FLYING WITH CORKSCREWS

[Roy Hersh]

The TSA announced that as of April 25th ... you will be able to bring corkscrews in your carry on luggage. No more confiscation. It is about time! Next we want to be able to bring our bottles of wine back on board in our carry on luggage. Is anybody listening?

[Llyn Strelau]

Here here!
What do you think the chances are of that?
Sure would make the SF tasting easier and less risky with a couple of expensive bottles in my checked bag.

[Bradley Bogdan]

Would certainly solve the issue of the port quality on board planes as well!

[Peter W. Meek]

Well, that removes one (of about 20) reasons why I absolutely will not fly. (Too bad the other 19 remain because I actually like flying.)

[Moses Botbol]

Have had about 3-4 waiters corkscrews taken by TSA. The "winged" style are TSA approved. The Durrand count as a knife?

[Andy Velebil]

The Durrand count as a knife?

I'm not willing to risk losing my Durand...someone else can be the guinea pig.

[Glenn E.]

The Durrand count as a knife?

I'm not willing to risk losing my Durand...someone else can be the guinea pig.

Technically, they don't confiscate the items. They simply refuse to let you through with them, and you may choose to abandon them at security if you so desire.

Back when they first prohibited pocket knives after 9/11, they tried to take a Swiss Army knife that my Dad brought be back from Europe when I was a kid. I refused to proceed and asked where the closest place I could use to ship it was. Luckily there was a little shipping store similar to a Mail Boxes Express right there in the airport, so I ran there and mailed it to myself, then went back through security.

Which was made all the more complicated because my ID and ticket had already gone through security before they stopped me, but luckily it was a small enough airport and I'd made enough of an impression that the agent at security recognized me when I returned.

So you could test a Durand at very little risk by simply showing up at the airport early enough to turn back and mail it if they stop you.

[Peter W. Meek]

<snip>Technically, they don't confiscate the items. They simply refuse to let you through with them, and you may choose to abandon them at security if you so desire.<snip>

Not always. I tried to turn back (and simply abandon the flight rather than lose a knife with considerable sentimental value) and was told that if I tried to leave the gate I would be arrested immediately. And either way I would lose the knife (which I did).

BTW, if you turn back from the gate and have checked luggage it could cause quite a problem. Since it is absolutely forbidden for luggage to fly without its owner they would have to unload the entire baggage compartment and match each piece with someone on the plane. I don't know if they would, but that is what the rules say.

I quit flying as much as possible when you no longer could walk up to the counter with cash and give any name you liked (after the first Cuba hijackings). My feeling is that it is nobody's business but my own whether and where I want to fly. The worst air-terrorist event in history killed about as many people as a month of highway fatalities. And they were checking people's identities at the time as they had been for the previous 40 years (with no useful effect).

[Moses Botbol]

I wish they'd let the airlines do their own security. Let the consumer decide what kind and how much security they want to participate in.

[Bradley Bogdan]

I wish they'd let the airlines do their own security. Let the consumer decide what kind and how much security they want to participate in.

+1!