Let's try a light hearted thread (no stealth rants) on an annoying subject...airlines and knives

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hso

hso

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We can turn this into a rant thread, but that would be cheap and easy. Instead let's do something much more interesting and tell our stories of how we dealt with the knife ban on airline (or elsewhere for that matter) and avoided losing our knives.

I might as well start.

Early in the ban I was on travel to San Antonio. While there I met with some area custom knife makers and picked up 3 nice custom fixed blades that cost a couple of hundred each (back then I was collecting and reselling heavily so I was considered a purveyor and got a dealer's discount) . I proudly showed them off to the folks in the office who liked knives so the makers would get their name and work known (and so I could brag about the knives) and dashed to the airport for my afternoon flight out.

As fate would have it, while standing in line with my briefcase and pack within sight of metal detector I put my hand in my bag to get my ticket and what do we all now know I encountered? Yep, several hundred dollars work of custom fixed blades. I imagine the blood drained from my face (I know my gut knotted up) and I began trying to think if I had time to get back to the ticket counter and beg for my check bag back (all the while knowing I didn't). As my vision tunneled I began to cast about frantically (why do we do that when there's nothing to really see).

My salvation was squatting slightly ahead and to my left. A odd looking FedEx drop box! Almost as if it were placed near the detector arch as a lifeguard to floundering fiddlebrains like myself (yeah, "almost"). I stepped out of line, grabbed a FedEx box big enough for the knives (and the clean T-shirt and pair of hiking socks I wrapped them in for padding), packed the knives and filled out the form and afixed it. As I dropped the box into the kiosk I entreated the gods of absentminded knife collectors to please (please, please, please) see the knives safely back to me at home.

I turned back to go to the end of the line and the couple that had been behind me had just gotten abreast of me and amusedly gestured me back in line (not a good sign since I expected some penance to be paid for forgetting the knives and any good fortune might erode my chance of getting my knives back). I gave them a weak and embarrassed "Thanks" and stepped back into place. The TSA agents had noticed and they were smiling at me as I shucked off boots, belts and the contents of my pockets along with bag and pack (was it tolerance, sympathy, or glee?).

Suffice it to say I made it home without further incident and headed to work the next day hoping that I'd see the familiar white box on my porch when I got home.

YES! There they were like steely triplets awaiting my arrival (as opposed to their own).

Lesson learned? Don't rush to the airport without shaking myself and gear down for prohibited items AND carry a large FedEx padded envelope and prefilled label as backup to any absentminded failures to shake myself and my gear down!


Ok, next amusing (remember this is NOT a rant thread so don't try to wrap your complaints in a "pretty package") story about rescuing your knife from a prohibited zone. (I have 2 more).
 
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I carry a Gerber 200 on my keychain - I really like that little knife and they don't make them anymore. I was going to accompany my elderly aunt to her departure gate out of O'Hare when I realized I had the Gerber on me. Fortunately, I had parked in short-term parking, so I ran back to my car, grabbed a second set of keys and left my regular heychain in the glove compartment and ran back. That only worked because we had gotten to the airport early.
 
I can remember when there were no knife bans on aircraft. I flew to Europe once with a folder in pocket. No issues. No one cared. I came back through Heathrow. The police there patted me down and measured the blade length and determined it was almost 2 mm longer than they allowed. I figured at best they would steal it and at worst I would be thrown in the Tower of London for the rest of my days but they just gave it back and waved me on my way.
 
I gave up on trying to travel with knives long ago, most due to a combination of quick business travel without checked bags and trying to remember/figure out the local knife laws in the multitude of places I find myself. This has had somewhat of a side effect though, as I have discovered with time that I have a natural inability to live without some type of knife on me. I honestly have no clue how the rest of the world opens those silly plastic packages everything seems to come in these days. The odd side effect of all of this... Apparently the whole company knows that the first thing I do after landing in a new city is find a Wal-mart and buy a cheapo pocket knife that will last me just long enough to lose before I get on the plane to go home. Yup, I'm that guy. The guy who has lost a pocket knife in almost every city in that nation.
 
I bought a rounded tip children's scissors for my carry on bag, as well as tools that are less than 7 inches (almost every multitool includes a knife).

Edit: I get it, this thread is for interesting stories, not about boring solutions to the airline knife ban. Ok, never happened to me, but a friend forgot to put his cherished family heirloom multitool in his check baggage, and the hunting party had to quickly brainstorm to find someone who worked at the airport. Hawaii being a one airline small town, everyone knows at least one person who works for Hawaiian Air, but being able to find that person at the counter before the plane takes off is a challenge. Luckily, someone found their contact and the multitool was handed off.
 
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I rushed into the airport forgetting my Sebenza was clipped in my pocket. When I realized it I also realized I didn't have time to take it back out to the outer reaches of the parking lot.

I remembered my boss and a couple of others telling me about stashing their Case or SAK in the men's bathroom up on a ledge above the towel dispenser near the door.

Danged if there weren't a couple of pocket knives there awaiting the return of their owners.

Mine was waiting 3 days later when I came back! Along with a SAK.

Amazing the honor amongst absent minded knife owning air travelers!
 
True story.

Went to shotshow in Vegas in 2015 . We flew commercial for the first time out of Norfolk. Usually we went on a charter.
We get to the gate and I realize I forgot to leave my CRKT Fire Spark A/O at home.

I look around and spy a potted plant :) I wrap it in a chip bag I retrieved from the trash and jammed it down into the dirt and covered the hole.

Great show did some good business and bought some stuff I shipped home.

We land and I have to explain to wife why we have to get my luggage and also go departures. For those of you who have met her, wonderful lady but not amused.

Lo and behold it was still in the planter!!!!!

Got it home and a little clean up and oil later it was good as new. :)

I know cool story bro, amirite.:)
 
Almost have one as good. The first time I ever flew was when I was reporting to basic training for the military. At the time, my EDC pocket knife was an old classic knife with pearl looking handles. This was after 9/11 so all the TSA restrictions were well in place for travel of anything that could possibly look like a weapon. As I stood in line I was about 3 feet away from the detector. I reached into my pocket to grab my keys to toss in the bucket and pulled out that knife. Keeping my hand in my pocket I immediately turned away from the security check point. Thankfully my parents were still standing there watching me go through security. I handed it to my father, gave an extra hug and kiss to the folks and went back in line. They held onto the knife and I had forgotten about it. When I was packing to go to my first duty station, they slipped it into a pocket on my checked luggage.
 
"A person I know" told me a story about rushing to get on a flight. He was late and therefore was somewhat more scatterbrained than usual. Being in a rush he practically ran through the metal detector, something he thought little of at the time but which appears to have been somewhat important. He made it through security without incident and then hurried to the assigned gate.

Having finally reached the gate with a few minutes to spare before boarding, he sat down to catch his breath and felt the familiar clunk of the 5" folder in his back pocket hitting the plastic seat.

Apparently if you go through a metal detector really fast, it's less sensitive. The knife, I am told, went in the checked luggage on the return trip.
 
My last incident was only about three weeks ago. We were standing in line to enter Busch stadium for a cards game, when it dawned on me that I forgot to leave my SAK in the truck.
Fortunately, I had swapped my usual lockblade Nomad SAK for a smaller model. I emptied my pockets including the knife into the little tub and passed through the detector, fully expecting the security agents to confiscate my knife. The security gaurd held the knife up to his ID badge to confirm the length to be less than 4" then looked at me and said "next time leave this at home".
Much to my surprise, I got my knife back and proceeded to watch the game.
 
I cannot but help remember a time, pre 9-11, when I was port of a buddy's wedding. The wedding required some air travel to get near enough to Hilton Head. Due to my assigned task at the wedding, I was traveling with a borrowed USN officer's sword, which was in a spiffy leatherette case. Since this did not fit in a B2 bag, and being worth many, many pennies, I carried it with me.
I do remember some remarks about a naval officer carrying a flyrod (case kind of had that look).

So, on the last leg, stepping off the puddle jumper, five of the eight of us were all on the same plane. And, we all had to wait on them to offload carryons fro mthe cargo canoe under the a/c.

Idleness and youth caught up, and Draw Sword kind of happened spontaneously. Will never know what the tourists thought of the five of us practicing sworn manual of arms on the tarmac next to the recently arrived plane.

Was a different time.
 
I have a similar story to bikerdoc's involving a planter and the SHOT show, but I'll wait for more amusing "How I avoided losing my knife" stories.
 
When my youngest son was about 10 yrs old, he and his buddies were into WWE wrestling. For his birthday, we loaded him and his friends and headed to Indy one winter day to see the "big show". It was held in the big arena where the Pacers play. When we got inside I saw that security was sweeping everyone with handheld metal detectors. There was no wait, and we walked up to the security gaurd who pinged my Case 91549 Copper lock pocket knife.
He said you can't enter with that...either surrender it, or get rid of it.
I told my wife I was going back to the car, and I went outside to check the landscape for a hiding place. There was nothing to be found. I decided not to walk all the way back to the car but to try the security once more. I stood and observed the security gaurd for a minute and chose a line that was being searched by a guy about my age that looked like he had a decent demeanor about him. He pinged my knife, I showed it to him, and said how about you keep this for me til after the show? He said, how bout you just leave it in your pocket til after the show? I said .......OK.
 
Bit more than a year ago, I was flying to Boston out of DFW. Was work-related ,adn I caught a break for getting a Pre-check ticket. The AA terminal I entered from only had the loop detectors, and it was apparently not set to strict for Pre-check passengers, as I got to go through, belt and shoes on (phone, wallet, etc. went into the dog bowl).

Was a bit of a start when I got to the hotel in Hull, to dump out my pockets and see I'd gone through the check with my larger key ring which had a polycarbonate kubotan on it. Oops.

Seperated the two, and they went in my carry on for the rest of that trip.
 
I used to be an office-bound engineer several years ago, but I kept a small tool kit (bank deposit bag) at my desk for emergencies. This tool kit had a 5 in 1 screwdriver, needle nose pliers, wire cutters/strippers, wire crimper, and a break-away blade razor knife. I had to travel for work one day and I grabbed my tool kit out of habit, completely forgetting about my razor knife handle (the blade had been used up and was gone). I get to TSA and they search the bag and have a fit over the knife handle. I made a big deal over "surrendering" the empty razor knife handle to them, all the while laughing at the absurdity of the issue. I landed at my destination and purchased a razor knife at the first gas station I passed by, and tossed it in the trash before my return flight.

I do have another story about contraband in my carry on, but it can wait for a latter time, and it involves a pistol magazine not a knife/other tool.
 
I've never luckily gotten through with a blade. One time, I did forget to remove my 3" elcheapo Chicom S&W tanto, and had to toss it as soon as I realized I'd put it on out of habit. Whoops!

But on that same trip, we went to a county fair. Out by the hog barn, my boy and I were just kickin back in the shaded grass, cooling down. He says, "look daddy!" And pulls out of the grass, a crusty, and dull Benchmade 551!
I think it'd been used as a hammer at some point and 1/8" of the tip was gone.
It came back in checked luggage and cleaned up pretty nice.
Definitely a good trade.

But, there was one time I brought the security line to a full stop, so a manager could come and check out a key fob I'd made out of a 308 case and 150gr FMJ. Despite the cotter pins loop sticking out of the flash hole, they had to be sure it wasn't a live round. I'm still kinda shocked they let me keep it on the flight!
 
Had a dream one night about finding a red SAK in the sand and the next day I found a red SAK in the sand at the beach. Freaky. That fall I went to Paris for my honeymoon. This was after 9/11. I went through multiple checkpoints at airports, museums, tourist sites, and even department stores. On the last day I was going through the metal detectors at Saint Chapelle and the cop at the xray machine told me I had a knife in my bag. It was the red SAK. I had forgotten it was there. It had gone through all those checkpoints. I pulled it out and showed it to the cop. He shrugged and let me through with the knife. That thing has a charmed life.
 
Flying out of Toronto, and left home in a rush, showered, but did not clean my teeth! Through security, dropped into the wash room, pulled out toilet gear. A couple of hundred dollars worth of Benchmade, with a 3.5" black blade, sitting in there. Clipped it on the pocket, mailed it home.
A non-knife story, my Wife and I going to Orlando, from Toronto. When we lived in Canada. Wearing jeans, and a well-worn Photo vest, lots of pockets. I beeped! In checking the vest, the Security chap said: "Whats this?" A lump in the seem, the big pocket on the right side, had a hole in it, I matched the lump, with the hole, and extracted a 9mm cartridge! Shock, much chatter, panic... Him not me.

Enter 6' 2" RCMP Officer. "Good morning Sir," he said, holding the offending cartridge in his hand.
"What is your occupation?" Told him I was a Firearm Instructor. "Have a nice trip" he said, Security Officer appalled. "Is that it?" He said he was ignored by me, and the Officer.

"That won't fit in your Smith and Wesson you know," I said, pointing at his holstered Revolver.

He just shook his head. Eyes up.
 
I'm told that the the most boring magazine in the rack in the airport newsstand is a good thing to drop your pocketknife behind.
 
I flew to London on 9/11, I had a Gerber Multi-tool on my hip and a box-cutter in my carry on ... It was a different time.

A few years later, about 2004, I flew on Singapore Airlines out of Changi. I my bag was flagged and the security guy found the offending nail-clippers (with a little folding blade) that I had bought while there. A little fella in a Singapore Airlines uniform ran over to retrieve the clippers, seal them in a package and ask me for my name and flight information. When I asked why, I was informed that it would be delivered to the pilot for safe transport in the cockpit, and they would be returned to me after the flight! Singapore Airlines is awesome, I just wish they flew to Florida.
 
Went to Venice IT years ago and bought some knives in a small shop. Had them in my carry-on book bag and was told that it was a no go while checking in. All our other bags already went through and I didn't know what to do, so I checked in my book bag as luggage. It worked:) Still have those knives.
 
Back in the late 70s a coworker carried a huge folder. Custom made with a 6" blade. Boarding for flight he was checked and he declared the knife. Security was a nice lady. She looked at the knife, had never seen a folder that large. She looked him over, he was a big one-eyed Texan. I would guess about 6'4" and 300 lb. She told him he had a beautiful knife, but it was way over the airline's length limit, and to never fly with it again. The next guard might not be so nice. How things have changed.
 
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