I know many of us have been stopped and questioned about items where we scratch our heads wondering why it was a problem. Why not tell us what and where it happened.
I'll start.
1) A roll of mini duct tape (Gatwick Airport)
2) A 0.5 oz (19ml) bottle of hand sanitizer (Guernsey). They had to ask a supervisor if it was okay. Granted, the bottle label was in Norwegian)
Don't expect any of it to make any sense, Frank. It's really just Performance Art.
Never any problems with airport security, usually a breeze, except once at Gatwick in 2017 when the guy saw the container of Purell Hand Sanitizer, 1 fl. oz. and questioned it. He gave me a little plastic bag. I thanked him.
At CDG I was suffering from food poisoning an was dehydrated. After check in and going through security, we were bussed to a remote terminal after going through gates at Terminal 2 and there was no where to get water. No water fountains, no place to purchase a bottle. In the terminal I was able to purchase two bottles. One went into my carryon and I was sipping on the other as we got to the gate. A squat, rotund and very unfriendly gate attendant said I could not take the bottle to the plane. I tried to explain I just bought it 20 meters from where we stood. She got very nasty and I was feeling very sick. I lost my temper and flung the bottle through the open door and it actually struck the nose of the plane. She stood back in horror and let me board. Fortunately I had the other bottle. And all this happened well after security screening.
Moral of the story? Don’t eat Chinese food on New Year’s Eve in Paris.
They took my jar of Marmite at Gatwick. I told them it's clearly a paste, not a liquid. They didn't agree.
The security at Porto Portugal confiscated a sealed can of special dog food to be used in case my husband’s guide dog became ill on our trip. Two prior airport security people let it go through prior to Porto. As long as we bring it with us, the dog is fine.
This last March flying home from CDG to San Francisco on Air France I was pulled out of line 3 times for enhanced security screening.
3 times!
I travel with a c-Pap and I think that this was the problem but it was hard to tell. I also got wanded and the c-Pap was in my carry-on which I clearly showed everyone.
I was the absolute last person to board the plane because of this and I was afraid that there would be no space in the overhead bins for my small c-Pap case (my only carry-on) but luckily there was room for it.
This all made me a little anxious but the free glass of champagne onboard before the dinner service (this in steerage) soothed it all away!
I don't remember which airport, but in Europe in 2015, my 3-1-1 bag was emptied and the screener read the ounce size of each item. All were approved sizes.
Olive wood cutting boards we had bought as gifts for the folks back home, Florence airport. When DH asked why he couldn't board with them, the guard picked one up by the handle and mimed using it like a hatchet.
Obviously I must be missing the point here, but a passenger wanting to take duct tape onto an aeroplane seems like just the sort of thing that might reasonably trouble a security officer and want them to check what you were up to.
Don't think they should care about the duct tape. I carry a small roll when I travel. I have used it to patch shoes when the sole separated, cover tears in my suitcase after I was forced to check it, holding curtains shut in my hotel room in northern Norway so I could sleep, and several other things. The roll by itself was light and not very hard so can't see it being used as a weapon.
So far I have not been asked about that by security or really anything else. I have my issues when going through customs and immigration on return to the US. But that would be a different topic so I won't list those issues here.
Olive wood cutting boards we had bought as gifts for the folks back home, Florence airport. When DH asked why he couldn't board with them, the guard picked one up by the handle and mimed using it like a hatchet.
And what about hard-sided carry-on bags? Laptops? Numerous other things that could knock someone out?
Phillip, wow.
I have documented here how I am frequently having some issue with security. One time it was my watch and another I was randomly selected for screening.
And I do dumb stuff like forgetting to take everything out of my pockets, or wearing a money belt. For example, chapstick in my pocket. So yeah I'm a doofus.
In my case, it was a 16 year-old bottle of scotch that I carried on to my flight from London after purchasing it in a duty-free shop at Heathrow on the "safe" side of the security wall. We connected through Vancouver on our way to SEA, and de-boarded the plane through a hermetically sealed hallway that led directly to Vancouver airport's U.S. security checkpoint (which is still inside the secure zone of the airport). So it was literally impossible to arrive at the next checkpoint with anything that I was carrying from my London flight to not be in compliance for being a carry-on.
Yet I was told the bottle didn't comply with the 3.4 oz rule. Duh! But this bottle has been in the secure zone the entire time I possessed it, and in fact, it still IS in the secure zone, I tell them, so why the double jeopardy? Sorry, rules is rules, they tell me. They did offer me the opportunity to check my carry-on on-the-spot, but since it was a tight connection, I didn't have time to do that and actually make my connecting flight. So I left a perfectly good bottle of scotch on the counter, and hurried to make my next flight. I'm sure the folks at the checkpoint disposed of it properly, since it was such a grave threat!
But they never were able to explain how an item which was apparently harmless enough to be carried onto a 10 hour trans-Atlantic flight, was transformed into such a huge security threat simply by being taken off that airplane (while still in the secure zone), and then could somehow magically be transformed back into an inert object simply by being checked and placed in the cargo hold of the next plane.
Leaving Puerto Vallarta, my aluminum crochet hooks were confiscated. They were smaller than a ballpoint pen! Now I travel with plastic ones.
When you bought that bottle of scotch (whisky?) in the duty-free shop at Heathrow, they likely sealed it in a marked bag and maybe delivered it planeside for you to carry on. You were allowed to carry it on that one plane, but that doesn’t mean it would be allowed through security at a different airport, especially for a flight heading to the US.
Lots of airport security systems do not trust other systems and do not allow bottle of liquids through that have been purchased elsewhere. At Heathrow, for example, you will always be re-screened before boarding a connecting flight, no matter where your flight came from now how well you were screened there. I have seen people forced to give up water bottles they carried off their last flight, unless they were totally empty.
It may not be logical, but they make up the rules. Sorry about your scotch.
I always get stopped at Heathrow - no idea why - my items are always in compliance, but happens almost every time I fly through that airport.
Last time through I got enhanced screening because of a metal cage on my finger - sliced it badly day before leaving on trip and dr. told me to keep it on for a while so the finger could close up a bit. First they told me to remove it and I explained that that wasn't going to happen (had note from dr.) so got the pat down and wand, etc., etc. Security guy asked me what happened and I gleefully gave him the gory details - heh heh!!
I never figured this one out - they took my chapstick at the Rochester NY airport
it was a 16 year-old bottle of scotch
I left a perfectly good bottle of scotch on the counter
Not even enough time to get a swig before running for your flight?
Truly sad
London. I was told "You have something very dense in there." It was a damascene nativity scene I had purchased in Toledo, Spain, boxed and wrapped which I of course had to undo. Another time it was a roll of quarters (fun to give to European kids).
It may not be logical, but they make up the rules.
Hence my rant. The oddest part to me, purely from a safety perspective, was how willing they were to have that suddenly-oh-so-dangerous item placed into the cargo hold of an aircraft with no additional scrutiny. It's almost like nobody really thought it through (oh who am I kidding, as someone said above, it's all security theater... of course nobody really thought this through).
And no, it was relatively early in the day, and I was with my kids, so I didn't even get a swig.
This happened on a US domestic flight at BWI in Baltimore. I bought a sealed package of fudge from an Amish market and was bringing it home. The agent asked what it was, so I told them it was fudge. However, the market's label said it was cheese. The agent said, "this says it's cheese, we'll have to x-ray it." OK, fine. They x-rayed it and gave it back to me. At least I had a snack on the plane....
My wife had a 1” Swiss Army knife confiscated in April yet in business class they hand out 3” long metal knives and forks! Can these people even spel ‘logic’?
I’m sure there are more but these stick in my mind ...
1) Spices from The Spice Shop in Milwaukee - Security just could not figure out what was showing up on the x-ray.
2) Quart sized ziploc bag with a slider tab - Heathrow security wasn’t convinced it was the right size so they sent me back to get one of their free 3-1-1 bags and prove the contents of my bag fit in their plastic bag. Now, when I go through LHR, I just pick up one of their free 3-1-1 bags so I don’t go through that stupidity again.
3) Laptop, camera - At LHR at one of the random gate screenings, I was made to turn on my laptop and take a picture with my camera.
4) Coffee bought in the secure part of the airport - At LHR at one of the random screenings at the gate, they made me throw out the coffee that I had just bought in the secure area. I’d already been screened once. I was drinking the coffee. What did they think was dangerous about it?
The fudge one reminded me of this:
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2017/07/this_is_why_a_michigan_airport.html
I have brought back a pack of ground German coffee, either 250 grams or 500 grams, in the carry on or checked in luggage, from Frankfurt to SFO ...no problems, it went through, no questions asked or had it confiscated.
Fred ... mine was a cup of coffee (from Caffe Nero or Costa or a place like that). I bought it post security as I was walking to the gate.
All of these are LITE! BITD me sister-in-law took an 88mm live round she found at El Alamein from Cairo to Paris to New York to college in Ohio where said round served as a doorstop for yonks until a recently discharged sailor said “THAT THING IS LIVE!!!!” The party pooper insisted they call the bomb squad. In this case it almost literally was a bomb! LOL!
I have TSA PreCheck.
Having said that, 50% of the time I am stopped for what is called 'additional random screening' while going through TSA.
Only once have I had an issue with what's in my bag, which was eventually declared okay (and prior to my current PreCheck status, btw). It's like me - a short, little old lady. I'm the key to being delayed, felt up and groped because of...? I have yet to determine.
I noticed (pleasantly) this time flying back from Gatwick a week ago when getting my boarding pass at check-in, the words "TSA Pre-Check" was on it, don't know how that happened since I never signed up or joined anything, or paid extra for anything. Plus, there was no SSSS either...lucked out again.
Anyway, I was directed to this "other" line, where I only had to put the items in the bin along the jacket, shoulder sack of 15 lbs, cell phone, etc Taking off the shoes was not required. That was all, no peak-a-boo machine, which I had expected. If that had been the case, I would have, as always, opted for a "pat down" instead. but none of that this time...good, ie going through security at Gatwick was pretty simple, easy and quick.
You can sign up for TSA PRE but you can be PRE without signing up. The TSA computer system screens passengers and sends a notification to the airline if it's a U.S. carrier. My wife and I never signed up either and since we turned 65 we are always PRE when we fly on a U.S. carrier. Before that it seemed to depend on which airline we were flying. We were PRE on American and United but not Delta or Southwest. And occasionally one of us was PRE and the other wasn't.
Good to know, but as it pertains to me, I got the "PRE" at Gatwick on British Air.
There are now over 50 airlines worldwide that participate in the TSA PRE program. For some reason British Airways wasn't one until recently.
I am puzzled by Janet's' thoughts to bring a roll of quarters with her and that it is fun to give quarters to European kids? Why would kids want these?
Puzzled...really? How else was a kid to develop a foreign coin collection than by hitting up foreign visitors for pocket change? Dad was in the Navy and the best source, then NATO officers and then random foreign visitors. Of course back then Europe had interesting money, and I thought I was rich when I was given 1000 lira.
Mystery solved. There was an attempt to use powdered explosives in Australia about a year ago. I saw this story on CNN earlier today. According to the report, TSA will limit powders in carry-on to 12 oz. as of June 30.
