Originally Posted by WillCAD (Post 20896736)

"Legitimacy of the cane as an assistive device."

Exactly what do you mean by that?
Because, frankly, it sounds like you're saying that the TSOs were attempting to determine whether he had a genuine medical necessity for the cane, and I don't believe TSOs are either medically qualified or legally permitted under ADA to make such a determination.

And as far as the "swung to hurt someone" argument goes.... wow. Just wow. The idea of differentiating between a "dangerous" cane and a "non-dangerous" cane is sort of like differentiating between "dangerous" skydiving and "non-dangerous" skydiving; if the chute don't open, you'll be just as flat when you hit the ground. The length, weight, mass, thickness, or Star Wars Trivial Pursuit value of a cane is completely irrelevant to it's effectiveness as a weapon. The skill and intent of the person wielding it are the only factors determining lethality or even basic danger.

But thank you for mentioning the "scare factor." All you did there was reinforce the idea that someone at DEN actually believes that lightsabers are real weapons, because even if they knew that the cane was not a real lightsaber, the fact that they might have thought it was prohibited because it "resembled a weapon" proves that they are unaware that lightsabers are not weapons - they're movie special effects.

What's next - lifelike dinosaur replicas being held in quarrantine with the other pets? Passports for Barbie dolls? Will Tickle Me Elmo have to get a Nexus card?



Um... there is no guarantee that ANYONE with an assistive device can maintain 100% control of it during a flight, yet folks with wooden and metal canes and crutches are allowed on without an eye batted every day. Sure, wood and metal canes are examined to be sure they're not sword canes - which are legitimately prohibited items - and holow metal canes, walkers, and crutches are swabbed to make sure they're not full of drugs... hehe, sorry, to make sure they're not full of explosives (sorry, I forgot for a minute that TSA NEVER illegally exceeds their legal search restrictions by intentionally looking for drugs or other contraband!) But aside from those basic precautions, nobody pays any attention to a wood or metal cane.

Peter's cane is obviously not a sword cane - it's TRANSPARENT.

Peter's cane is obviously not hollow and full of coke, er, C4 - it's solid lucite with a solid aluminum handle.

Face it eyecue - the only reason the TSOs paid any attention to this cane was the fact that it is shaped like a lightsaber, and they were too dumb to realize that lightsabers are not freakin' real!

Originally Posted by sinanju (Post 20898033)

Um... no. His original tweeting included an @mention of AA who, I can tell you from experience, are very responsive to social media. Knowing they were dealing with a celebrity with a tech-and-social-media-savvy fan base, they were likely on the phone with the DEN locals inside of two minutes.

Originally Posted by eyecue (Post 20898075)

With that in mind, can you say that everyone on that plane can figure it out too?

Originally Posted by Boggie Dog (Post 20897057)

Yes, we do. It goes to prove the idiocy of TSA and these TSA policies. I guess the "scare factor" overrules common sense at TSA.

Could you direct me to any publicly available reference that guides a traveler in limiting the "scare factor" of items we might try to bring on an airplane?

Did it occur to anyone at TSA that the cane is large because the user is tall?

Originally Posted by eyecue (Post 20898120)

And then they had to locate a manager and then they had to call the checkpoint and so on and so on. The three people from TSA at the desk in the picture are capable and authorized to make such decisions on their own.

Originally Posted by sinanju (Post 20898130)

Anyone who doesn't also believe in Santa? Absolutely. Anyone who does believe in Santa and thought it was realy would also think it was the coolest thing they ever saw.

Seriously. Either the checkpoint thugs were complete idiots or attempting to seperate the man from an ebay-able item. There is no flight safety issue here.

Originally Posted by eyecue (Post 20898151)

As I alluded to in my first post on this thread, Denver has a law that is much more restrictive about items that resemble weapons and the allowance of them to airplanes. Scare factor involves belt buckles that look like grenades, belts that have bullet looking adornments, realistic replicas of any kind of weapon etc. Denver law would go so far as to say that nerf guns, squirt guns, etc are not allowed at all.

Originally Posted by eyecue (Post 20898203)

In your eyes this might be the case. We are not talking about age though. Anyone with impaired reality issues could believe that it is real. Age is not a boundary. Reduced mental capacity is and it would be disruptive on the plane to say the least. But hey it was allowed and it only took approx 5 minutes to clear so why are we even having this discussion except to dispel the issue that TSA thought it was real, or they were going to steal it etc. I am just pointing out all the aspects to this that are not being considered by you guys and gals. It really is a non issue and has become fodder for all the haters on here.

Originally Posted by spd476 (Post 20897027)

I assume this guy has flown with this cane many times before. Why was it an issue this time? I just chalk it up to typical TSA logic such as why a pie is a permitted item but a frosted cupcake is not. Of course other airports will allow the frosted cupcake so nobody really know if it is permitted. It's like how a 12 year olds shoes are safe, but a 13 year olds shoes are dangerous. Also five 100 mL bottles of water are safe, but one 500 mL bottle of water is dangerous.

I don't think that cane would have been a very good weapon on a plane anyway. It's quite large and I think that would have been hard to wield effectively in a plane. Also there is no way anyone is getting into the cockpit with a cane. Someone could hurt another passenger, but that could happen with someone swinging a laptop power adapter.

Originally Posted by eyecue (Post 20898203)

Anyone with impaired reality issues could believe that it is real.

Originally Posted by eyecue (Post 20898120)

And then they had to locate a manager and then they had to call the checkpoint and so on and so on. The three people from TSA at the desk in the picture are capable and authorized to make such decisions on their own.

Originally Posted by eyecue (Post 20898151)

As I alluded to in my first post on this thread, Denver has a law that is much more restrictive about items that resemble weapons and the allowance of them to airplanes. Scare factor involves belt buckles that look like grenades, belts that have bullet looking adornments, realistic replicas of any kind of weapon etc. Denver law would go so far as to say that nerf guns, squirt guns, etc are not allowed at all.

Originally Posted by eyecue (Post 20898151)

As I alluded to in my first post on this thread, Denver has a law that is much more restrictive about items that resemble weapons and the allowance of them to airplanes. Scare factor involves belt buckles that look like grenades, belts that have bullet looking adornments, realistic replicas of any kind of weapon etc. Denver law would go so far as to say that nerf guns, squirt guns, etc are not allowed at all.

Originally Posted by tkey75 (Post 20898502)

Bullets are real. Guns are real. Grenades are real. Replicas of them could be confused for the real thing.

A light saber is a fictitious weapon. A replica of a light saber cannot rationally be confused for a real one because there isn't one.

Originally Posted by eyecue (Post 20898151)

As I alluded to in my first post on this thread, Denver has a law that is much more restrictive about items that resemble weapons and the allowance of them to airplanes. Scare factor involves belt buckles that look like grenades, belts that have bullet looking adornments, realistic replicas of any kind of weapon etc. Denver law would go so far as to say that nerf guns, squirt guns, etc are not allowed at all.