Sgian Dubhs are not weapons ... It's official!

[McClef]

Many things that are classified as not weapons will still be seen as such according to circumstances.

Quoting Black Watch regs to airport security is alas unlikely to prevent confiscation.

[Strings]

Although that might just make for a spectator sport...

After all: we're talking about the group that felt the Congressional Medal of Honor was a "dangerous item"...

[andyfg]

Quoting Black Watch regs to airport security is alas unlikely to prevent confiscation.

I think you're right Trefor. Not worth the effort! Though I did manage to convince US TSA folk that a kilt pit was not dangerous. It stayed on the kilt on the plane.

[McClef]

I don't even risk a kilt pin even though I know some airports are happy with it!

But I have said this before - when I flew from Cardiff to Barcelona last year my sgian, was unknown to me, in my Argyll Jacket pocket and I put the jacket through the scanner at Cardiff and then wore it on the plane. It was only when I got to Barcelona that I realised!

With low cost airlines like Ryannair encouraging people to travel with only hand luggage (or paying a hefty supplement for hold luggage) maybe this needs to be resolved so that there is a universal standard approach.

[andyfg]

Trefor, I agree. It all seems a bit arbitrary. I bet on another occasion with a different official the kilt pin would have been confiscated. To be honest, I had forgotten about it until it was pointed out—like you sgian!

[McClef]

It would be a simple enough operation to be able to hand sgians and kilt pins over to airline crew for secure safe keeping during the flight one would think.

[Chas]

It would be a simple enough operation to be able to hand sgians and kilt pins over to airline crew for secure safe keeping during the flight one would think.

Isn't that the policy now? I have bussed and driven and trained for so many years - I really don't know what the procedure is.

Do they confiscate sgians and pins and then not return them after the journey? What if the knife or pin or whatever had a special value? I always carry a Swiss Army Knife. It was the first present my wife ever gave me. It is now old and battered, but I would be devastated if it were ever lost or worse, taken away from me.

Can a frequent flier, please post the current procedure.

Regards

Chas

[fluter]

Do they confiscate sgians and pins and then not return them after the journey?

In the US, that is correct. If anything is lifted at the security checkpoint, it is tossed in a bin along with a huge pile of other knives, scissors, nail clippers... never to be seen again.

Knives??? Come over to the knitting fora & you can join a perennial discussion about having your knitting needles confiscated. The US TSA permits them "officially," but also "officially" states that the whim of the security officer is law.

"Sorry, mum, but we're deathly afraid you may garrotte someone with that circular knitting needle."

[Chas]

In the US, that is correct. If anything is lifted at the security checkpoint, it is tossed in a bin along with a huge pile of other knives, scissors, nail clippers... never to be seen again.

Knives??? Come over to the knitting fora & you can join a perennial discussion about having your knitting needles confiscated. The US TSA permits them "officially," but also "officially" states that the whim of the security officer is law.

"Sorry, mum, but we're deathly afraid you may garrotte someone with that circular knitting needle."

The reason I am asking is that my wife and I want to visit Venice. We could drive, but would spend more time travelling than we would being there.

So all the contraband should go in the hold and not in hand luggage? Or would that get confiscated too?

Regards

Chas

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

You should have no problems with anything in your checked baggage. I regularly fly all around Europe and North America, and have never had a problem with the stuff in my luggage, and that includes traveling with shotguns on my way to a shoot.