Since we are not going to be entrusted with metallic utensils again any time soon, I am seeking advice on the highest quality plastic silverware available today.

Having had enough of cheap, flimsy forks and knives, is it time to bring my own. Any suggestions out there for the finest forks and keenest knives (made of terrorist-proof plastic, of course)?

You are allowed metal flatware--just not knives. The airlines that give all plastic do so as a cost savings meausre.

Tango,

Have you been taking metal forks through security? I am curious if they have raised any eye brows.

Since metallic knives are out, perhaps you can recommend some high-quality plastic knives, per the original post.

I heard that they use the best quality plastic on the Concorde.

Perhaps a note would be in order to BA or AF!

I have not taken a metal fork through security but I have been served meals with metal forks on foreign airlines flying into and out of the USA. I have also used metal forks and spoons in the First Class lounge's airside(past security)in the USA.

I realize this has been talked about in the past but who do they think they are fooling by not allowing metal knives on board? A broken wine bottle is just as dangerous.

Concorde has pretty cheap plastic stuff as well... nothing special there...

So now it's plastic every thing ? I flew R/T IAD-FRA-IAD and the only thing plastic was the knife.

I have a set of hard plastic (lexan) utensils that I keep in my 'expedition level' travel kit for long trips. These are very light and are used most typically by backpackers. I have not tried to take them through security as many check points say simply 'no knives' or 'no sharp objects'.

If you are interested, Campor carries them.

I have also found that old credit cards do a good job of cutting cheese in a pinch.

[This message has been edited by BillMorrow (edited 02-04-2002).]

I am not at all sure that you can bring a plastic or lexan knife through security. ( by rule I mean not practicality )

From http://www.faa.gov/apa/tipbroch.htm :
When you are preparing for your trip, remember to pack smart � pack safe. You cannot bring the
items listed below on your person or in carry-on luggage.

Knives of any length, composition, or description.

It's the first thing on the list folks...



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UAL free since the last millennium - and planning to stay that way!

I've seen some lethal-looking corkscrews in first class on AA.

A friend was at a Conference in Florida recently. An associate slid a spoon from the restaurant into her purse as a joke. Security at the airport saw it in the x-ray, and she didn't even know it was there. Delayed her, and I think they kept the spoon...

JP

Chinet, the luxury disposable plate and ware set.

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"Fly me to the moon and let me earn alot of miles."

Just out of curiosity, what was the joke? Does she by chance collect them? Only reason I ask is because one of my very dear friends has a personality quirk that she collects spoons of all sorts from all places. Quite amusing.

I flew Air France DUS-CDG in November in C, and the cutlery was all metal. I was quite surprised (pleasantly so).

At least AA has found a durable plastic...I was breaking forks and knives the first few flights in October and November.

Knife Fight Continues After Sept. 11


COLOGNE, Germany -- Maarten Grisel holds a butter knife in one hand and the printout of a Federal Aviation Administration e-mail in the other. The e-mail confirms that the knife is dull, which is great news.

"This is a reason to celebrate," says Mr. Grisel, vice president of Sola Airline Cutlery BV, a Dutch stainless-steel maker that is a big supplier to airlines. "We can compete again."

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, aviation authorities around the world issued an open-ended ban on metal steak knives and other metal utensils. But most countries allowed some stainless-steel butter knives on board, and now Sola and a few rivals are pitching these as alternatives to the plastic knives that airlines have been using.

It's another battle in an airline tableware war that began long before Sept. 11. On one side is stainless steel, which is durable and classy but heavy and expensive, and on the other side is plastic, which is cheap and lightweight but scorned by high-paying passengers and environmentalists.

At stake is a big business. Last year, Sola sold 250 million pieces of airline tableware, including about $20 million of stainless-steel knives to 70 carriers. One customer alone, AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, bought 10 million settings.

An inexpensive stainless-steel setting costs about $1, compared with less than five cents for plastic. Metal utensils' biggest cost is labor: fishing them out of the garbage, cleaning and sorting them and then repacking whole sets. Even then, a metal set averages only seven to 20 uses because lots are thrown out accidentally, and others are pocketed by passengers. Metal cutlery also weighs at least seven times as much as plastic, or the equivalent of a fare-paying passenger on a big jetliner.

After Sept. 11, plastic cutlery looked like the clear victor in the tableware war. As U.S. carriers started flying again after several days' grounding, airlines that hadn't scrapped food service needed sanctioned cutlery, and fast. Timothy Thomsen, head of procurement at the world's largest producer of airline meals, LSG Sky Chefs Inc., a unit of Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa AG, had three employees on his staff in Irving, Texas, working 18-hour days to find plastic suppliers. "Aesthetics didn't matter," he says.

But now they do, and the plastic contingent is racing to come up with implements that meet airlines' exacting design demands. At a recent trade fair of the International Flight Catering Association here, Racket Group of Kansas City, Mo., a longtime stainless-steel hawker, had on display a new art deco-styled plastic setting. Finnish food-packaging maker Huhtamaki Oyj offered see-through, rainbow-hued tableware. Medstar Industrial Co., a small Egyptian contender, had a set it claims can stand 40 washings.

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,4286...rketplace%5Fhs