SFR What You Can Take Through TSA
- Thread starter Jacob Watrous
- Start date
Sorta fishing-related
I’ve had enough bags lost by the airlines that I’d never risk reels in them. Never had them lift an eyebrow at reels and lines. When I traveled for work I used to ship gear via FedEx a few days before to either the hotel or the local shipper office. Never had FedEx lose a package, maybe
Done a deep dive since I’m sitting still for a few hours. Strange how much of this stuff is left up to the discretion when the TSA lists them as approved for carry on with a big honking green checkmark (and then says it’s also discretionary). I’d have thought we’d have more clear guidelines and less vague grey areas.
I used to travel and teach life support equipment service back in the day...I forgot to pack one of my torque wrenches in the Pelican cases I shipped to location, so threw it in my backpack...they made me check it in...to my disbelief (and this was pre 9/11)...but no problem with a bunch of very sharp pencils or spare guitar strings...
G_Smolt
Legend
I had a tsa agent tell me my bag of spare lines and sink tips "looked like det[onation] cord"
lol. No way it looks or smells like det cord. Those folks need more training.I had a tsa agent tell me my bag of spare lines and sink tips "looked like det[onation] cord"
Years ago when flying to Russia to fish for steelhead I got a message that there had been a boating"mishap" in camp and that I needed to go to a Mercury dealer in Anchorage and pick up a drive shaft for a 40 HP Merc jet, that it was paid for and to just put it in my luggage. So that is what I did. It was a different time back then. When we got to the check in and security for the flight to Petropovlosk I saw all those in front of me have their baggage weighed to make sure they did not exceed the 50 lb limit, pawed through to check for who knows what and I'm thinking I've got all my clothes, my waders and wading boots, rain gear, a handle of whiskey and miscellaneous socks, T-shirts etc plus about a 30 or 35 lb Mercury drive shaft stashed in the bottom of my duffle. Oh crap. I get to the front of the queue and hand over my passport and tickets and I see the airline employees look at each other and the two of them reach down and heft my duffel up on to the baggage cart without weighing it or checking the contents. We found out later that the owner of the steelhead camp we were going to was the largest producer of king crab on the Kamchatka and rumored to be head honcho of the peninsula's Russian Mafia. Guess it's not what you know but who you know.
downriver79
Steelhead
I think you found the right way to do it. Send your gear through with something else that looks potentially deadly as a decoy to distract them!
Rubber hand grenade?
I was on a flight with a professional Scottish Games athlete. He flew with his pitch fork! It did have foam stabbed over the tips. It was his great grandfather’s, he spoke of the quality of the steel tines, and hay bale tossing.
I always carry underwear, socks, tshirts, minimal layers of merino, neck gaiters, beanies, toiletries, rods and reels. It has saved me, fortunately my guide had flies, and the lodge had some pvc rain gear.
I always carry underwear, socks, tshirts, minimal layers of merino, neck gaiters, beanies, toiletries, rods and reels. It has saved me, fortunately my guide had flies, and the lodge had some pvc rain gear.
Scudley Do Right
Legend
I have brought a large three point blacktail shed in my carry on and it went straight through.
I’ll never forget the TSA agent that talked a bunch of shit about “A River Runs Through It” while x-raying my fly boxes. Didn’t look like he was having a fun time in the line.
Post 9/11 Baja trips 3 rods, flies, etc, and minimal clothes went in the beat up non-descript bag while camera, one lens, two reels, two extra spools, face up, went in the carry-on Pelican legal size case. Only asked once about contents. While smiling and engaged, the response, “camera and some lens sir/ma’am/officer.” The issue with reels is normally the lines involved, whatever type they are.
They are considered instruments of possible securement therefore verboten. I can see why the weighted lines stand out under the X-ray due to the material that makes them sink.
Some agents are over the top and some are everyday people trying to do a monotonous job dealing with jerks that are overwhelmed with the own self-importance. Then again, the best one I ever saw was a woman in JFK who had her handbag emptied on the table by a TSA agent who discovered she was carrying two “personal power tools, battery operated” to help her get comfortable on a 14 hr flight. Whatever works.
They are considered instruments of possible securement therefore verboten. I can see why the weighted lines stand out under the X-ray due to the material that makes them sink.
Some agents are over the top and some are everyday people trying to do a monotonous job dealing with jerks that are overwhelmed with the own self-importance. Then again, the best one I ever saw was a woman in JFK who had her handbag emptied on the table by a TSA agent who discovered she was carrying two “personal power tools, battery operated” to help her get comfortable on a 14 hr flight. Whatever works.
SteelheadBee
Steelhead
Not much help to most, but back in 2018 I was flying back from a fly tying event in New Brunswick, Canada. I wanted to pass time by tying on the plane. I brought materials for a Blue Charm.
As far as tools, all I brought in my small tying kit were cuticle nippers and hackle pliers (if confiscated, I would have been fine).
Aside from not bringing any head cement, they allowed me to complete the fly in flight.
P.S. I tie in hand so there was no risk for a tying vise.
As far as tools, all I brought in my small tying kit were cuticle nippers and hackle pliers (if confiscated, I would have been fine).
Aside from not bringing any head cement, they allowed me to complete the fly in flight.
P.S. I tie in hand so there was no risk for a tying vise.
I’ll pass the tying advise to my fishing buddy. The three of us took up one whole side, so the only attention he got was from a flight attendant who kept coming by to watch him.
Huh, Seems like the consensus is “it depends” and the what ranges from “anything” to “barely the passenger”. Which tracks, I suppose.
Please tell me this is what I think it is.
