another hand baggage X-ray and a personal search using hand-held metal detectors.

Wallet in trouser pocket, metal detector up the crutch. Zap.

Watch out, folks.

sd.

[wing_nut1]

Well what can i say..a very large stroke of bad luck!! hope you get some re-issued and maybe consider writing to the airport to tell them...you might not be the only one!! :eek:

[bealine]

It is a regular occurrence I'm afraid. I no longer carry my "cash machine" Switch card at work - I leave it at home and my visa cards have to be replaced every 4-6 weeks! The EMF (Electro Magnetic Field) from the security arches wipe the Ferrous strips!

[eng123]

Must say that having been through the metal detector whilst going to work for the last couple of decades I have never had this happen to me...Had you used Frankfurt-Hahn tho,things may have been different!!!:D

[Momo]

Never had this happen. I pass regularly through Frankfurt too. Perhaps Swiss magnetic stripes are stronger.

Momo

[PAXboy]

Momo - you mean that the Germans did not triumph...? :p

[MerchantVenturer]

"Now I know times are tight at SundayDriver Villas, but I usually manage to keep at least one card in the black."

sunday driver,

How do you manage that after paying the Bristol Airport parking charges?
:D

[under_exposed]

MerchantVenturer, try the airport tavern just down the A38. They used to do cheaper parking and a much better chance of your car being there when you return.

[MerchantVenturer]

Thanks under_exposed.

Actually, I usually get a lift or take a taxi.

I notice that one or two of the off-site parks are putting up their prices - the one opposite the one that you mentioned is a case in point.

The airport itself has recently reduced its prices by up to 25% but you have to book at least twelve weeks in advance - not always a practical proposition.

[sunday driver]

Merchant Venturer

Because Bristol International is STILL at the wrong end of Bristol, and there were jams on the M4 AND M5, yes, we were late, hence the airport car park. Which was full (Thursday afternoon - what it was like on Friday I hate to think) and still unsurfaced and TEN QUID PER DAY. It would probably have been cheaper all round to use the PA28 and leave it there for four days.

Yes things would have been different at Frankfurt Hahn - like an extra 2 hours on the autobahn to get to Oberstedten.

Ref the metal detector, I've also been through loads of both the "arch" variety and the handheld, without problems. I can only assume that the man on the handheld had turned the wick up to give us all a holiday treat.

sd

[mainfrog2]

Hmmm! This is interesting as I've gone through the hoop at LGW every day I'm at work for the past four years and never had a problem with my credit cards but recently the switch cards been a pig when checkout staff have swiped it.
I used to take a camera on trips but the film kept getting affected by the xray machine. Bought a digital camera and the instructions say to only put it through the xray machine as the magnetic hoops will wipe the flash card.

[MerchantVenturer]

Touch wood, I've never had a problem with either, plastic cards, photographic film, video tapes or, in the old days, cine film. Perhaps I've been very lucky.

This thread is certainly food for thought though.

I think BRS is there to stay, sunday driver. Moves in the past to set up at Filton have been thwarted by government enquiries. Although Filton has all the infrastructure, including excellent rail and motorway links and a longer runway with a better weather record, it also has a massive conurbation underneath its westerly landing runway with a regiment of potential NIMBYs

BRS only affects a handfull of villages, albeit some of these residents are vocal enough in the NIMBY stakes, usually the ones who have moved to the villages since the airport developed in a meaningful way.

I agree with you about the car parks though.

[Eboy]

I'd think if one put the credit cards in a small, metal, magnetic box (such as a tin for mints) it would shield the cards from any magnetic field that might erase them. The box could then go in your carry-on when it goes through the x-ray machine.

I don't think x-rays themselves could erase a magnetic strip. But, the magnetic field emitted by motors driving the belt might.

I've seen those envelopes to shield film and cameras. I guess they have lead in them, but lead will not shield a magnetic field.