Airport security?? My experience.

[LandRvr Convert]

OK, so I flew from Atlanta to Albuquerque last week to see friends there.

Long story short, when I go through secuity, the TSA guy pulls out my bottle of cologne and says it's too big to be in my carry on luggage. He was friendly enough and suggested I go back to ticketing and check that bag. Although I did have time to do that, I was like, screw it, it's not worth the hassle, and besides, I rarely ever check bags, not even for two weeks in Europe.

So the TSA guy confiscates the cologne, and I'm on my way.

Anyway, I get out to ABQ and discovered I had a large Swiss Army knife IN MY CARRY ON! I had not packed it for this trip, it was just already in the bag. I couldn't believe it!! It makes you wonder what else they miss.

I love my Swiss Army knives and so I just mailed it back to myself. It's a shame. I used to always have a small Swiss Army knife on my keychain, but I would always forget it when I flew. :bash:

 

[jharris2]

Granted, they can't get everything, but you raise a good point. I wonder if all the blades made it hard to recognize on the x-ray, or if the screener just missed it.

 

[tomhaney1]

You're lucky they didn't find it! It's funny you say that because the girlfriend's coworker flies with one in here purse all the time on business and they have not found it in 2 years!

 

[alaskaman]

Gotta tell this one. I was flying out of San Diego after my daughters graduation and the TSA guy looks at my fingernail file and scissors and says "these are banned items". I say no problem you can toss em but be careful the scissors are sharp I never use them. He looks straight at me and says "are you being sarcastic sir?" I say no man the scissors are sharp be careful. And he gets real up close and says "I think that you are being sarcastic". I am about to unload on this little rat fck tool when over my right shoulder this guy who looks like a Menonite (beard, straw cap and all) says to the TSA guy in an accent "no man dyou are de one been da ass here...! TSA tool starts to walk back and forth in place sayin "I'm just doing my job I'm just doing my job". By this time I look around for the camera and I look at the straw hat guy and say thanks Buddy. He says "no problem". So TSA guy now is looking like someone pulled his plug and I say "Dude, It's 8 o clock in the morning, pull back on the espresso" and proceed to my plane. *still looking for the camera. =):

 

[Even Steven]

Well, at least they found your cologne..... Maybe they thought it could be used as a more deadly weapon than your Swiss Army knife:biggrin2:

 

[greyghost4x4]

Well I can see why they wanted to take away your cologne. Think about it, Axe is suppose to turn nice girls naughty, they don't want that happening on planes lol.

Evan

 

[LandRvr Convert]

Well, at least they found your cologne..... Maybe they thought it could be used as a more deadly weapon than your Swiss Army knife:biggrin2:

LOL!! Yeah no doubt man! It's funny, before 9/11 I would always carry a Swiss Army knife on board!! It's just a great tool to have.

I hope the TSA guy is enjoying my cologne!! LMAO!!

 

[efforts]

well that's crazy...
i tried sneaking in my swiss army knife three times flying.
they've never caught me not once.


_____________________________________________
Car Fanatics
Drive Me Crazy

 

[sharp4runr]

Can you expect the low paid/poorly trained robots to care about how their job is done? I actually enjoy flying in Asia because their Airport staff is very courteous.

 

[Mark86]

When I was going through security at San Diego, my brother was carrying two model airplanes that I purchased in his bag. Well I don't know what it looked like when the bag went through security, but the agent hand searched the entire bag. They told me that it looked like there was a switchblade in the bag. They were actually pretty nice to us throughout this situation.

 

[Fo_SheeZy]

Wow that's crazy, they take your cologne, but they miss the knife.. lmao..

 

[bonedoctor]

I lost several of those little Swiss army knives that attach to a key chain. The drug reps would bring them to the hospital and the knives were so small you'd forget about them on the keychain (they're maybe two inches long).....until you went through security and the security guy pulled it off the keychain.

I once traveled through the St. Louis airport with some simple tools to fix a friend's bike in Oregon. I had one of those three-pointed allen wrenches, a Cresent wrench (about 8 inches long, and a brand new Cresent brand "cresent" wrench), plus something else in my carry-on. Well, they guy spots the cresent wrench on x-ray, pulls it out of the bag and confiscates it....claims it could be used as a club! He doesn't say anything about the other tri-wrenches. There wasn't time to drop it off anywhere or go back and check it into my luggage, so my brand new Cresent brand wrench got thrown in the confiscated items box.

So, when I came back through the airport on my return trip, I stopped to talk to one of the security officers and vent a little. I explained the situation and he was pretty cool about it. He said he would have confiscated everything I had (tool wise) since there was no need for me to have tools on board the plane. He asked me which gate I came through when the wrench got confiscated, I told him, and he took me down to the confiscated item box. I said it was a Cresent tools brand cresent wrench and he found it, still in the box from a week earlier! You shoulda seen all the stuff in that box. So he walks me past the security area and hands my nice wrench back to me.

Then, funny thing, I traveled several times more and each time I'd get one of those cards noting that security had dug through my bag. Couldn't figure out why....then months later I checked a pocket of my suitcase.....and found that danged triangle allen wrench. I'd made sure to put it in my checked bag on the return trip after getting my Cresent wrench confiscated...and had forgotten to take it out of the side pocket. It flew with me one several trips...each time triggering a search of my bag since I'm sure it look very strange on x-ray.

 

[LandRvr Convert]

wow great story and how cool is that getting your wrench back a week later!!

 

[bonedoctor]

wow great story and how cool is that getting your wrench back a week later!!

Yeah, I was happy to get back my brand new Cresent wrench. There was the craziest jumble of stuff in that box and he said it was supposed to be emptied on a regular basis and that he was surprised that the wrench was still in there.

I'm still trying to figure out what it is that I could successfully club with that wrench!

Back in 1990, I flew into Geneva, Switzerland and this was right before the Gulf War. Tensions were kinda high. We flew into Paris, then walked across the tarmac and boarded another plane to take the short flight to Geneva. This was for security purposes. We were told to take everything with us because if anything was left, it would be BLOWN UP!

So, while I'm in Switzerland, I buy this big ol' Swiss Army knife and a music box mechanism for a music box I was building. On my return flight, I thought security was very high....they asked me repeatedly if anybody had given anything to me to carry, if I had bought any electronics while here, if I had any electronics worked on while here, etc. They asked me if I had anything that could be construed as a weapon and I told them about the knife. All they told me was to not take it out of my carry-on during the flight!

So I make it to Paris and my carry-on is going through security again. Something in my bag catches their eye and they start speaking to me in French. I didn't understand enough, so they started digging through my bag. Turns out it wasn't the knife that raised the concern (again!), but the music box mechanism looked awfully strange on the x-ray. They dug it out, looked it over, put it back and I went on my way.

And that was high security, 1990-style!

 

[jharris2]

And that was high security, 1990-style!

Yep. I used to fly all over the world with a Leatherman multi-tool. Before most everyone adopted the RJ-11 modular plug for telephones the Leatherman was great for ensuring I could get work done in a hotel room. If airport security questioned it (I don't generally check luggage), I would open it up to reveal only the pliers and they would let me go. The technique never failed, even on international trips.

But no more -- they Leatherman stays home, and my goal for getting through security is to be as boring as possible. If the TSA guys can't remember me 10 seconds after I pass through, then I've accomplished my goal. Get through security quietly and go to the gate.

Only time anyone really considered taking away the Leatherman was in Rome -- and it wasn't because of a security risk, but you could tell the young security officer had never seen one and really wanted it!! He reluctantly let us go because he couldn't find a good reason to confiscate it.