saizai

I carry a pair of walking sticks (rubber end caps, pointy bit inside) and a guide cane with me all the time. Have yet to have any problem with it. They ask to scan it first, and they have a wooden hook cane at the checkpoint that you can use while they're doing their thing.

(Note that for me it's a medical item. Not that I think that should matter, but as a practical matter, I think not even TSA wants to be in the news for taking a partially sighted and crippled guy's walking sticks & cane away.)

wpbill

I have bad feet and a bad knee and like to use a 4 foot hiking staff I made of solid oak. My question is would this be allowed as a carry on. My wife and I are flying to Colorado in May by Fronter Airlines but I can't find any information covering the use of a single hiking staff. If anyone could let me know or where to get this information please do, I would appreciate it.

JDiver

Welcome to FlyerTalk.

We have moved your post from the Trchnical Support and Feedback forum to a more appropriate forum for airline security issues.

JDiver, Moderator

TWA884

wpbill, welcome to FlyerTalk.

I've merged your question with an older thread on this topic.

You may also want to check out The TSA Blog:
Canes, though, are allowed. I just saw a flight attendant place one in the overhead compartment flying out of ORD earlier in the week.

TWA884
Co-moderator, Travel Safety/Security

chollie

I would suggest that you PM eyecue. He's TSA DEN (the airport that tried to confiscate the light saber cane), so he is particularly up on this subject - and I'm guessing (?) you may be flying into/out of DEN if you're going to be hiking in Colorado.

If you tweet, you could try 'AskTSA', although they will likely just link you to the website, which is non-binding at the checkpoint.

You could also contact TSA Cares. If they think you cane will be allowed (check both airports, departure and return), ask for a representative to meet you and escort you through the checkpoint. Otherwise, what they tell you will not be binding at the checkpoint and the interpretation of the rules can vary widely.

You are wise to ask. I have been trying to get a straight answer on aluminum tent poles for as long as TSA has been around - with no luck. Some TSOs allow them, many confiscate them. One confiscated them because allegedly the collapsed bundle could be used as a 'bludgeon'.

wpbill

First off thank you for directing me to the correct location for my post. Please bare with me as i better learn how to use this form. I did use a normal crooked hickory walking stick some years ago going to Las Vegas on Southern and had no problem going or coming. But I made this staff from an old oak beam out of a very old farm building and have done quite a bit of carvings on it wood spirits Celtic knots and such so I dont want to loose it. But more then that i fine it a bit more helpful then a cane when standing and even walking. So would prefer to use it insted of the standard cane. I have no worries of it passing x-ray or any inspection as there are no hiden features to this staff. But I will resurch it more with the TSA thanks for your advice.

Flaneurs

AFAIK, TSA doesn't confiscate items not allowed through checkpoints unless you surrender them. They always give you an option to mail it, go back and put it in your checked luggage or give it to a friend. If you are in a rush and you "abandon" the item, it get's put in the locked bin with other things and then apparently sold at auction sometime down the line. I can't imagine it is any different with canes as it was my multi-tool which I inadvertently had in my backpack.

chollie

Depends on the airport. I have had items tossed before I could object. I have never seen a locked disposal container. On more than one occasion, I have seen a TSO put something close to hand, but not tossed - like an unopened bottle of water - when the disposal bins were nearby.

Many items can't be mailed (unless you already have the packaging and postage with you). I have exited the sterile area to dispose of an item in the bathroom trash instead of 'surrendering' the item to the TSO for his/her personal use.

Flaneurs

My only experience with having to surrender an item was at PHX T3 where I gave them my Leatherman Tool as I was really pushing it on time. Once I got to the gate and Delta delayed the flight for an hour, I went back to TSA and talked to the guy to see if I could take it back and mail it. He said "Nope it is already in the locked bin" which he pointed to and said that nobody had the key. Although I am not really sure how that could be truth, the locked container did look rather stout. You can see it as you are exiting security on the right side at the lowest scanners. I think a resourceful person could find packaging and postage needed if necessary (especially with all the really nice volunteers at PHX), but YMMV. I think you can actually just throw a label on most things. I know I have seen coconuts sent like this.

petaluma1

If nobody had a key, how did it get into the "locked" bin?

gobluetwo

Probably like a mail drop. Average TSA workers can put stuff in through a slot or something, but cannot open it up to retrieve items.

chollie

You might be assuming a bit much about PHX. Next time you are there and have a moment, ask one of those lovely volunteers if they can assist you in mailing an item that will otherwise be confiscated and see what happens.

Size is also an issue, as I'm sure you are well aware. My local post office has not permitted items over a certain weight to be dropped in the mail box for years. Even if you have bought and affixed the postage at the self-serve kiosk in the lobby, you have to personally submit the package to a post office worker. A leatherman is probably light and small enough, but many other things are not.

FWIW, when one of my leatherman tools was confiscated, I was allowed to exit security to dispose of the tool in an airport bathroom trash can. Dear old PHX confiscated a coin-sized disk with a tiny screwdriver blade (1/8") on the edge because it was a 'tool'. On that occasion, I was not allowed to leave security with the tool to dispose of it as I chose. I was told that the rules don't apply to things like tools, only oversize LGAs. I was also not allowed to exit security with my nitro pills when they were confiscated.

YMMV. You can always count on PHX to come up with something outrageous.

saizai

I use two walking sticks more or less all the time. They're standard hiking sticks, modified a bit (white & red reflective tape, one of them can be adapted into a guide cane). And yes, they're the kind with rubber nubs covering mildly sharp graphite tips.

I've never had a problem taking it through security, except in a couple instances where screeners (mainly in EU airports) wanted me to explain what the guide ball tip is (because it shows up on xray as a sphere with a screw inside). That's about it.

Usually they give the canes back to me immediately after they're xrayed. Sometimes they give me a hook cane pending screening.

So tl;dr: if you're using it for support, it doesn't matter whether it's a "hiking pole" or a "can" or whatever.

Airlines usually ask me to stow 'em in some way, but they're collapsable, so I can just put it under the seat. I never permit them to be stowed overhead or otherwise taken away from my immediate reach.

celle

Not being from the US, I was confused about the terminology used, until someone explained partially. To me, a stick that you use because you have some disability and it helps you to walk is a walking stick, regardless of its length; a cane is a flimsy thing, often made of bamboo, and useless to assist with mobility. That's my perspective.

The longer sticks used for hiking etc are hiking poles, not walking sticks, and they have to be checked.
Crutches are crutches - medical devices - regardless of whether they are underarm or forearm crutches and do not need to be checked.

So, to me, a walking stick (which people in the US apparently call a cane), being a mobility aid, is of course permitted to go through security as a medical device. In fact, I have been through US security several times with one. It goes through the screening device with other carry-on stuff.

Crutches too, regardless of their length, are medical aids and do not have to be checked, just screened.

Where the OP apparently has a problem is that he uses a walking stick that is longer than the rules allow. To avoid potential hassles, I would recommend using a shorter stick when travelling.

WillCAD

You're spot on, though there are some nuances to the whole allowed/disallowed thing. We call walking sticks canes, and hiking poles are sometimes called hiking or walking sticks, especially if they're wooden.

People in the US often choose heavier, non-traditional assistive devices based on their personalities. Many people choose extra-long hardwood hiking poles as their daily assistive device rather than a plain cane, because a hardwood hiking pole is extremely sturdy and durable, and can fit a person's personality better than a generic cane. Some are quite beautiful natural artifacts, others magnificent pieces of woodcarver's art. Star Wars actor Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) uses a heavy (ultra-awesome) ~four-foot Lucite cane shaped like a lightsaber.

This is from whence the problems with TSA stem. A six-foot oaken hiking pole being used in lieu of a standard cane by a person who has a genuine medical need is, IMHO, a necessary assistive device which must be permitted aboard. TSA, however, seems to have an ingrained culture predicated upon the elimination of the unusual, rather than the interdiction of threats. A six-foot oaken pole or a four-foot lucite lightsaber cane can look vewy vewy scawy to some people, and certainly, their durability and toughness make it possible to use them as bludgeoning weapons, so TSOs will react by attempting to prohibit them. Any TSO who does so, however, has no knowledge of close-quarters combat and thus doesn't realize that a four- or six-foot bludgeon is impossible to use in the tight confines of an aircraft cabin, thus poses ZERO threat to either the aircraft of the passengers. But they're SCAWY! and they're unusual, so TSOs will still try to ban them, as they did with Peter Mayhew's lightsaber cane (though frankly, I think the TSOs in question were actively attempting to steal the man's cane, because it's one of the coolest canes in existence).

It's a classic case of people looking at the form, rather than the substance - people are often too dense to understand that something can be used in a non-traditional manner, such as choosing a hiking pole as your assistive device over a traditional cane.

And by the way, whatever rules TSA may have about assistive device lengths, diameters, or weight, are secret rules that the public isn't allowed to know; there are no such restrictions anywhere on the TSA web site, except a (quite reasonable, IMHO) prohibition of sword canes.