I boarded a lunchtime flight yesterday with lunch in hand. I was in AUS, and took the opportunity to sample a little Texas "BBQ". After I sat down, I opened the box to discover that my sandwich would be impossible to eat with my hands since it was so heavy on the bbq sauce - the bun was like a little island set in a sea of sauce.

When the FA stopped by to get a drink order, I asked if she had a plastic fork anywhere on the aircraft. I figured it was unlikely that an MD88 was supplied with much beyond plastic cups and I was right. However, she returned from the back with her personal fork - a metal one!!! It wasn't DL standard issue. Now how the heck do you get that through security?

Last month, I watched a pilot go through security (I think it was SFO) with a case of beer.

Now I really appreciated the fork. She even washed it for me. But the double standard bothers me. How is it so easy for TSA to look the other way just because someone is wearing an airline uniform?

Personally, I don't have a problem with flight crew bringing whatever they want through security. First, if the pilots intend evil, I doubt they'd need any "accessories", since they're in control of the aircraft. As for the FAs - if they intend evil, it doesn't take much creativity to figure out what might be helpful from the galley and/or service carts.

The real problem is that all the "security measures" are nothing more than a "floor show", put on at taxpayer expense, to "impress" the travelling public.

I don't disagree that the restrictions are foolish. I'm not sure how I feel about a couple pilots with a case of beer in the cockpit though.

Of course, the FA gave me, a potentially dangerous passenger, her fork. I wonder if she had a knife too, and would she have lent it to me.

Although the previous posters are correct about the FA's not needing a fork to wreak havoc, it is not the FA's that would concern me. My concern would be about a passenger who noticed the fork being used by an FA and then used it to wreak havoc by "appropriating" it from the FA (or the PAX she lent it to). Just having it onboard the plane is the issue as far as I am concerned.

TSA's idea of security is a farce. Last time I flew CO in F I had a meal served with real metal knife and fork. During that same trip I had a stop at IAH where we went to a restaurant in the sterile area and were served with plastic utensils. I inquired about this with the server and the manager and they both told me it was a TSA decision.

Apparently forks are not considered dangerous, as every restuarant in the clean area at DFW uses metal forks and silver painted plastic knives.

Is it just me or is the whole idea of worrying about forks and knives a complete and utter joke? NO ONE is ever going to hijack a plane with a knife, screwdriver, box cutter, or even a machete. I almost feel sorry for the next idiot that tries to take over a plane with a knife. He's going to be shredded by 20 passengers faster than he can scream "allah akbar".

Umm, the perpetrators of the 9.11 hijackings were armed only with box cutters. Don't be fooled. It can happen again.

Umm, I know but it only worked because previously hijacked planes always LANDED. If you are on a plane now and a guy gets up with a box cutter, are you going to sit there and "wait until they land"? Neither will about 200 other people.

I don't know about Delta's first class, but United gives metal forks to first class passengers at meals, along with a plastic knife. FWIW, I do not consider a metal fork to be a dangerous weapon.

Most carriers use metal forks and spoons. CO and NW use metal knives.

Not sure what the concern is here.

Lets face the facts, your average metal airline fork isn't all that sharp. It would most likely take considerable force to harm someone with one. A box cutter, while rather small, it is still very sharp no matter how you look at it. Quite a big difference between the two.

I look at it this way... if pilot can carry a protection in the cockpit the FA's should be able to have something. - I do agree there is a double standard.

Folks, this is a TS/S topic and that is where this thread is headed.

Rssrsvp - Moderator

I thought metal flatware was allowed through security?

I thought the rules were: metal forms & spoons, and metal flatware knives lacking a point or serrations? If that's the case, the FA wasn't even bringing aboard contraband, as even a pax could do so (although given the "consistent inconsistency" of the typical TSA checkpoint, pax might still be hassled).