Small scissors to be allowed on airplanes

Oh, hallelujah... I can STITCH again on flights!!!

pAT

Barbara Hass wrote:

This is all so foolish. After all a small pair of scissors, jabbed into the jugular would be fatal. Either they are ridiculously strict or they might as well forget it. I have never believed any of the 'security' is going to protect one.

I feel if I choose to fly, I am taking a calculated risk and it is a far smaller risk than crossing the road. Last time going to the UK I was knitting some socks. The attendant sat down with me during the night wanting to know about the wool and how one knitted socks, turned heels etc. Afterwards she said to me that I should not have been allowed to board with the needles and that it pointed out (pun intended) how foolish the whole security gig was. So if flight attendants chafe at the delays, what is the point.

Coming back I reluctantly packed a lovely crystal glass I had bought in my checked in luggage fearing security would remove it from my hand baggage declaring that I could smash it and use the shards. I felt really po'd when apart from flinging my hand luggage through the scanner and making me walk through the detector, there was basically no security. Crystal would not have shown up on the scanner. Yes, it did arrive home safely in the checked baggage thankfully. Not often I am willing to pay £80 for a single goblet, but it was Edinburgh crystal and in the shape of a thistle, just couldn't resist.

Crystal might just show up on the scanner, so be careful in the future. I had the experience of having my luggage searched many years ago when I was visiting my friend who had just moved to her new home. I was carrying a square shaped lead crystal water pitcher that I had bought for a house gift. It showed up as a square blob that they thought might be a gun case and ripped open the package and then went through everything else in my luggage. Fortunately, they were careful enough not to break the pitcher because they weren't particularly gentle.

They said that frequently happens with crystal that contains lead.

Lucille

I don't know what all the fuss is about. I travel frequently, and I was told that as long as you put the scissor in the plastic bin (and it is visible) to be scanned, it will not be taken from you. I know that to be true, as I have done it many times in the past in several different airports. I was told that it's the "concealing" the object that matters to them. Also, they will not allow large scissors. Mine were about 3 to 4 inches. And I definitely used them to stitch on the plane. It's all so silly anyway, because yes, a 4 inch scissor in the juglar would kill you..so would dental floss or a belt to strangle you. Even a nail clipper can be used to pinch open the right vein and have you bleed to death..it's all so pointless anyway. We just have to trust our fellow man. Frankly, I think movies about this sort of thing are way to helpful/suggestive to anyone who wants to cause harm. But, like I said, it's based around trust.

Peg

you were lucky. I had a pair of Fiskar thread snips confiscated, and wouldn't let me go back and try to get them into my checked luggage.

Pat

luv2xs2 wrote:

Sorry that happened to you. I would be so upset. Here's a tip...when you travel, take a small (pre-addressed to yourself) bubble envelope so you can put scissors or whatever doesn't pass inspection in the envelope and mail it back to yourself. You may have to go outside the airport terminal to get to the mailbox (I did) as they put the mailboxes further away due to the possibility of bomb packages being mailed. Just allow a little extra time for arrival at the airport...I did, and it worked fine.

i spose the terrorists have already PROMISED not to hijack our planes w/them!???

mebbe we're spose to defend ourselves w/them!?????????

too bad we can't bring knitting/crochet hooks onboard!!!!!

or needles for cross-stitch!!!!!!

Federal security has always been a little, um, odd. I once stopped by the Federal courthouse to drop off some documents before I got on the bus. The guards confiscated my pocket radio (no speaker, you could only listen to it through earphones), but let my 14" knitting needles (the size of your little finger) through without question. I guess it's acceptable to stab a Federal judge, but not to deafen him with rock & roll?

I've taken needles for cross stitch on planes all along, and have never been questioned.

I put a clover cutter on a ribbon around my neck, go right through security, and stitch away on all my trips.

Fortunately I am not likely to succumb a second time lol

Me too, I had a small pair that I didn't think about in bag with toiletries. Gone.

I accidently packed a small pair of blunt ended scissors in my carry-on bag on a return journey from Melbourne to Sydney and they were confiscated. Don't know who I could hurt with blunt ends.

Edna in sunny Sydney.

That's the whole point, security varies greatly and seems to have large holes.

My eldest daughter had to change 'planes at Newark en route to Dallas. Just before boarding, five women were asked to come to the desk. The walk through security had revealed they were all wearing underwired bras and if they wished to board they had to remove their bras ! Four of them did so, my daughter included, but she noted the fifth did not board, so I guess she didn't remove her bra.

A little further on that, at the time this happened someone at my needlework Guild was ditching some bras so she ripped one open to find the wire and see what it was actually like. She is large breasted and indeed the wire was quite weaponous, though the ends had been rounded and smoothed off.

My daughter still wears underwired bras, still travels but has never been asked to remove her bra again, not even at Newark !

When DH and I were returning from a cruise, the screeners in Florida made me remove my socks - my ankles appeared "overly thick". Didn't matter I was headed to -10F temps.

Cheryl

The problem may have been that screeners in Florida can't fathom -10f temps. They're used to the hot, humid, for me hateful, FL weather. Right now it's

59f and I just saw someone jogging past my house dressed in what looked to me like a snowsuit.

Lucille

>

I watched a man - probably in his 60s - jogging along the sidewalk the other day. As he passed his breath was uneven and raspy, sweat pouring off him, I can't believe that is good for a person. Didn't do much for was it Jim Fixit (?) the initiator of jogging, he succumbed early on. It also made my knees hurt seeing him pounding on cement.

As they say, health nuts will wind up in hospital dying of nothing lol

My husband works as a TSA officer and screener, and they do have to be very thorough. He has several good stories to tell about exactly what people wear on their persons, and believe me, people can be so strange! I know that the female screeners often have to do an extra pat down because of underwire bras setting off alarms, but they have to be so careful about what people are trying to get through.

Sue

I'm sure that was part of it. Strangely, the other four women pulled out for extra screening were in the rest room with me before getting into the security line.

Cheryl