View Full Version : Leatherman Micra 1 - TSA 0
I just got back from Florida. I had to go thru the metal detectors and had my luggage pawed and X-rayed by a pack of TSA employees. Its like a zoo going thru the security line. At one point I was going thru the walk-thru metal detector and a TSA employee steps out right in font of me to block me and asks to see by boarding pass and ID.
Well anyhow I thought I had put my Leatherman Micra in my check-in bag but when I got home I found it in my carry-on bag the next morning. It had been through their X-ray machine and they did not find it. Maybe in part because it folds up on itself and does not look like a knife under the X-ray or maybe because it is so small. Don't know.
Funny thing is that I bought this knife to replace my Swiss Army knife that had also been thru the security line about 5 years ago and was never found. This time I had mistakenly left it in my pocket and when I got up to the metal detector I went to take my wallet out of my pocket and to my surprise I found my swiss army knife. Just them the woman at the metal detector handed me a bowl to put the things from my pocket in so I put the knife and my wallet in the bowel and she sent it around the metal detector without ever looking at what I had put in the bowl.
Panzer
LIhikers
03-07-2008, 08:12
I don't know who sets the standards for the TSA, but on a recent trip i forgot to put my lip balm in the plastic, ziplock, baggie with my other stuff. So when I emptied my pockets the TSA agent went to great lengths to tell me that I had to put that in a ziplock baggie and handed me one. I put the lip balm in the bag, and then put the bag in my pocket........so how does that make anyone safer?
Two years ago I slipped on an ice field above tree line on the CDT in southern Colorado and wrenched my back horribly. I walked in pain, mostly hunched over and, with great difficulty, made it to Pagosa Springs. At the airport, I checked my bag but decided to keep the hiking staff as I really needed it to get around. This was an older Tracks Travel staff, no longer made,in two sections that screwed together into a staff 56" long. On the end is a large carbide point, covered by a removable plastic shield and rubber 'paw' pad. This point, when bared is quite menacing looking. Click on "spike" here:
http://www.trackspoles.com/travel.asp?Action=SherlockTravelStaff
At the airport, I put it on the conveyor belt and hobbled, barefoot, through the metal detector, then picked up my watch, wallet and change from the tray and the staff at the end. Security never even questioned it, or even noticed the spike, which is considerably more dangerous than the small 'box cutters' which the infamous 19 used on 911. I am not sure I would use TSA and security in the same sentence
well, thats the problem with paying High School Graduates minimum wage to "Protect our Skies". We really need to take Israel's lead on this one and start doing security like they do. Then we wouldnt have to worry about "terrorism" as much as we do.
Dances with Mice
03-07-2008, 09:38
I have a hobby that has an annual festival, there's some debate about whether jugglers hold festivals or throw festivals. For fun & games a list was circulated containing the 67 items (http://www.dot.gov/affairs/tsa0702.htm)specifically prohibited from aircraft cabins and we were to mark off how many we saw being used in stage performances during the fest. It was ruled unfair to count items used on-site but off-stage. By my count I got 34 with some items open to interpretation or double marking - for example, how many could you tick off for a sword swallower act? If he crosses himself before the finale does that make it a 'religious knife'? And what is a 'kubaton', anyway?
Everyone at the fest had an airline security story to tell.
tlbj6142
03-07-2008, 09:56
I'm not sure the Micra's blade is long enough to make it an item of interest. At one point, they did take all blades, but now I believe those less than 2"(?) are now allowed.
I'm not sure the Micra's blade is long enough to make it an item of interest. At one point, they did take all blades, but now I believe those less than 2"(?) are now allowed.
That would make perfect sense given that box cutter blades are usually less than 2".
Anyway, I try to hide my leatherman tool in my turbin.
Monkeyboy
03-07-2008, 12:19
That would make perfect sense given that box cutter blades are usually less that 2".
Anyway, I try to hide my leatherman tool in my turbin.
Didn't you know that they only frisk you if you are an elderly woman in a wheelchair?????
orangebug
03-07-2008, 12:39
Actually, I saw just that happen the weekend before 9/11 down in Fort Walton Beach's airport. The lady was mad that they couldn't Sharon Levy but that they could hassle a little old lady.
I don't know who sets the standards for the TSA, but on a recent trip i forgot to put my lip balm in the plastic, ziplock, baggie with my other stuff. So when I emptied my pockets the TSA agent went to great lengths to tell me that I had to put that in a ziplock baggie and handed me one. I put the lip balm in the bag, and then put the bag in my pocket........so how does that make anyone safer?
Were they worried about catching germs from the lip balm?
Panzer
remember - "...you don't professionalize until you federalize..."
:-?