Pocket knife vs TSA

[Tom Bender]

We hadn't flown in a few years and forgot some things. My wife carried a tiny multifunction knife in her purse. It had a 1" blade. TSA took it. In my shaving kit I had a pair of scissors. They measured and said "Ok the blades are not over 4" These were both in carry on baggage. In checked luggage the rules are much different. Camping gear (tent stakes, cookware, stoves without fuel) all ok, as are golf clubs and fishing gear. Most kinds of electronics are fine in the cabin and in the hold. I feel much safer with odd rules in place.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I’m completely fine with them keeping knives and sharp objects off planes, but the scissors thing doesn’t make sense. I could do some serious damage with a pair of 4” scissors.

[roger wiegand]

Don't underestimate the political power of the knitters.

Yup, the scissors exception makes no sense.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Not too long after 911, my father in law forgot to leave his cherished Victoranox at home for an international flight out of Boston Logan. He discretely buried it in a potted plant in the airport and retrieved it on his way home. He cherishes his lucky knife even more.

[Stan Calow]

Not too long after 911, my father in law forgot to leave his cherished Victoranox at home for an international flight out of Boston Logan. He discretely buried it in a potted plant in the airport and retrieved it on his way home. He cherishes his lucky knife even more.

What a clever idea! Hats off to him for thinking of that.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Any discussion of TSA always leads me to play the song Airline Agent by James McMurtry.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Not too long after 911, my father in law forgot to leave his cherished Victoranox at home for an international flight out of Boston Logan. He discretely buried it in a potted plant in the airport and retrieved it on his way home. He cherishes his lucky knife even more.


I did exactly the same with my Myerchin Captain’s knife. I buried it outside in the bushes!!! It was there when I got back.

[John K Jordan]

… I feel much safer with odd rules in place.

The old rules: At one time I made numerous trips to a DOE facility in DC. I was software engineering but invariably got asked to pretty please take a look at some hardware problem or another so I always carried a small toolbox with pliers, wire cutters, etc and some common PC parts.

No airline agent ever batted an eye until one trip home when a guard said I couldn’t take the tools on the plane. “What if you take some things apart and damage the plane?" When I promised I wouldn’t he said “OK then, go ahead.”

[Dave Anderson NH]

Many years ago before 911 but after a rash of plane hijackings my wife and I went out climbing in the Tetons. On the way back at airline check in I was forced to remove my 50m x 11mm climbing rope from outside my carryon backpack and somehow force it into my checked luggage. On the same flight another climber was allowed to board the plane with his iceaxe as a walking stick and place it in the overhead bin. Go figure.

[Jerome Stanek]

A friend of mine has pilot neighbors and right after 9 11 they had to go through the same TSA as passengers. The one complaind because they took his small scissors because they were dangerous. He said that made a lot of sense as he was the pilot and if he wanted do cut someone he would just turn around and grab the fire axe.

[Jim Koepke]

Bureaucrats make laws, not sense.

I seldom fly, but I remove my P-38 can opener, screw driver and bottle opener from my key ring when I do.

497843

I've had the can opener and screwdriver on that key ring for at least 50 years and the key ring, given to me by my father, for over 60.

One time I put my keys in my checked luggage and the airline lost it for a couple days on my return flight. I couldn't get into my house or drive my car.

jtk

[Karl Andersson]

3 weeks after 9/11 I had to take a trip for work. The airports were still screwed up then, and I probably cut the time too close, so when I checked in it was less than 90 minutes before my flight and the airline wouldn't allow me to check my bag like I always did and I had to carry it through TSA screening. As I was standing in line, I realized I had a Victorinox knife in one outside pocket and a pair of pointy 3-inch scissors for beard trimming in my shaving kit. I thought "oh well, let's see if they notice".

My bag went through the X-ray and I watched the TSA officer. She stopped the belt with my bag inside and stared at her screen, and I could tell she was rewinding or re-looking several times, Then she called another officer. Then they asked whose bag it was as they removed it from the belt and I raised my hand. I was told to stay where I was. A supervisor was called and he conferred with them, then they waved over the State trooper who usually cooled his heels on a high chair at the security exit. They all talked and then came over to me with the bag.

"Sir, do you have any sharp objects in your bag?" I said yes, I think there's a Swiss army knife in that pocket and there are scissors in my shaving kit. "Anything else?" I said well, if you are asking, then there probably is, but I have used this bag for work travel for 15 years and the side pockets might have some old stuff.... "Sir, step over here and keep your hands away from the bag." I am a safety manager, and in those days I did a lot of field inspections, training, onsite assistance, etc., so I had accumulated a variety of pointy things. The TSA went through the whole bag, repeatedly re-scanning to locate the following: Two first aid kits with metal pointy tweezers, one safety promotional pocketknife I had forgotten about from 1996, one metal corkscrew, one 6-inch metal nail file, beard scissors, the Victorinox Knife, one compact Leatherman tool (with knife blade), and just for good measure, a promotional miniature (4-inch) metal pry bar. The supervisor was beside himself that I was trying to bring 9 prohibited items on the plane. Only by showing the government ID I was issued at Ground Zero, my other Government ID, and my explanation that I always checked my bag normally did they de-escalate. They said I could throw it all away or go back and re-book a flight that allowed me to check my bag. I chose the latter and flew 2 hours later, and cleaned out my bag when I got home.

[Derek Meyer]

Last time I flew was 2019, out of Spokane, WA. I remembered to put my keyring, which has a Leatherman Squirt multi-tool, in my checked luggage, but I had a pair of fingernail clippers in my pocket that I forgot about. TSA made me throw them away. I'm not sure how I could hold a plane hostage with a pair of fingernail clippers, but hey.

[Rick Potter]

I have never heard of anyone worried about a simple sharp pencil being use as a weapon. It could be very damaging.

[Sam Force]

Remember "The Godfather" a simple pair of glasses can be deadly in the right hands!! :eek:

[Bruce Wrenn]

Last flight we WERE to take (wife got sick while waiting for plane,) I had a bag of Southern Biscuit mix and some country ham in my bag, which we were taking to her brother's house. Both bag of country ham, and biscuit mix caused a problem. Country ham because on X-ray, it looked like explosives, and baking powder in biscuit mix set off explosive's alarm. After searching bag, it was cleared, but they took my shoes to check them for explosives. After about 30 minutes, they decided I was free to go. Only one problem, they had lost my shoes. Finally they found them and returned them to me. As we were waiting at the gate wife became SICK. Gate agent said to rebook later, as they didn't want her on plane throwing up. Ah such fun. FYI, two of our kids work for different airlines, so we fly nonrev status.

[John Ziebron]

A short time after 9-11 I was flying back home from Alabama with a couple of coworkers. When we had to empty our pockets one of my coworkers had hand nail clippers. This was the kind that had the little swing out file that was about an inch long. One of the TSA guys took it and bent the file back and forth until it broke off. He then handed it back and said "you're good to go now".

About a year later when I was flying out of Detroit Metro Airport I parked, as usual, in a multi-tiered parking structure across from the terminal. I was running later than I wanted to be and was closer to the terminal than my vehicle even though I was still in the parking structure when I remembered that I still had my trusty Swiss Army knife in my pocket. Not seeing anybody around I tipped up one of the large trash cans and put my knife underneath it. This was the kind of can that to empty it they take the lid off and lift out the plastic bag so I was hopeful that my knife would be safe. A few days later I was happy to retrieve it.

[Jim Koepke]

Remember "The Godfather" a simple pair of glasses can be deadly in the right hands!! :eek:

In high school we used to joke, "never hit a person with glasses, they make a lousy weapon."

Leave it to the Godfather to mock us and prove us wrong.

jtk

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I was in Haiti and the guy ahead of me was trying to bring a knife on board, and the security guard kept saying no. Ultimately, money changed hands, and the man was allowed to bring the knife on the plane.

I once was in a hurry and threw my huge “how to speak Spanish” book into my carry-on and piled my chargers on top of it. It got pulled, and they shut down the entire security area. They brought in dogs. Finally the supervisor came to talk to me and I told him what was in the bag. He said, “let me just show you how it looks on the screen,” and if I were filming a movie and needed to come up with what a bomb would look like on a scanner, that would have been the image. Finally, they opened the bag, saw the book and the charging cables, and let me go. The flights were delayed because I shut down security for 20 min. Everyone kept looking at me suspiciously.

[Rich Engelhardt]

The old rules: At one time I made numerous trips to a DOE facility in DC. I was software engineering but invariably got asked to pretty please take a look at some hardware problem or another so I always carried a small toolbox with pliers, wire cutters, etc and some common PC parts.

No airline agent ever batted an eye until one trip home when a guard said I couldn’t take the tools on the plane. “What if you take some things apart and damage the plane?" When I promised I wouldn’t he said “OK then, go ahead.”Before I retired, I had a service call (computer) at one of the local courts. They refused to allow my tool kit, despite my asking how they expected me to fix anything without tools.
They even refused to allow the clerk of courts to transport the tool kit.

I had to make do with the very basic set of screwdrivers the clerk kept in his office.

[Roger Feeley]

After 9-11 I traveled from Kansas City to St. Louis on business. There is a machinist supply near where I stayed and I bought a small granite surface plate that I carried on the flight back. I had a heck of a time trying to explain that it was a just a slab of granite, that there was nothing in it because it was just a solid slab of granite. I held up the security checkpoint for about 5 minutes while I had a maddeningly circular conversation with the officer.

[Patty Hann]

After 9-11 I traveled from Kansas City to St. Louis on business. There is a machinist supply near where I stayed and I bought a small granite surface plate that I carried on the flight back. I had a heck of a time trying to explain that it was a just a slab of granite, that there was nothing in it because it was just a solid slab of granite. I held up the security checkpoint for about 5 minutes while I had a maddeningly circular conversation with the officer.
Maybe he thought you were going to heave it through the window and decompress the entire cabin.:rolleyes:

[carey mitchell]

We hadn't flown in a few years and forgot some things. My wife carried a tiny multifunction knife in her purse. It had a 1" blade. TSA took it. In my shaving kit I had a pair of scissors. They measured and said "Ok the blades are not over 4" These were both in carry on baggage. In checked luggage the rules are much different. Camping gear (tent stakes, cookware, stoves without fuel) all ok, as are golf clubs and fishing gear. Most kinds of electronics are fine in the cabin and in the hold. I feel much safer with odd rules in place.


When I retired 9 years ago, I finally cleaned out my briefcase/computer bag; its a rather large one.

Got everything out and vacuumed it. Then turned it upside down and out fell a small Buck knife with 2 blades. I had assumed it lost about 10 years prior. It had apparently gotten under the fabric seam at the bottm and laid there all those years.

I flew an average of 90 flights per year and up to 115 per year during that time and it was never noticed, despite being X-rayed hundreds of times, and searched numerous times.

[Jim Allen]

I'm a slow learner, l've lost 2 pocket knifes at airports, 1 at an air show in So. Cal, and one at the hoover dam, never did check eBay for them.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I have carried the same model Gerver pocketknife for decades! I love it! It sharpens easily, it's reasonably priced, it's a lock-back and it's not too bulky thus you can carry it in a pair of men's dress slacks without it being noticeable. We have a daughter who has retired from one airline and is now working for a competitor so we can fly cheaply. We travel a lot, a lot more than I care to admit but I want to keep family members and my wife happy. I have contributed more pocketknives to be sold for the TSA Christmas parties than I care to disclose. I have learned to think about it as I approach an airport with my bag and place it in a zippered pocket on the bag. I am an old country boy and feel naked without my pocketknife.

[Bruce Page]

Any discussion of TSA always leads me to play the song Airline Agent by James McMurtry.

This is on my travel playlist..
https://davidmbailey.com/track/2192392/airport-song-aka-the-butt-song

[Stan Calow]

Sometimes, it's not that they think it's something dangerous, they just cant see through it on the x-ray, so it could be concealing something that is bad. Thats what they told me when I went through the screening in Milwaukee airport with a wheel of cheese that I bought in the airport gift shop. They knew what it was from experience, but had to check anyway.

Same thing with a container of foot powder. They cant tell if it's liquid or not on the x-ray.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

This is on my travel playlist..
https://davidmbailey.com/track/2192392/airport-song-aka-the-butt-song

Some how David Bailey slipped passed my radar. I will enjoy checking his work out.
His story is sad and amazing.

[Bruce Page]

His Rusty Brick Road album is mellow and laid back.

Yes, he was taken from us too soon. One day, we will beat cancer.