TSA experiences: Backplate, integrated weights, lead

[gcarter]

In Thailand on an internal flight they weighed my carry on - along with me!

 

[Doc]

The lead my not make it through some security checks.

Yes indeed. Lead is "a component of ammunition", so they might snag it along with your Glock.

 

[Hawkwood]

I've never had any airline weigh my carry-on. The only people who've ever bothered with it were the TSA (or Mexican equivalent) who were not interested in how much it weighed. I guess if the bag rips the overhead compartment out of the ceiling you might get a hairy eyeball.

It happens.

Had it done at least three times. Different trips to Fiji, Tahiti, and New Zealand. Was pretty interesting when we left Tahiti to fly back to Los Angeles. They went down the entire line of people asking which was their carryon and then weighed each one with a hand scale. Lots were rejected.

 

[2airishuman]

You must be taking a dry suit on the trip to need the bolt on plates.

Who knows, you might be right. I'd sure like to leave them at home. But...

It takes 4 pounds of lead for me to be neutrally buoyant while snorkeling in freshwater with no wetsuit.

With an AL80 and a poodle jacket, no wetsuit, in the pool, it took 14 pounds although I think the instructor had me overweighted by 2-4 pounds.

Ocean +6 pounds
3mm XXXL wetsuit +8 pounds
backplate with bolt-on weights -16 pounds
= still leaves about 8-12 pounds of lead on the belt

---------- Post added January 4th, 2016 at 12:54 PM ----------

Yes indeed. Lead is "a component of ammunition", so they might snag it along with your Glock.

Please don't get everyone started on the TSA. I suspect we all agree but the discussion would be tiresome.

---------- Post added January 4th, 2016 at 01:23 PM ----------

Backplates, no prob. Wear are you traveling to ? Perhaps you can USPS Air Priority your weights ? "If it fits, it ships". Cheap freight !

Florida; thought of that, trying to snorkel in Key Largo on the way from Miami to our hotel in Key West and want some of the lead for that (wetsuit).

But while we're on the topic, what have the recent experiences been with sending packages ahead to a hotel? I haven't done that for a while and have heard that the volume of requests has increased over the last few years as airline baggage charges have gone up, and the higher volume has led some hotels to tighten their policies.

 

[MoistNeoprene]

This thread is old but I have something to add.

Checked luggage has a 50 lb weight limit but carry on luggage has no weight limit. I used this to my advantage as well recently. It resulted in many confused taxi cab drivers joking about lead in my bags!

You WILL get pulled aside to have your bag searched if you put it through the luggage scanner because lead is a high density material...to save yourself the hassle, I started taking my lead out and putting it in a bin all by itself. Then it doesn't look suspicious and you can save time by avoiding a search.

 

[Schwob]

This thread is old but I have something to add.

Checked luggage has a 50 lb weight limit but carry on luggage has no weight limit. ...

That may be true in some places and with some carriers, often in the US, but universally that‘s quite incorrect. There are carry on weight restrictions in a lot of places and with lots of airlines, some even when departing in the US.
Enforcement may be another issue, but I had my carry on weighted twice, once in Germany, once in Egypt (both Condor) . Even where there are no restrictions or no enforced restrictions, I am thinking that I once (maybe more?) might have come close to or exceeded the weight limit of the overhead bin with my bag alone... (some bins spell it out ... somewhere... maybe all do?). Spirit Air for example restricts checked luggage to 40lbs, but has no restriction on the carry on weight. Guess where people put the weight...

Anyway, on an upcoming flight from the US to Europe, on TAP the carry on weight limit is 8kg.
Here are some more carry on weight restrictions.
The Rules for Carry-On Luggage

 

[cpace]

I've never had any airline weigh my carry-on.

We've flown EVA air to the Philippines 2X. They have a strict 7Kg carry-on policy. Most folks must not have read the fine print and were scrambling to make weight at check-in. Made us that were prepared annoyed.

 

[Schwob]

We've flown EVA air to the Philippines 2X. They have a strict 7Kg carry-on policy. Most folks must not have read the fine print and were scrambling to make weight at check-in. Made us that were prepared annoyed.

That's where all my family's first stages, sans hoses, ended up in zip lock bags in the various caverneous pockets in my rain-coat / ski shell... Feels quite silly, but seemed to work. Not sure it always would work...

 

[Rooster59]

Don't be surprised if the carry-ons get weighed / rejected at the gate if it's really hot outside and a (small) plane is full.

 

[nippurmagnum]

In the US, I routinely take lead weights in both my checked luggage and my carry-on, as I do a lot of shore diving, and I find that lead weight rentals are ridiculously expensive; I also fly Southwest, which has a very generous luggage allowance.

My experience with TSA is: (1) 100% of the time, they open my carry-on, verify that I have solid lead weights, and quickly close up the bag again, and (2) 100% of the time, when I receive my checked bag, I find that TSA has left an "inspected" pamphlet inside. However, I have never had a delay with a checked bag that had lead weights in it.