Airport security and FORGOTTEN items!!

[Ben Towe]

I have carried a round of live ammo through in a carry on (unintentional) without issue, but that was in May 2001. Security was almost an afterthought at that time. Coincidentally, that was the last time I was on an airplane. I prefer not to be trapped defenseless in an aluminum can flying 600 mph with people who want to kill me. So I drive.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

To the OP, if TSA clocked this incident you may receive a civil penalty and fine in a month or so. That's been reported - if you search on it.

[Atbat82]

I travel a lot for work and about a month ago TSA found a smallish (3.5 inch) folding knife in my laptop bag. The agent was very nice and allowed me to return the knife to my car.

Scary part is that I been looking for the knife for about 18 months and in that time must have flown at least 150 times... Oops.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Hard to drive to Europe. Or get places in real time for business travel.

There is something called the 9/11 effect and driving. As people avoided the low probability of another hijacking and increased driving, it has been calculated that quite a few more died in traffic accidents.

The number is out there but I'm not looking for it.

[Brian Pfleuger]

There is something called the 9/11 effect and driving. As people avoided the low probability of another hijacking and increased driving, it has been calculated that quite a few more died in traffic accidents.

It's a fascinating reaction.

In 2001, there were 37,299 people killed in car accidents in the USA, with a further 3,031,000 injuries, an average of 1.5 deaths per 100 million miles driven.

In the last 5 years, there have been 45 airline fatalities and 11 serious injuries in the USA and something like 4.5 BILLION miles flown.

[wayneinFL]

The really funny thing about using 9/11 as a reason not to fly is that by the numbers, you're far more likely to die from a terrorist attack sitting at your desk than on a plane.

Of course there is the control factor. A lot of people are more comfortable with death (everybody does eventually) than they are in letting others have control over their lives. Perfectly understandable in a society that promotes and values individualism.

For me, the aversion to flying is mostly rooted in the invasiveness of being searched, the hassle of sorting and packing, limited amount of gear I can bring, and the time it takes to get to the airport and through security.

Unfortunately, the profession I chose has required that I travel by air. Anything more than a 10-12 hour drive and I have to get on a damned plane.

[Justice06RR]

There's a reason I don't EVER use my travel luggage as range bags. That reason is because I'm way too pretty for prison.


I agree with Gaerek... there's just nothing to be gained by trying to make the bags do double duty. If you get a screener or airport police who want to raise a stink, I expect it won't take too many lawyer hours to cover the cost of a set of quality travel luggage (I know what I paid for our Victorinox Werks 2.0 stuff, and it wasn't cheap, and even then it would probably only scratch the surface of legal fees for a very minor misdemeanor case).

Better to spend the money up front, have separate bags for each purpose, and never worry about a rogue magazine (or worse, pistol) getting found at the worst possible time.

Agreed!

the hassle of dealing with TSA and all that is just not worth it. I don't know how some people "forget" that they still had that loaded pistol or pocket knife in their carry on.

I have one or 2 bags specifically for range use. I never use them for travelling at all. As responsible adults we need to set a distinction between your luggage and your range bags. Its really not that hard. Buy separate bags for different purposes. NEVER MIX THEM UP! My 2nd range bag/Bugout bag is $40 at WallyWorld. In this day and age of airport security its nothing to mess with IMO.

[Ben Towe]

Hard to drive to Europe. Or get places in real time for business travel.

Agreed, but I'm too broke to vacation in Europe, and I'm a farmer, so no business travel for me. I would like to go to Pearl Harbor one day so I guess I'll have to suck it up and fly or take a really long cruise.

As wayneinFL said, a big part of it is control. I don't even like to ride with other people in a car.

[Charlie Fox]

I had a loaded magazine for my P32 in my computer bag when I went to AL for some training. Funny thing is it made it through TSA at SeaTac

[drail]

Wow. I read an awful lot of accounts of people going through SeaTac with prohibited items and not getting stopped.

[taz1]

Outch, I wouldn't even want to think about them finding any kind of firearm issue. They about had a heart attack over some keychain trinkets that had a knife blade in it. I dident even relise that they had a blade (about 1/2 inch) they were "flashing vegas" keychains.

[Gaerek]

Wow. I read an awful lot of accounts of people going through SeaTac with prohibited items and not getting stopped.

I have lots of stories of SeaTac, but I'm pretty sure the little agreement I signed before leaving TSA makes it illegal to mention most of them. You can find quite a few using Google.

Lucky they let you keep it. You've encountered a nice TSA worker (that's refreshing). I've met very anal Take Stuff Away/Touch Sensitive Areas employees.

The thing is, most TSA officers are actually nice, and want to help people. It's the bad eggs that get the most press. For most of my time in TSA (when I first started, I wanted to tow the party line...that changed pretty quickly) I really liked being helpful. I wouldn't break any rules (since my job was on the line) but I wanted to make people's experience good. Security sucks, we all know it. My goal was to get as many people through security with at least a neutral perspective of the process, and positive if I could. And, at least with the people I worked with, this was a common thing.