I am considering buying my own weights for local diving and I'm considering taking them with me in my carry on luggage whenever I travel. Because weights are dense they will be flagged at X-ray in security. Has anyone had any issues going thru airport security with lead weights? Thank you!
TSA, traveling with lead weights
- Thread starter Tigerpaw
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I took them out and placed them in a bin. However if I'm not mistaken, lead weights are not TSA approved, so I consider myself lucky the few times I carried them.
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On my trip to Panama one officer took out a 2 pound weight and made a motion like she was gunna whack someone with it-- I guess to see if it was much of a weapon. She put it back and sent me on my way no problem. But I believe this was boarding the plane in Canada, so not actually TSA I don't think. That was in 2011.
broncobowsher
Contributor
Hard weight might be considered a weapon. Soft weight would have a better chance of getting through.
I can't imagine carrying weights to a dive destination. Have you been somewhere that weight wasn't available?
I cannot imagine any purpose to carrying your own weights onboard an airplane for travel/destination diving. All dive centers, domestic or foreign, I have ever been to have plenty of weights. I have had my carryon weighed a few times, most recently leaving Bonaire. It was a orange Pelican Air case filled with camera gear. It weighs 22 pounds and she waved me on. Imagine if I had lead weights in there.
I took a few travelers to Coz this year. One of my older customers asked me to help him remove his bag in the overhead bin. I couldn’t lift it up. He had 26 lbs of soft weights in it! He said that he preferred to use his own weights when he traveled.
billgraham
Contributor
I had a sidemount CCR head that we sand cast a lead trim weight for on the bottom. I'd bring it in a carry on and every time it went through the x-ray machine, it was the third degree. It's opaque on the screen so they always flag it.
That rig also had an inconel sphere for the o-2 which looks like the bomb in the Batman movie.
That rig also had an inconel sphere for the o-2 which looks like the bomb in the Batman movie.
When traveling outside the US, not meaning to sound like I am that seasoned, but there are several give aways that identify someone as American (USA America). One of them is cargo shorts. Another is our seeming fetish with sneakers and athletic shoes and another is baseball hats. And, one more, tee shirts with all sorts of gibberish, brand advertisement, stupid and moronic and ironic sayings. Oh, and mostly obese.
I got hopelessly lost in the airport in Munich and could not find the gate for the flight back home. Then thank goodness, there it was, I found it
. My kinda peeps, chubby folks with comfortable sneakers, stupid saying tee shirts and ball caps and cargo shorts, yep, that is the flight home 
.I went home and burned my cargo shorts
. But I kept the cargo pants that zip off into shorts, I mean, like, they are just so multi-functional .And traveling with weights!
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