Soft Weights Confiscated by Airline?

[GrumpyOldGuy]

So my favorite thing with TSA now is the agents at my local airport taking my drivers license and boarding pass, looking at me and asking me what my name is.

Gee, if I had known there was going to be quiz I would have studied the night before.

Uh, last month they were asking us for birth dates to confirm a valid ID after letting the Nigerian dude though with other peoples boarding passes. Being a gent, I chimed in with a date about 20 years younger than actual for my wife, not one of my better moves.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I'm flying down to DEMA in a few months and dreading it. Luckily I'm not planning on taking a bunch of gear. I am likely going to need a few tools for the reg clinic but I've already determined that the hotel will let me ship a box to them and before I go I'll find the nearest post office for anything I need to send back. The last time I flew with gear I had my regs and stainless steel plate in my carry on. No problem but they did do a hand inspection of the bag. Funny thing is to someone that's been trained anything can be a weapon. I can do some serious damage with my belt (strangle), ink pens (stab), a very tightly rolled newspaper (stab or jab an eye out), grandma's cane ( bludgeon), or my keys (rip a throat out). But I can carry all of these on. TSA is a joke just as is any gov't security agency. Profiling and behavior analysis is much more effective. But you can't have mickey d's and walmart rejects doing it.

 

[franny]

At the moment I am not that keen to visit the US, and the main reason is the hassles of traveling in by air. The rules for customs and immigration, plus the TSA, make the US less enticing to visit. At the moment my partner and I would prefer to try countries that are not so heavy handed with their "security"

 

[Rascally Rabbit]

Answers to questions on your ID...

Oh, I thought being able to read was one of the few requirements for your job. What's the matter do I need a more recent picture added to my ID?

As for the possible use of items as weapons I like to point out all the better choices they are allowing.
If they make any smart remarks just tell them you are trying to make their job easier and being helpful.

 

[AfterDark]

I will not fly as long as the TSA is active. I last flew in 2003 I think. They made me take my shoes off. I said to my wife this is the last time for me. So now if I can't drive there then I ain't going.

 

[miketsp]

The most interesting reaction is when they can't see anything at all on the scanner - then they get really upset.
I still have one of those flexible lead bags from the 80s made to protect ultra-fast film against airport scanners and other radiation.
On a recent trip, while packing it got mixed in by accident among some plastic dive tables, fish id cards and other documents and these went into my backpack.
So when the backpack went in to the scanner there was just this big black rectangle.
Initially they didn't say anything to me, just asked me to show the contents but they didn't spot the lead bag - it looks just like a white plastic bag. After going back through the scanner and yet again repeating the search in vain they finally told me what was going on. When I looked among the documents I spotted the bag and showed it to them.
Funny thing was they said they'd never seen one before.
Just as well I didn't put it in my checked bag or that would really have caused confusion.

 

[doctormike]

"Sorry, sir... That Rolex could be used as a weapon, I need to confiscate it."

 

[Searcaigh]

This thread has reminded me of seeing dive weights that look like hand grenades, who on earth buys and uses these?

 

[birdwrasse]

ALWAYS PRINT OUT THE TSA REGULATIONS AND TAKE THEM WITH YOU... stand up to them, too. that can be "used as a weapon" verbage is just like a police officer using, "you fit the description of someone we are investigating." i had to call a supervisor once because they wouldn't let me take a pony bottle onboard. sometimes i think those guys do that so they can divvy up their collections of "banned" items at the end of the day. if you have the printed documents from the tsa website and they don't let you on with it, you'll have to decide if you stand your ground and let it go, or stand your ground and not get on the plane until you get your way... i guess it is going to depend on how important it is for you.

for me, the planning, the money, the time, the training, and all that went into a trip for someone to make something up -- which is usually what they are doing... just to show off to others or prove a point is not enough for me to give up my gear or alter my trip.

--c

 

[Simon-]

This thread has reminded me of seeing dive weights that look like hand grenades, who on earth buys and uses these?

On the Mussandam live-aboard last weekend, there was someone who had obviously been into Scuba Dubai. He had them !!