The holiday travel season is just around the corner.
Thanksgiving and Christmas are typically the busiest travel period of the year for airlines, and it helps to know what passengers can pack to check at the counter or bring with them as carry-on items.
Thursday afternoon at the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport, representatives of the Transportation Security Administration showcased a cache of weapons, prohibited items and simply strange stuff that show up at the airport’s security checkpoints.
The volume of prohibited items people bring to the airport daily is truly amazing.
Martial arts weapons, replica guns, replica grenades, clubs, nunchakus, brass knuckles, spikes, corkscrews, fireworks and ammunition are all too common. Add to that every kind of knife imaginable, some disguised as keys or files. There was even a cannonball that one passenger hoped to take on board.
“i’m baffled by the things people try to bring on a plane,” Lisa Farbstein, a TSA representative said Thursday. “We confiscate a few hundred pounds per year at this airport.”
So, what happens when you’re caught with that Swiss Army knife packed in your carry-on or backpack?
“There are several options,” Farbstein noted. “The passenger can give it to someone who brought them to the airport, they can return it to their car trunk in the parking lot, they can appropriately pack it in their checked luggage or they can turn it over to the TSA. That’s what you see on this table.”
“The TSA is the youngest Federal Agency and we’re here to protect the traveling public,” Farbstein added. “In most cases with passengers going through the airport checkpoints, there’s no problem.”
“When preparing for boarding a plane, there’s a lot of things the average person does not think about. A knife brought along to cut an apple may be a danger sign to the person sitting next to them.”
Farbstein suggests that if there is any question about an article, the passenger should take it to the airline counter to receive help and advice on what the regulations require.
While many items cannot be brought on board as carry-on items, those same items can be checked in a passenger’s luggage in appropriate fashion. Exceptions include explosive materials, flammable items, disabling chemicals and other dangerous items .
Bill Turner
