When TSA takes your pocket knife

This wasn't US TSA, but overseas. I thought it was safe with no sharp edges, but my little Knipex Cobra got taken. I never though pliers were dangerous before. 🤷‍♂️
 
Drop bear said:
I used to work pub's.

Adults need to be supervised. Sorry.
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What happened to innocent until proven guilty? Not that I'm advocating everyone bringing whatever they want on a plane but the TSA list is pretty prohibitive. If you go to that Govdeals site they have tons of stuff they've stolen confiscated from people that make no sense. If somebody can explain how to cause an issue with a foam pool noodle I'd like to see it but they have em, along with tons of nerf guns, hard plastic toys, electronics, etc. Apparently some 7 year old had an evil gleam in his eye when he toted his 16 inch souvenir lightsaber he got at a theme park into the security checkpoint because they have tons of those.
 
TimButterfield said:
If you ever get a door security check, may sure to recheck any carry on bags. I had a door check once on the way back from France and the security lady mixed up the bags when putting them back. Without me noticing it, my brand new Victorinox Wine Master was dumped back in my carry bag and later taken by the main security. It surely pissed me off, but I learned a lesson. If it ever happens again, I'll make sure they have completed and returned everything to one type of bag before even beginning to check the other type.
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Like hell that wasn't intentional. The weasels that take jobs like that love to mess with people. Trust me, I know. Psychologically speaking, the types who gravitate to any type of security or loss prevention job are disproportionately disordered compared to the general population. Do you think they are doing that job out of some deep sense of duty or diligence? Nope. They do it because it gives them the opportunity to screw with random people and suffer no consequences from it. If you know anybody in such a line of work, next time pay attention to how they like to brag about the things that they do to people. They love it.
 
I watched this last week and thought it was hilarious.
Just another good reason why I will never fly unless my life depends on it, I'm never voluntarily going anywhere that I can't have a knife in my pocket.
 
I'm fine with security rules and such....I believe in freedom, but im also realistic and know 70 something %, I made up that number, think they need govt oversight to manage their safety and lives. so be it.

I dislike flying for all the time standing in security lines and watching knuckleheads who wait til the last minute to organize and hold everyone else up. it wouldn't bother me so much if they were first time fliers and didn't know any better but they aren't, they just don't care about anyone else's time or the inconvenience they create on others.

it's a good thing I'm not tsa as I'd kick them out of line and send them to the back of the line to start over.....

it's more them than the tsa and rules that irritates me.
 
The government was all set to allow knives again but the obnoxious stewardess union lobbied and got them to not allow them.
 
EngrSorenson said:
Do you happen to have that source handy?
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That's where this knife came from. It was to be TSA compliant but at the last minute someone said no (not sure if it was FAs or what).

C189PRD_Spyderco_Roadie_Red_SP21180_1__34304.1642613851.jpg
 
Danke42 said:
That's where this knife came from. It was to be TSA compliant but at the last minute someone said no (not sure if it was FAs or what).

C189PRD_Spyderco_Roadie_Red_SP21180_1__34304.1642613851.jpg
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While I’m sad knives still aren’t allowed on planes, I’m kinda glad I won’t be in the situation where I’m up in the air about to eat a terrible frozen dinner and the person next to me pulls out the ugliest knife ever made, (again, right next to me), and I have to watch that monstrosity work. ;)
 
I've even had one airport security overseas confiscate my little Knipex Cobra pliers though not a sharp edge anywhere. I never knew they were so deadly. :rolleyes:
 
TimButterfield said:
I've even had one airport security overseas confiscate my little Knipex Cobra pliers though not a sharp edge anywhere. I never knew they were so deadly. :rolleyes:
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Deadly or valuable to the airport security person? Is there any oversight? Airport security people openly ask for bribes in some countries; this doesn't seem that different.
 
One day many years ago, flying from SFO to LAX, I had a 44 Magnum round key chain confiscated when I emptied my pockets into one of those plastic bins. It was totally inert with no primer or gun powder. In fact it had a screw with an eyelet that was attached to the key ring where the primer would have been. It was glued in pretty tight and would not have been of any use in a revolver cylinder. It only cost a dollar or two so it was no big loss. I certainly wasn't going to miss my flight over it, but I had the distinct impression that the security guy liked it enough to make an unauthorized seizure.

And just a few months later the tragedy of Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 took place.
 
It's been my experience that the TSA folks are pretty honest. While boarding a flight in Orlando: I lost track of a diamond/sapphire ring that my Missus bought for me. As soon as I realized it was missing: I went straight to the TSA desk. I described it:, and they handed it right over to me.
They might be a pain in the butt; but I don't like seeing their honesty questioned...
 
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Bob Denman said:
They might be a pain I the butt; but I don't like seeing their honesty questioned...
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It is as in most groups of people: most are in all likelihood admirable people that do themselves and their job proud but, unfortunately, there tend to still exist a few "rotten apples" that give the rest a bad rep. It doesn't mean that we don't need them or that their job is any less important. The only solution tends to be to have processes to catch and keep the bad players in check.
 
Enkrig said:
It is as in most groups of people: most are in all likelihood admirable people that do themselves and their job proud but, unfortunately, there tend to still exist a few "rotten apples" that give the rest a bad rep. It doesn't mean that we don't need them or that their job is any less important. The only solution tends to be to have processes to catch and keep the bad players in check.
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I was going through security on the way to Hawaii several years ago, and making it obvious to everyone that I was dying of thirst, while security was delayed for someone who was getting their entire backpack dumped out. They overheard me complain quietly to my wife that they could have pulled them aside to do it and let us through faster.

Then they found a sealed unused full water bottle in my backpack, LOL, that I could have been drinking while I waited to get checked through X-ray and metal detectors. It was a bag that I always kept pre-packed for possible emergency travel, with medications and other necessities, and had not looked inside it prior to getting in line.

I was so relieved that I tried to grab the water to gulp it all down, and would keep the empty bottle for refills; but the TSA agent refused to let me have it, knowing how thirsty I was, and tossed it away with a smirk.

On the way back from Hawaii a week later, guess what? I didn't have anything that was contraband, but they pulled me aside and dumped my entire backpack to search it for anything illegal. They pulled me aside to do it, and didn't do it while holding up everyone else in line. I'm pretty sure something was added to my file or something to punish me on the way back...
 
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TSA should have been an oversight agency, strengthening security requirements and actively working on the intelligence side to prevent future incidents. Instead, it became the "Department of Barn Door Closing" enacting security theatre that I'm sure frightens or deters absolutely no one with evil intent. 9/11 worked because we were complacent; not on the operation side, but on the intel side - agencies weren't talking to each other and a bad thing happened. DHS was formed to alleviate that and has, for the most part. TSA should have been a player at the table to disseminate information to the travel industry. I've heard statistics that they have a 75-90% failure rate at some locations! Is this any better than the private contractors that were in place before 9/11? They are not effective and, because government has zero reason to get better, I don't see this improving.

In case you couldn't tell, I'm not a fan. I worked for TSA for two furiously frustrating years. Working conditions were okay if you're fine with everyone hating you. Leadership at the floor level was okay but their training was little better than the basic training received by TSOs. Upper management was a nightmare; politics and stupidity are rarely good neighbors and TSA has them both in spades. Quotas were the flavor of the week; you'd better be catching something or we'll send you through retraining because obviously YOU are doing something wrong. All this and more for $17-19/hour and crap benefits. TSA and the VA are perfect examples of why we should NEVER let government touch anything important. Their like King Midas except everything that .gov touches turns to sh%&.
 
Charlie Fox said:
TSA should have been an oversight agency, strengthening security requirements and actively working on the intelligence side to prevent future incidents. Instead, it became the "Department of Barn Door Closing" enacting security theatre that I'm sure frightens or deters absolutely no one with evil intent. 9/11 worked because we were complacent; not on the operation side, but on the intel side - agencies weren't talking to each other and a bad thing happened. DHS was formed to alleviate that and has, for the most part. TSA should have been a player at the table to disseminate information to the travel industry. I've heard statistics that they have a 75-90% failure rate at some locations! Is this any better than the private contractors that were in place before 9/11? They are not effective and, because government has zero reason to get better, I don't see this improving.

In case you couldn't tell, I'm not a fan. I worked for TSA for two furiously frustrating years. Working conditions were okay if you're fine with everyone hating you. Leadership at the floor level was okay but their training was little better than the basic training received by TSOs. Upper management was a nightmare; politics and stupidity are rarely good neighbors and TSA has them both in spades. Quotas were the flavor of the week; you'd better be catching something or we'll send you through retraining because obviously YOU are doing something wrong. All this and more for $17-19/hour and crap benefits. TSA and the VA are perfect examples of why we should NEVER let government touch anything important. Their like King Midas except everything that .gov touches turns to sh%&.
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This is all very dependent on what airport you work at. My experience with TSA has been everything depends on what airport you’re working out of for TSOs and for passengers their experience depends on the same. We don’t have quota’s for finding things, people who have been here a while have never had to deal with quota’s for anything. I’ve met people from Atlanta that never had to deal with quotas. Your airport sounds like it was a management nightmare… which I have witnessed at other airports… it’s extremely disappointing to see that shit.

Thankfully the people I work with/under and the passengers here are all amazing. I’ve heard so many times from passengers “did you just ask me how I’m doing!?… (LAX, EWR, etc) usually just yells at me”.

More on the topic of knives, if you forget one in your bag you should always have the option to mail it home when tsa searches your bag. I make sure to ask everyone if they want to mail it first, lots of times I hear “tsa never gives me that option they always just take it”. Especially if I can tell it’s a knife guy I’m talking to, it’s always a big relief for them when they find out I’m not gunna throw out their griptillian or delica
 
I haven't flown since before 9/11 and doubt I'll do it again. There's far more "Federal" and "administration" than there is "aviation" when it comes to the FAA. TSA strikes me as a boondoggle made worse by Kennedy's greatest mistake: his executive order allowing Federal employees to unionize. That was not only unconscionable, but unethical in the highest sense.

Flying, while faster than driving, seemed to me to mix all the worst aspects of riding a public bus with entirely too much government interference.
 
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