Close Call! What's the deal TSA...?!

[Indian Valley Scuba]

Damn, 2 weeks till I head to Mexico. I have enough trouble getting my rebreather through TSA scrutiny. Don't imagine this will help.

Why on earth would you have any difficulty checking in a rebreather, whether in checked baggage or carry-on?

While I love drama, there is no reason for it here, we travel with ours both domestically and internationaly on a very regular basis and have no difficulties with the machine, the bottles that go along with it, or the absorbent.

Would love to hear what your particular issue was.

 

[wedivebc]

Why on earth would you have any difficulty checking in a rebreather, whether in checked baggage or carry-on?

While I love drama, there is no reason for it here, we travel with ours both domestically and internationaly on a very regular basis and have no difficulties with the machine, the bottles that go along with it, or the absorbent.

Would love to hear what your particular issue was.

I travel with my rebreather several times a year. Every time I have to remove the RB from my baggage then explain to a TSA staff member and often their supervisor what a rebreather is and what it does. I was almost refused one time when a security guy comes over who was apparently a scuba diver and had heard about rebreathers.
I am very happy for you that you have had no issues but the "drama" as you put it is not of my making.

 

[Indian Valley Scuba]

That is interesting and I am sorry to hear that.

We just check ours, mainly dis-assembled, so there is no one to have to "explain what a rebreather is" to. Use the curbside check-in, take advantage of the power of a $5 or $10 tip.

 

[wedivebc]

Actually I always carry my rebreather on the plane which is why I have to deal with TSA

That is interesting and I am sorry to hear that.

We just check ours, mainly dis-assembled, so there is no one to have to "explain what a rebreather is" to. Use the curbside check-in, take advantage of the power of a $5 or $10 tip.

 

[Indian Valley Scuba]

Not to stir up a bunch of stuff here, but why would you not check it? I typically check two or three bags on a trip and never worry about my stuff getting to where I am going. And if you take a look at our travel schedule, you can see that means many times a year. Carrying things on board just begs to have the morons working at the security counters ask questions that even the rght answer won't make sense to them. Let the baggage handlers handle your bags.

 

[DandyDon]

That is interesting and I am sorry to hear that.

We just check ours, mainly dis-assembled, so there is no one to have to "explain what a rebreather is" to. Use the curbside check-in, take advantage of the power of a $5 or $10 tip.

I doubt that helps get anything by TSA, and it shouldn't. In Lubbock, I watch TSA examine my checked luggage in front of the ticket counter, but elsewhere - I lose sight of it and TSA x-rays it when they get to it, as well as whatever else they want to do. I have had liquid shoe dressing removed by TSA for whatever reason...?

The new rules are coming out. No one leaves their seat, goes to an overhead bin, nor has anything in their lap for the last hour of the flight. Hell, that's when I wake up and got to pee. What makes them think the last hour is so special? So they move the action up to halfway over the ocean...?

I'm making sure I have at least one airsick bag in my seat.

 

[Indian Valley Scuba]

Don, once the airline accepts your bag, you are home free unless you are packing something serious, like perhaps a cylinder with the valve still on. Let it go, use curb side check in, give a small tip - it is worth it!

 

[deco_martini]

The new rules are coming out. No one leaves their seat, goes to an overhead bin, nor has anything in their lap for the last hour of the flight. Hell, that's when I wake up and got to pee. What makes them think the last hour is so special? So they move the action up to halfway over the ocean...?

They just want to sound like they are doing something.

The truth is that a lone wolf is pretty much able to take down any plane. C4 and other explosives, if strapped to a leg or sewn into briefs, don't trigger any metal detector.

A crazy guy in Canada a year or two ago took a hunting knife on a bus and killed one or more people on it. (no form of mass transit is safe from crazy people, its just impossible)

The only way TSA can truly secure flights is if passengers strip, get cavity searches, and wear hospital gowns onto the flight afterwards with no carry-ons. At that point, we'll just agree to stop traveling altogether.

TSA is mostly there to make:
A. citizens perceive something is being done
B. terrorists perceive that hijacking or blowing up flights has too much risk

The secured cockpit doors added to flights post 911 pretty much nipped the whole hijack thing right in the bud.

We now screen carry-ons for liquids over 3oz post Heathrow. So this terrorist just had the liquids sewn into his underwear.

 

[Indian Valley Scuba]

Thank you deco, caue I really was not sure what they were for or why so many of my tax dollars went towards providing employment to so many who would otherwise be unable to find work elsewhere in a free market economy.

 

[DandyDon]

Don, once the airline accepts your bag, you are home free unless you are packing something serious, like perhaps a cylinder with the valve still on. Let it go, use curb side check in, give a small tip - it is worth it!

Nope, I don't think so...

The Airline accepts the bags;

Then TSA however and wherever they want, removing whatever they want - with only a slip of paper showing they were there left behind.​

A few have been busted taking things for personal gain, but in general - they're okay, with a few silly exceptions.

Pre 9-11-01, the airlines decided what was allowed in bags as well as carry-ons, but all that changed. They have some of their own rules, yes - but the TSA does what it wants to do after the airline accepts the bags.