I can’t believe you were able to bring a knife through twice. I’ve accidentally left my old Boy Scout knife in my luggage and it’s been found every time. I had to package it up and send it by mail back to my house.
One time they dinged me for a deburring tool. I didn’t bother sending that back home.
The worst was the time they confiscated my blister pack (still unopened) of cyanoacrylate Super Glue. (I was on a business trip to a customer, and brought stuff I might have to use to make running repairs to the instruments)
I asked why they couldn’t let the unopened container of 2 milliliters of superglue on board. Their reply: “It’s an irritant.”
My wife’s theory: Somebody had to glue something back together.
What I’m taking away from this thread is that I should go shopping for a new multitool in the bushes outside courthouses, arenas, and similar places.
Only time I ever had a knife confiscated it was the combination bottle opener and knife tool that came in a cheap nail clipper kit. The sharpened part of the blade was under 1 inch, because there was a bottle opener at the base of the blade. I asked the TSA guy, “really?” and he just said, “it’s a knife” or something like that.
My wife frequently wears a tactical hair clip, and has never had a problem.
I’m venturing a guess that if you hung out across the street and watched people, you might see someone stash something and then you go and retrieve it. But I don’t know how frequently this happens.
I also have a tactical pen in my pocket. It’s never been a problem with TSA. It supposedly can be used to break a car window but I’ve never tried it.
I’m reminded that once I was in the security line and remembered I had a knife. I did not have time to stash it somewhere so I watched people leaving (departing passengers, this was at a smaller airport). I spotted some guy who looked like he’d appreciated it, and as he walked by me I stopped him and gave him my knife. He was appreciative. Better him than the TSA.
I’m not sure if it’s this one, or a different one, but they seem to all be pretty similar. It doesn’t have a sharpened blade part, but the point and serrations are effective at cutting tape, yarn, and other light duty tasks.
In my case I had just boarded a cruise ship. My scuba bag was not brought up to my room but was diverted to secondary screening after being x-rayed. I was alerted to the problem and immediately thought I understood the issue. I opened up my bag and pulled out my non-dangerous Sea Snips. (You carry them instead of a dive knife in situations where you might need to cut away an entanglement hazard.)
Incidentally, it goes without saying that knives, including dive knives, are strictly forbidden on cruise ships.
So anyway, the cruise ship screeners accepted my explanation and sent me on my way with my bag. When I got to the room, I noticed a yellow tag that had been attached to my bag after being x-rayed that said “LMan.” That when I remembered the Leatherman multi-tool/knife that was also in my scuba bag.
I was flying out of Tyler, TX once and had an unused capacitor from a servo control system. 8.5" long, 3" diameter cylinder in my carry-on briefcase. I was expecting to get questioned about it. But… nothing.
I usually carry a knife. I try to remember to remove all knives from my person when i fly, but I’ve made mistakes. I’ve accidentally smuggled knives through airport security at least a dozen times.
Once, security stopped me because i had three pocket knives hidden in the bowels of my bag. They let me check the bag, and this would be unremarkable, except it was a return trip. (I’d previously used that bag in a driving vacation where i did some recreational whittling, and i guess the knives slipped into a fold in the bag’s fabric and i lost them.) Another time, i arrived in DC and found a large kitchen knife in my back pack. I’d previously brought it to the office to cut a birthday cake and forgotten about it. That time, i didn’t want to check a bag, and found a friend who has driven to DC to take it home for me. Another time i had a very small knife clipped with my keys inside my backpack. For some reason, TSA was examining food that day. The agent literally brushed aside my (tiny, not effective as a weapon) knife to remove my emergency chocolate bar, look at the chocolate bar, and then brushed aside the knife again to return the chocolate to my bag.
No, I’m not at all surprised by these stories.
I see signs up that they are going to cancel your TSA-pre status if they catch you with a “weapon”, and I’m honestly terrified by this. Eventually, I’ll mess up again and be caught.
I had to put a bag that had a machete and multiple fireworks through a luggage scan.
I had been hiking during chinese new year; the machete was for clearing brush. I totally forgot I had these things in my bag.
It was just for taking a high speed train though, not a flight. And there were no issues; either no-one looked or they didn’t care.
