Turn Your Kilt Across Your Tummy

[FinnKilt]

Not strictly speaking directly relevant – but I was flying through Manchester Airport (UK, not NH) wearing my Elkommando hiking kilt, – very comfortable, not susceptible to creasing, etc – removed my leather belt with phone pouch etc, but the Elkommando also has its own built-in belt. So the security officer says: "You'll have to remove that belt too, please." My wife chips in: "It's part of the kilt. He'd have to take the whole kilt off." "Oh, in that case..." says the security officer. ;-) [Not that I was traveling commando, but presumably he thought I might be!]

[Deirachel]

I was wearing my new hemp RKilt on my way back to Australia after Barb and Steve's Kilt Kamp. I must have set the walk-through scanner off. No wand, no pat-down, your nice border security lady told me to turn the kilt 90deg before I walked through again, and I was clear. Maybe, Dierachel, there is a more relaxed protocol for leaving the US?

I had a small pair of scissors, about 7" overall length, in my carry-on gear, which I was allowed to keep.

A few days after I got back to Sydney, I returned to Mascot for the flight to Hamilton Island, this time through the domestic terminal. Turn the kilt a quarter circle, fine. But that was when I was required to surrender my pair of scissors! Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport, you have wrested from the whole United States the mantle of 'Paranoia Central'!

Depends on the Airport itself. For those airports with a separate terminal for international only and little to no air time over the US, certain things might be a bit more relaxed. It's been a few years since I've been a TSA screener, as well, so some of the SOP may have changed. Scissors, for example, are not always prohibited anymore (blades under 4 inches are allowed, if the handles are not metal Of course, if it was BICE (Border Patrol) and not TSA, then it's a totally separate SOP to deal with. At Hartfield, we had a "reverse screening checkpoint" after Customs on E Gates. ICE was looking for one thing (food, drugs, etc.) and we (TSA) were looking for another (prohibited items on aircraft...i.e. weapons.), because you can't leave the airport straight out of E-gates. (You got all your luggage at an internal baggage claim, went through customs, and rechecked your luggage to the airline unless Atlanta was your destination, then you put it on a belt to be sent to the main terminal.)

My best advise for packing for a US flight is this:

1.) Double check your bags are completely empty before packing (had a few knifes come through because of bags that had not been used in a while, and the person didn't double check).

2.) Arrange what you are packing on your bed.

3.) Go to this website.

4.) Arrange your items into "carry-on" and "checked" using the lists on the page.

5.) Look at your "carry-on" stack. Is there anything you don't need on the aircraft, which is listed on the lists AT ALL (even if it says it's ok)? Toss it in your checked pile.

6.) Pack your bags, and put a label on them as checked/carry-on, and a piece of paper in the main compartment over your packing. Put your name tag on them. Put your TSA approved baggage locks on them.

7.) Day of flight, got the the airport with as much lead time as you can. (Two hours is a MINIMUM.) In the parking lot or at drop off > open your bags to check and remove the piece of paper (I'll explain in a bit). Head on in and have a good flight.

So, why the paper? To make sure no one tossed something in your bag without your knowledge. Think those questions about "did you pack your bag?" or "was the bag in your possession at all times?" are a little silly? Guess what? They exist because of real incidents. Yes, even after 9-11. The first firearm found in a carry-on bag when we (the TSA) took over Hartfield from the private company was a case like this. She caught him cheating on her (in their bed, to make it worse). He still let her pack his bag. She put his pistol in his carry-on duffle... right on top. He got arrested and convicted (he was responsible for knowing what was in his bag). Do I think anyone here would be this phenomenally stupid? Nope. But, I've raised a kid... you never know if they are going to toss something in there as a "surprise"... as in "surprise, you have to either give up your great-grandfather's pocketknife or go back out of the checkpoint and your flight is in 10 minutes...."

[KiltFitz]

Just want to report that when going through the metal detector at Schiphol last month, the chap checking me suggested I do this and it worked! Must indeed be an acceptable mass of metal programmed into the scanner.