What is in your carry on

[mr_cellophane]

When I went away last month we had just come through security (leaving the UK) and were putting our shoes back on when I noticed security talking to the woman behind us.
She was with a family and a knife had been found in her carry on. No only was it a knife, but it was a lock knife which is illegal in the UK ! I think she asked if she could retrieve at a later date before being told that she should have had it in the first place.


It wasn't a very big knife, not much larger than a penknife, but still looked a bit big to be taking on holiday.

 

[ufkacbln]

Lots of us carry these illegal knives!

The Topeak Alien (and some other multi tools) have a knife blade that fulfils the criteria of a "lockknife" and should technically be illegal

 

[vernon]

Lots of us carry these illegal knives!

The Topeak Alien (and some other multi tools) have a knife blade that fulfils the criteria of a "lockknife" and should technically be illegal

I don't think we try to take them on aircraft in hand luggage though.

 

[gbb]

When working, i always carry a laptop, small bundles of cable and wires, connectors and electronic items in my hand luggage. Too expensive and important to get lost in my hold luggage. (if my luggage gets lost ,which it has before, i cant work without this communications equipment...so it stays with me.
The upshot is every time i go through security, it flags up...wires, electronics..all unusual to be carrying in hand luggage.

Running like the clappers in Madrid airport to make a connecting flight to S America once....of course, security...'can you open your bags please sir'...just when you dont need it.

 

[summerdays]

When working, i always carry a laptop, small bundles of cable and wires, connectors and electronic items in my hand luggage. Too expensive and important to get lost in my hold luggage. (if my luggage gets lost ,which it has before, i cant work without this communications equipment...so it stays with me.
The upshot is every time i go through security, it flags up...wires, electronics..all unusual to be carrying in hand luggage.

Running like the clappers in Madrid airport to make a connecting flight to S America once....of course, security...'can you open your bags please sir'...just when you dont need it.

I've told the story before but I once was a bit near the weight limit as I had 1 bag to check and 3 kids ... so 1 heavy bag rather than 3 or 4 individual ones that would have been OK. So on the way back from visiting rellies in NI I tried to lighten the load by putting the heavier stuff in hand luggage. I took various things and then gave my 8/9 year old a bag of flour. Her bag goes through the scanner and they see a large dense oblong object, some wires and a battery (MP3 player). So the entire bag had to be emptied ... and those parts were re-scanned and also swabbed!!! I'd already gone through and was dealing with the 2 year old that always set off the metal detector thing even though we would plan all his clothing to have nothing metal on it at all. She was very embarrassed.

Still still hasn't forgotten or forgiven me

 

[asterix]

Late last century my parents were able to carry a complete set of kitchen knives in their hand-luggage. Recently I had a small bungee cord taken from me and earlier some small nail-clippers. Have also had to explain why I was carrying aspirin .

When I flew back from Spain the day after the World Trade Centre attack, they made us remove 2 bottles of wine from hold baggage and carry them on in hand baggage. Still remember the funny atmosphere in the terminal.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Being a lush on the QTG I usually carry a somellier's corkscrew with me in my bag wherever I am, and a good opinel knife to cut the food that goes with the wine! Usually remember to put them in the hold when going by plane though.

 

[gbb]

Late last century my parents were able to carry a complete set of kitchen knives in their hand-luggage. Recently I had a small bungee cord taken from me and earlier some small nail-clippers. Have also had to explain why I was carrying aspirin .

When I flew back from Spain the day after the World Trade Centre attack, they made us remove 2 bottles of wine from hold baggage and carry them on in hand baggage. Still remember the funny atmosphere in the terminal.

I used to work with a guy who'd say (at the Christmas break)..'see you next year '
At the end of any decade, he'd say 'see you in the next decade '
1999...he said 'see you in the next century '

 

[redjedi]

About 6 months after the Trade Centre attacks, my brother and I were going to Mexico for 3 weeks to look at the ruins around the Yucatan Peninsula.

On the way out we were going via Canada to visit a friend for a few days. Traveling from Canada to Mexico we had to change at Miami, but neither of us trusting airports with our baggage we wanted to collect our bags and check them onto our connecting flights ourselves.

Unfortunately this meant we made it too late to check in to check our 40 litre rucksacks in as hold luggage, but to our surprise we were allowed to carry them on as hand luggage.

They both went through security without any problems despite both of us carrying amongst other things, leatherman knives.

But I had to stop and get frisked as I kept setting off the metal detectors. After about 10 mins of head scratching trying to work out what was setting it off, we realised it was the metal zips on my zip off trousers

 

[661-Pete]

When working, i always carry a laptop, small bundles of cable and wires, connectors and electronic items in my hand luggage. Too expensive and important to get lost in my hold luggage. (if my luggage gets lost ,which it has before, i cant work without this communications equipment...so it stays with me.
The upshot is every time i go through security, it flags up...wires, electronics..all unusual to be carrying in hand luggage.

It's quite common. I always put the laptop in hand luggage, and I see lots of other passengers do likewise. There's always a notice saying, take your laptop out of its case. I know the routine now, no problems, just the nuisance (very easy to lose small items like mouse or USB stick - make sure those are in the tray!)

 

[tyred]

A colleague in a company I used to work for had been on a work related visit to the USA, maybe about a month or two after 9/11 when security was extremely tight in the US. She left the company's US factory in a bit of a rush to get to the airport, went through security and searches, etc, got on the plane and discovered she had a Stanley knife (she had been using it at work) in her pocket. She considered handing it to the stewardess but was terrified she would be arrested for bring it on the plane in the first place.

 

[Lizban]

A freind of mine is a DI in the met police - he got stopped at Gatwick with handcuffs, extendable baton and CS gas!

 

[661-Pete]

A colleague in a company I used to work for had been on a work related visit to the USA, maybe about a month or two after 9/11 when security was extremely tight in the US. She left the company's US factory in a bit of a rush to get to the airport, went through security and searches, etc, got on the plane and discovered she had a Stanley knife (she had been using it at work) in her pocket. She considered handing it to the stewardess but was terrified she would be arrested for bring it on the plane in the first place.

All goes to show, all this security paraphernalia is a piece of p*ss anyway! If an innocent passenger can 'smuggle' a knife on board, so can al Quaeda...

And those white rubber gloves they always wear when they're going through your stuff.... makes me feel as if I'm 'contaminated' in some way. Intimidating and patronising.

They always display a transparent 'sin bin' of confiscated objects beside the security gate - presumably to warn off the passengers a bit more forcefully. There's invariably a 'confiscated' Swiss Army knife in the bin. Now I carry around my trusty Swiss Army all the time - indeed I'd be lost without it. A corkscrew - far better at the job than most supermarket corkscrews. A pointy 'thing for getting boy scouts out of horses hooves' I think it is - well it serves admirably for getting grit out of my tyres before they p****ure. A saw - for cutting back those awkward tree-size brambles strung across my path (pruning shears are not amongst my regular kit ). Tweezers - invaluable for .... well don't ask! . A toothpick - yes sometimes a bit of apple ends up in the 'wrong place'! A couple of screwdrivers - you always need one when someone's nicked yours - at a pinch a makeshift tyre lever. And of course two normal blades - infinite uses.

But at the airport I'm always doubly careful to remember to put it in the hold bag. I'm often terrified in case I forget...

 

[Slim]

I've been through Heathrow before with a 4 1/2 " angle grinder. I made sure it was at the top of the hand luggage as I thought it would be held back when they scan the hold luggage and definitely picked up on at the security check. As expected, the guy at the security check called me over. Before he could even ask I told him what it was and what I needed it for (cutting tiles at my parents' place in Cyprus). He just laughed and waved me through

 

[buggi]

I used to work with a guy who'd say (at the Christmas break)..'see you next year '
At the end of any decade, he'd say 'see you in the next decade '
1999...he said 'see you in the next century '

i bet he was waiting to say that for ages. can you imagine his face if you'd got it in first