I know there’s a thread somewhere with a more general question about this, but here’s a one off that might help some folk.
I just flew from the UK to Bulgaria and back over the last 2 days and took 3 togo’s with me. The trouble is that I don’t check-in luggage any more if I can help it…so everything goes in my little clear plastic bag through x-ray.
On the way out - just toothpaste, Baldessarini cologne and 3 togo’s. The security woman looked over the bag really closely (and passed it - phew). Maybe I should record this as a hit Anyway, I only realised later that carrying something called “Ammunition” through an airport was a pretty dumb thing to do!! That gave me a cold sweat .
So, on the way back I added a couple of those mini shampoo bottles that every hotel has in the bathroom, thinking that lots of mini bottles would just mark me out as a cheapskate not a terrorist - and it seemed to do the trick. No problems at all.
I’m not saying this is a definite fix but if you have to travel this way maybe give it a try…oh and Smartmones, can we have a new label “Am-discreet” for the travellers
I always transfer my mones to Sephora atomizers and have never had a problem with carry-on or checked bags. But, yeah, it would be kinda foolish to carry a bottle marked “Ammunition”! TSA workers ain’t very smart and some are lookin’ for a way to feel important and powerful. One of my GFs had problems at the Vegas airport a lipstick case sharped like a shotgun shell. At least I talked her into leaving her fake bullet belt at home…
You should be absolutely fine - we (pilots) are subject to more scrutiny than most, but to date nobody has ever caused any problems. If anything, they are curious… “What is A314 man - what does it do?”
And that scrutiny is mostly BS to make TSA workers feel powerful and generate a false sense of public sercurity. So what if the pilot has a pocket knife, more than 3 oz of liquid or a book of matches. He has a friggen fire axe in the cockpit and can crash the plane if he wants too…
Hahaha…I can’t help but contrast this with something that happened to me about two years before 9/11. I was late getting out the door to get to the airport and grabbed a bag I normally take with me to go train and used it to stuff some clothes in. I had thought I had emptied it but forgot about the butterfly knife I had in one of the small front compartments.
I tossed it on the x-ray machine conveyer and stepped through the metal detector. Security meets me on the other side, telling me their is a problem with my bag. They take the knife out, then whip out a ruler.
“S’okay, it’s under 6 inches”…hand the knife back to me (not put it back in my bag), watch as I flip it a few times and tuck it in the back pocket of my jeans and then wave me through to my airplane.
Not saying their security was lax, but there definitely was a different way of looking at things back then that we sort of took for granted.
Anyway, I only realised later that carrying something called “Ammunition” through an airport was a pretty dumb thing to do!! That gave me a cold sweat .