Ok, this is not technically an UAL topic, but since we will be flying on United, I figured it sort of fit. I am hoping someone here has the knowledge. My husband is studying Kendo and Iaido in Japan and wants to bring the training sword (non sharpenable) and the wooden (Boken) sword. I know the Japanese gov't restricts the possesion/export of real swords...we have bought a real one before and it took a month for the government to process it. But my understanding is there is no such restriction on the training swords as they cannot be sharpened. That said, I don't want to get to the airport to check them in as extra luggage, only to find out at the counter that they cannot be returned home.

So my question is..will we encounter any difficulty at the UAL counter, when we check in?

I don't expect there would be any issue bringing it into the US, other than explaining what it is to customs.

Does anyone have any experience in this?