Photography Is Allowed on PANYNJ Airport Property
Not all good news though.
After speaking at a public PANYNJ board meeting and communicating for months with the PANYNJ and being told that they would make a revised, public rule to share for us to have about photography on airport property, they have changed their minds about making it public. But, the rule is there and it says we are good to go, as we always were.
How they intend to have a rule that they expect people to follow without making it public is beyond me.
But I was assured, and showed the "internal" rules that state that photography around and in airport property is allowed with the exception of obviously sensitive areas like security checkpoints, or specific locations at determined by lessees.
When receiving complaints, Port will usually reply with the following (this is a direct quote from a Port official that I was given permission to share):
Quote:
On behalf of The Port Authority of NY & NJ, please accept my apology for your inconvenience. Generally speaking, there is no policy prohibiting photography in public areas of the airport, although restrictions exist within certain areas, such as security checkpoints. Airport employees are trained to watch for suspicious activity, and it appears in this case that an employee may have overstepped their authority in an effort to help provide a more secure airport environment.
So for now, this is all that we have to go by in terms of actual rules.
Moving forward I will urge anyone who is asked to leave a location for taking photos in a place that seems as though it is allowed based on the above, to file a formal complaint. PANYNJ doesn't realize how often this is happening, or the complaints are not climbing high enough up the ladder. I will take care of that.
[UPDATED 8/19/13] The best way to file a complaint is to go to http://www.panynj.gov/feedback/ and use the feedback form. Because the actual "comments" box is limited to 250 characters, I recommend you first write a full account of your encounter in a new Spotter Blotter thread here on the forums, and then on the PANYNJ comment box, briefly summarize it, and provide a direct link to your forum thread's statement.
Always remember that what is posted on the forum is PUBLIC and will be read by people...this includes your replies. ALSO keep in mind that the feedback form can be used to report GOOD encounters too! Let's give the guards and officers credit when they are treating us right!
Thanks, guys.