geocaching / airline security

leek · Post by **leek** » 16 October 03 9:01 pm

Whoops... In a momentary lapse of reason, I today tried to take my caching bag on a plane as hand-luggage... Full marks to the security guys at the X-Ray machine coz they managed to spot my Leatherman, a screwdriver and the scissors and tweezers in my first-aid kit...

All items were confiscated, but because I had a Leatherman (lookalike) a special procedure came into play and I was allowed to lodge all the items for collection at the airport on my return... Otherwise all items would have been put in the bin...

I really didn't think about all the implements that I typically carry around for caching and the fact that several of them could be classified as deadly weapons...

Doh!

SNIFTER · Post by **SNIFTER** » 16 October 03 10:02 pm

And don't you feel naked without them. I like to knit on planes but that is no more cause my plastic needles are considered dangerous.

ideology · Post by **ideology** » 16 October 03 10:30 pm

what, are you knitting a gun?

ToolkiT · Post by **ToolkiT** » 17 October 03 10:45 am

I've had that happen to me too....
I removed my leatherman micro (with a whopping 4cm blade :/ ) from my key chain and put it in the toiletries bag. I put that bag in my checked suitcase.
Due some lack of communication my wife thought it was a good idea to take that bag out of the suitcase and into the carry-on luggage...
Imagine my surprise when the carry on went through the Xray machine and the lady told me I had a letterman. I said: yes in my suitcase, but how do you know... she looked at me an pointed at the corner of the carry on and said, look here you might find it there...
Instead of binning it they put it in a security bag and that was supposed to go on the plane and follow me to Amsterdam...

Arriving in Amsterdam (via Vienna) all arrived but that security bag...
I wasted much time to track it down in both Sydney, Vienna and Amsterdam, but no luck

I did get to go behind the scenes and they let me have a look in the bin of confiscated stuff... I've never seen so many nail clippers in my life!

Anothertime when I went to pick up my parents from the domestic airport I forgot I had my LM micro (a new one!) on me again...
Luckily there was a friendly lady at the Audi stand (btw why are they selling Audi's at the airport??) was willing to look after it for a while, but when I returned they closed down and my letherman was nowhere to be found.... luckily she gave it to another person that worked in that hall (didnt leave a note though) so I went to some random people asking 'do you by any chance have my leatherman?'

bmac · Post by **bmac** » 17 October 03 7:14 pm

I bought a Swiss army knife for a present for my brother at the airport in Switzerland. I bought it on the other side of baggage control/security check so had no option but to take it in my hand luggage. Had it in my bag for four flights in total on my way back to Oz without once being stopped. Of course, that was in August 2001. A couple of months later, on a flight to Melbourne, my Swiss army knife was sighted, and I had to check it through to be picked up at the other end.

bmac.

leek · Post by **leek** » 17 October 03 8:48 pm

The stupid thing is, all these security measures are totally pointless... At any of the cafes in the airport or even on board the plane you can easily gain access to a wine glass... one swift hand movement on the metal frames of the seats and this becomes a deadly weapon in anyone's book...

Well... I suppose they have to make it look as if they are doing something to enhance security...

SNIFTER · Post by **SNIFTER** » 18 October 03 7:55 pm

Knit 1 Purl 1 Knit 1 Purl 1.......Just making the barrel.........NAH
I knit bootees and mittens for our local hospital so that the new mums get a gift for their new babies.
Gives you that warm fussy thing.

swampgecko · Post by **swampgecko** » 18 October 03 9:53 pm

At times I have to fly Civie airlines to go and rescue my employer's aircraft... so to save weight in my bags I normally wear my safety boots, but guess what.. they are steel capped. NOT a good Idea anymore.... I am familar with the weight restrictions too for luggage... My last rescue out of the country was to Hawaii, we had a toolbok with us and 9 other bags of luggage, the toolboxk came in at 100grams OVER the weight limit. They were going to make us open it up and take out one spanner and carry the spanner as hand luggage... now this was Pre 9/11.... we convinced the checkin person that the toolkit had to stay sealed as it was an Oxygen ToolKit and it had to stay spotlessly clean...as Liquid Oxy and Oil and grease do not mix well at all. <P> But my favourite thing to do while flying on civil airlinersa is to read a series of Books by an Aussie author. They are called Airline Disaster.. and there are 4 in the series.. I get some strange looks when I pull them out of my bag...well I am in the business of keeping aircraft in the air safely I need to know why they crash so I might be able to prevent similar from happening to one of my aircraft.<P> Mrs Gecko has also requested that I be quiet about all the noises that I hear.. and that she doesn't want to be informed of how much the wings flex in flight.

Biggles Bear · Post by **Biggles Bear** » 19 October 03 12:12 am

Heh, anyone seen "Killing Bill" yet? Uma Therman carries her Samurai sword onto the plane with her and it's right there next to her seat, ready to grab in case of trouble.

Team Stargazer · Post by **Team Stargazer** » 19 October 03 1:39 pm

Biggles Bear wrote:Heh, anyone seen "Killing Bill" yet? Uma Therman carries her Samurai sword onto the plane with her and it's right there next to her seat, ready to grab in case of trouble.

You see, it's small mistakes like that which makes me start to doubt whether movies are really real!!!

ToolkiT · Post by **ToolkiT** » 19 October 03 5:24 pm

swampgecko wrote:At times I have to fly Civie airlines to go and rescue my employer's aircraft... so to save weight in my bags I normally wear my safety boots, but guess what.. they are steel capped. NOT a good Idea anymore....

Neither are normal hiking boots, when I wore those in SF airport they took me too the special queue and I had to do all but strip naked (OK, just empty my pockets, take off my shoes, lower my pants a tiny bit to show it was the zipper that set of the metal detector)...

Mind Socket · Post by **Mind Socket** » 20 October 03 12:17 pm

It's all crazy and silly. I had a teensy pair of first-aid kit scissors confiscated, but KitPie got through security and onto a flight to New Caledonia less than 12 months after 911 with a stanley knife (she forgot it was in there).

*rant about terrorism not really existing removed*