So, you can’t take replica guns onboard. And you can’t take a leatherman onboard.
That bets the question: can you take a toy/imitation/cardboard leatherman onboard?
A little off subject but I’m truly amazed at all the dirty looks I get walking through airports in bare feet … saves time at the TSA checkpoint … I can be through before most other people have even taken one shoe off …
Is this a big problem at airport security? I’ve never seen a limousine in the confiscated materials barrel …
One time in Los Angeles in the 1990s, the wife picked up a really nice Swiss Army knife from an actual Swiss Army knife shop, one of those shops lining the way outside the Universal Studios theme park. A really, really nice knife. Fast-forward to 2010, we’re in Vietnam, and we’re about to board a flight from Danang to Ho Chi Minh City. Guess what she had inadvertently put in her carry-on bag? You got it. In vain I tried to get them to let us go back and put it in the checked-in bags, but you can imagine how that went. And the little security guy who caught the knife, his eyes lit up, and it went right into his pocket. Quite a treasure for him that day. The wife was pissed off.
But she picked up another one in the MoMA shop across the street from the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan two years later. Not quite as nice, but it has a unique wooden casing.
I was stationed at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego in the early 80’s at the medical clinic. Each and everyday Drill Instructors would come by with their pockets bulging with confiscated gewgaw. Most popular were Zippo lighters. Next was high end cologne. Once was gifted an entire bottle of Drakkar Noir. That was a treat that I used for 15 years. Asked what kinds of stuff did they get, and was told: “Everything from marbles to marijuana”. Figure that’s mighty comprehensive list.
You see those bins on display in some airports, showing all the stuff confiscated, and lighters are always heavily represented. And yet you go someplace like here in Hawaii, and souvenir lighters abound. You’re not supposed to pack them in your check-in or carry-on, so it’s pretty much of a useless item to buy up.
Lighters are allowed in the USA now, though. In Asia they get crazy, but, as least in China, the smoking lounges all have built-in lighters mounted on the walls.
What, you can take those on planes now?
At least as of 2012 you could buy TSA-confiscated stuff in NH for pennies on the dollar;
The USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, somebody could make a fortune by setting up shop near TSA checkpoints. You realize you have a forbidden article in your purse or pocket, pop over to the shop, buy a padded envelope and mail it to yourself. It doesn’t have to be a full service shop, it just needs to have enough to let travelers avoid getting swiss army knives, leatherman tools, lip balm, etc., confiscated.
Huh. Good to know. Not that I buy a lot of lighters.
Been done. Used one in I think it was in San Jose, CA. A dispenser with bags and a drop box. You also have to write down and deposit your Credit Card number. No people involved except to stock it up and collect what you left behind. Cost me 15 clams to mail home a $35 pocket knife.