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Comment by akerro | Hacker News Reader

My gf forgot to take out her pepper gas from her bag before flight. Her bag was scanned twice and no one noticed. We found it out at home. The can was opened, used once before. Well done security officers and billions dollar market for security scanners.

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I flew from JFK to LAX to DEN with eight 9mm, hollow point rounds in my carry on bag. Denver TSA finally caught it and was very, very nice about it all (being white, having recently trimmed my beard, and having a non-foreign name definitely helped in that regard)

TSA at major airports is security theatre, plain and simple.

Thanks for acknowledging that being white inevitably changed the outcome ;)

OTOH, on a trip to Alaska with multiple connections, my white, Irish-Norwegian descent wife was searched every time she went through security while I, her black husband, looked on with veiled amusement.

YMMV.

Not to deny the fact that profiling happens, but it occurred to me that the assumption your wife was carrying something for you might have also been at play. White women carrying narcotics is not an unheard of phenomenon. Sorry if that de-funs the situation!

I once carried a small penknife onto a plane just by forgetting I had it.

In some jurisdictions penknives are explicitly allowed, due to their blade typically being just under 60mm long.

Back in the 80's I once sat next to a guy with a set of a dozen or so Exacto knives. He passed the time on our flight making intricate wood carvings.

I shave using an old-fashioned razor. From (not sure when, but most likely 2004) to 2010 I travelled with a pack of razor blades in my hand luggage most of the time. It sailed through dozens of inspections. I found it myself when I got a new laptop bag and emptied out the old one.

I was so angry about all the hassle (hours of queuing, dozens of examinations, all for zero success) that I decided to go on, and have done it another 100-200 times since. Whenever I fly somewhere without checked luggage but will want to shave, I just take along my razor and a blade or two. My blades have been found twice and confiscated once.

A tip for other security-minded travellers: There's a brand of toothpaste called "one drop only" whose tubes are small enough to pose no risk to aircraft security, yet last long enough that you don't need a tube for each trip.

My friend had toothpaste confiscated, because it's a liquid pack of more than 50ml... He was arguing for 20minutes that toothpaste is not a liquid and they let him go. I was allowed to take 75ml of honey.

Isn't the 'rule' "Liquids, gels, pastes"? Also isn't the limit 100ml?

I once gobbled down what was remaining in a jar of Nutella at security because they wouldn't let it on a flight. Apparently it's a paste.

I once drank 10oz of tequila at 9am. Fuck em.

Frankly there should be shipping boxes at the molest-station, with the cost paid by the thugs that insist on stripping you of your personal property.

If anything deserves an upvote, it's this :-)

Story time:

I was flying out of Paris and had bought some good ripe camembert cheese. I was flying without checked baggage, so I put it into my carry on. The lady at the security scan insisted the cheese was liquid. After a lot of back-and-forth where I was not getting anywhere, I commented exasperated: "If I had a cheese sandwich though, you'd let me pass?" to which she replied "Yes."

I stepped out of line, bought a baguette, spread the cheese on it, and passed through security without any issues. I made sure to get into the line in which I would have to be checked by the same lady. She let me pass and avoided eye contact.

I've never been caught with my DE razor blades either. I intentionally bring them.

It's surprisingly easy to disguise them in a bag of electronics and wires. They actually get pissy about my small screwdriver set, but ignore my razor blades.

I once carried my actual knife (Schrade CH7) into the airport while traveling with my parents (pre 9/11), and I was allowed to take the knife on the plane, since the blade was "under 3 inches" (which it isn't).

As an explanatory back-story, I am not from the city. Carrying a knife is normal where I come from. I was less than 10 years old.

Heh, I once carried my late '70s manufacture Gerber Mark I boot knife (http://www.thegerberknives.com/mark.html see bottom) in carry on luggage in the mid-1980s, PEOPLExpress Airlines was in a hurry and didn't want to check baggage on that flight (very streamlined, e.g. you paid by cash or credit card during the flight). I showed it (sheathed) to the guy saying "Uhhh..." and I guess he thought correctly I wasn't going to be a problem and waved me on.

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