Today’s paper has an article from the Reuters agency describing items confiscated yesterday at LA Intl Airport, “among the most stringent in the nation.” It includes tweezers, pencil sharpeners and manicure sets. A spokesman for the airport (which apparently can not speak for itself) said that items “…like disposable razors, manicure sets, and aerosol cans, including hairspray and deodorant, are no longer permitted to be in carry-on bags.” And later in the article, this - “A woman on vacation in Las Vegas said she was asked by airline officials in Ohio to remove a disposable razor from her carry-on before boarding. Another woman was told she could not carry a glass perfume bottle in her hand luggage.” It’s hard to imagine a woman comandeering a plane with a bottle of perfume and some hairspray, but I guess a lot of us are saying that we want tighter security, no matter what. Now let’s see just how long we can keep fidelity to our declarations.
If the airlines don’t want me to carry on anything that I won’t use before reaching my destination, they can guarantee to me that they will not mishandle my luggage and send it on a world tour while I wait for three days, despite being promised each day (after I’ve spent hours navigating voicemail systems and waiting on hold listening to their freaking advertising) that they’d have my clothes to me by 5 pm that evening.
Fool me once, shame on you. For most trips, my husband and I can pack everything we need in one carryon, plus we each carry a briefcase or a backpack. If there is a problem with that, they can change the carryon rules and I will comply. 'Till then, I’ll carry on what I damn well please (barring weapons, or objects that could be used as weapons, of course), and as long as I’m within the airline’s space limits. If this was a “loophole” that needs “plugging”, the airline would do so.
Of course, this trip, we’ll check a suitcase, 'cause we’ll be needing razors, toenail clippers, my Swiss Army knife, and my needlework. I shipped my bridesmaid dress ahead, though.
“t’s hard to imagine a woman comandeering a plane
with a bottle of perfume”
Glass can have some sharp edges…
Ihope I can bring my GameBoy.
And the bottle could be filled with gasoline instead of perfume. Hijackers have successfully used flammable liquids.
I’m all for airline security, but come on. This is getting ridiculous. So does this mean that anything that could conceivably used as a weapon can’t be carried on?
Paper can give a nasty cut. I can’t imagine a set of baby nail clippers causing as much pain as some paper cuts I’ve had. No books, magazines, or business cards.
Fingernails could be used as stabbing weapons (at least some of the ones I’ve seen). All fingernails will have to be trimmed closely before boarding.
My belt could be used to strangle someone. Everyone wear sweatpants. Or better yet, coveralls.
I could bludgeon someone with the Sunday New York Times, or any other large Metro newspaper. And it’s paper. No reading on flights again. Ever. Period.
My shoes have pretty hard soles. I could cause some damage there. Slippers for everyone.
I could also use my fists and feet as weapons. All passengers will have to be hogtied.
My stubble could get pretty abrasive; I could chafe someone pretty badly. I’d better wear a mask.
Camera flashes could be used to blind someone. Leave your $800 camera in your checked baggage, along with your $2k laptop, since you could conceal knives in the PC card slots and disk drive.
Credit cards could be used to slash (saw it in a movie). Leave your wallet in your checked baggage, too.
Don’t forget keys. No way are those getting on board. Leave those in your checked baggage, too.
So we have a bunch of passengers wearing coveralls and slippers, hogtied, with no reading material at all, with all their valuables in checked luggage, left to the whim of Neanderthal baggage handlers. Sounds fun. Maybe I’ll drive.
This is not a Great Debate on the desirability of airline security measures.
Thank you.
Sorry, I forgot myself. Perhaps I’ll start another thread. A Pit rant might be nice.
His carry-on lugguge is his briefcase, which contains his expensive laptop. He takes his briefcase with him to the restaurants that he oversees. So, his briefcase also contains items he needs at the restaurants, one of which is a meat thermometer.
You can bring scissors, razors, and the like as long as it’s not a carry on. You could probably bring needles on the plane though. You mean the tiny sewing needles, right? They wouldn’t really see a needle with an x-ray machine. Just bring like 2 of them inside of something. Of course no scissors on the plane. Syzygy, you are wrong, and not helpful. Nobody is going to hijack a plane with a credit card or face stubble. The guys who did it before had box cutting knives.
Jeni, that was an attempt at humor. I have already apologized. This was the wrong thread, in the wrong forum.
I hope it’s ok if I ignore all the,umm, hijacks and answer the OP. 
My experiments have shown that a plastic knife, like you get at fast food places, can cut threads. If fact, I didn’t really need the entire plastic knife. A one-inch broken off section was ample. And a tiny one-inch section of a plastic knife would seem to have a pretty good shot at getting through security. I am hoping that the OP was kidding with the mention of “threads”, this probably won’t won’t very well with twine or anything.