EDITED TO REMOVE THE GIANT DISTRACTING EMBEDDED IMAGES
Originally Posted by
CDTraveler
I've been through probably different 15 airports w/ TSA checks in in the past 6 years, and I've never heard that version of the audio message. It's shoes off, no liquids, take out your electronics, but never heard any mention of knives.
Maybe it's just BWI, but I hear it every time I enter the terminal. It plays pre-security periodically.
Originally Posted by
CDTraveler
I don't understand how adults who are not in the middle of the wilderness can tolerate eating off of a spork. It does 2 jobs, both poorly.
Depends on the specific spork. I have never liked sporks that are spoons with fork tines, especially the disposable type like you get at Taco Bell. They break easily and can't do either job well. Plus, they're disposable plastic, so they're just more nondegradable trash to add to landfills.
I carry a Light My Fire titanium spork in my EDC bag, which I use pretty often, almost always the spoon side. It does both jobs perfectly, because it's a spoon on one end, and a fork on the other. The fork end is a little odd, because it's got a serrated cutting edge on one side to allow for cutting food, but I've never used that even once. I find it comfortably sized to use for things like Chipotle bowls or Quickway Hibachi food. It's also lightweight, cleans easily, and strong enough that it won't snap in half in a bag or pocket.
EDITED TO ADD: Given GlobalAdventurer's experience above, I won't be flying with my titanium spork, I'll stick with the plastic one that I modified to remove the serrations. It's essentially a plastic spoon/fork combo, so it should pass TSA muster pretty much anywhere, and if it doesn't, it'll only cost a few bucks to replace (they're available on Amazon in multipacks as cheap as $12 for four).
Originally Posted by
mglvrug
I was caught by the title of the thread,
Portable silverware/chopsticks. I guess I thought all chopsticks were portable and I began to wonder what non-portable chopsticks might be and where they might be permanently installed?
I think OP was referring to travel chopsticks, which break down to a small size when not in use. Like these from Amazon:
I've had travel chopsticks in the past, both stainless and plastic, and have yet to find a pair I like. The ends all tend to be too blunt, and I can't get a good grip on food with them. If I could find a set with pointier ends, I'd probably buy a dozen sets.
EDITED TO ADD: I would imagine that wooden or bamboo chopsticks, especially those that break down for storage, wouldn't be prohibited items, since they're basically the same as pencils or pens with no lead or ink. But I searched the
TSA What Can I Bring? page for 'chopsticks', 'chop sticks', and 'chopstix' and got no returns on any of them, so it's not an explicitly allowed or prohibited item. What that means, alas, is that screeners have probably never been trained whether chopsticks are allowed or not, so it will be up to the infamous "individual discretion" whether your travel set is allowed. I'd recommend sticking with an inexpensive set that won't set you back much if it's compulsorily voluntarily surrendered. Which, unfortunately, is good advice for just about anything you carry with you when traveling by air, since both confiscation and theft are real possibilities.