I have been thoroughly studying this board and related sites and I have yet to see a specific answer to my question.

I provide technical service, vibration analysis specifically, and I travel with a Pelican case full of electronics for the task: Power supplies, cables, transducers, meters, strobe lights, PI tapes, feeler gages and so on.

I have always gotten a thorough check, and I get to the airport expecting it. I should. My case lights up the xray and I usually get the attention of at least two TSO's. About 50% of the time, the case is opened and swabbed. All of this is OK.

What concerns me is that I have about $20K in the equipment I carry. I do not mind the extra time in security, but I really do not want to be forced to check the carry on. I would think that the Pelican case would be a "please steal me" flag as the case alone is $400. People do not check dirty underwear in $400 security cases.

So, question 1, will I still be allowed to carry this equipment for domestic travel? I am certain that the international restrictions would get it banished to the hold, but as of now, I am only scheduled for domestic travel.

Question 2, what can I do to insure its safety, if I have to check it? It is the answer to this question that I fear will not be good.

You guys have the combined genius that I need. What is the verdict?

Joe

Question 1:

Other than flying from Canada where there is a carry-on baggage restriction (no-carry on) there are no restrictions on electronics of any kind, domestic & international. If the items that you carry are not on any prohibited list then there is no valid reason why they cannot be carried aboard once they fit within the carry-on baggage limits.

Question 2
You kind of answered your question with the first line
"what can I do to insure its safety" - insurance. Once something is out of your sight you can't predict what will happen to it. So you pack it up well, insure it and hope it arrives in once piece. The only other option you have if you are sure you do not want to carry it aboard or check it would be to fedex/ups it ahead of time.

However I have a piece of advice. I travel quite a bit with radio equipment. I manage to carry it all in one carry-on (actually a well padded camera bag). To make things easier for the screener I pull out the major items and separate them in a tray, much like you would for a laptop. This presents an easier scenario for the screener. Now they are not dealing with cables on top of cables on top of a dense electronic component. This prevents the 'x-ray' lighting up scenario you mention. Pre-empt and prepare.

I'm travelling ORK-EDI tomorrow and GLA-AMS-SEA-YVR at the weekend and am travelling with radio equipment, we'll see how it goes. I had no problem on the outward leg but obviously things have changed a bit.

There are several reasons why you haven't gotten a specific answer.

• None of us are fortune tellers. Asking what TSA might do in the future is folly in any case. Not even people who work for TSA know.
• It's not possible to give a straight answer. TSA has lists of items which are prohibited and permitted ... but then backtracks and says that TSOs can deny anything on the permitted list at any time, if they feel that the item constitutes a security risk.

The best that we can hope for is that folks who are in your situation can offer their experiences. Keep in mind, though, that your mileage may vary.

There are items I need that are not particularly valuable that have gotten the dander of the TSA in the past. I pack those in my checked bag with my work shoes.

But recently, I had a TSO to remove something from my tools that I have carried through security for several years with no problems. They gave me the choice of checking the items (back to ticketing, stand in line; back to security, stand in line, get re-searched) and I decided that there was not enough time. They then said that I could take them to my car, I said "it is in Nashville" so not an option.

All I wanted was the answer to a very specific question: I travel every week and go through airports 50-60 times per year and have since the early 1990's. These items have never been a problem until now. Which is more likely, every other TSO at every other airport is wrong, or that you are? I will never forget the answer.

Sir, if you are going to fly today, you will do so without these. If you want the items then you do not get on the plane.

The arbitrariness of this system infuriates me a lot and scares me more than just a bit. It makes no difference what the rules are or what SOP is. It is made up on the fly. No one in any position of responsibility should be able to get away with this level on inconsistency, but they do thousands of times every day.

Why not provide Priority mail envelopes for your stuff to mail home that you can pay the postage on when they get there? I think I will buy a couple of PM Prepaids envelopes pre address them and put them in my backpack. The next time it is determined that I am a threat to national security, I get the envelopes out, ask them to drop the stuff in and put it in the mail. Will they do it? I give it a 50% chance.

On the other hand, if I understand the rules correctly, you should always be permitted to reclaim your items and be escorted out of the security checkpoint --- as if you were going back to the ticket counter to check your bag. At that point, you could put the items into your mail envelopes, find a mailbox (or find a friendly counter agent who might do it for you), and then head back into the security checkpoint line.

OP - consider using Fedex or UPS to ship your tools ahead of time to your destination. It may save time, aggravation, and money in the long run.

I have considered this. $150 to ship on Friday to my next job on if I start on Tuesday, $200 if I need them Monday morning. If I get a UPS account, I would get a better rate, but I do not know how much better. The tools weigh 35 pounds. This is for West Coast delivery. Just about everywhere else would be less. $60 to the next county over. I assume everything else would fall somewhere between. I could expense this to my customers, but I would need to put it into my next agreement.

This very well may be the best option.

PLUS! I do not have to lug it around the airport. I do not have to fight for bin space. UPS could still lose it.

write tsa via their website and write your congressman. tsa will tell you the correct policy. carry a copy with you if you are in the right.

I have been carrying motherboards and hard drives through my carryon for a while now.

Full 3.5" thick drives....As I got through the WTMD I just casually say, you will see hard Drives in the bag....never asked to check it.

The ONLY time I have had to take anything out other than a SSSS nonsense time, was when I carried a softside cooler full of cheese, lots of cheese, several pounds, which they allowed after a check(they did not even touch it)

The inconsistency is a major aggravation for me as well. I can carry something for a dozen flights, then it will be flagged. Once a bag search is done, there is a strong tendency to find something -- anything -- that justifies their search.

It doesn't matter if the rules say that the item is allowed. Carrying a copy of the rules won't help. What is allowed is entirely at the whim of the TSA agent. Sure, you can disagree, but you will always lose -- they can make you miss your flight. And if you insist too strongly, they threaten you with arrest.

Some of the suggestions such as mailing items or putting them in checked bags might work for someone doing casual/vacation flying, but you shouldn't extend your limited needs of easily replaced items to everyone. Sometimes the things you travel with are vital to the purpose of the trip.

For a professional photographer, there isn't any point in the trip if your camera and lenses aren't there for you to use. Checking in $40K of equipment is completely out of the question. Getting a replacement at your destination is often impossible.

I've traveled with unique, one-off items needed for demos and trade shows. But me and the equipment have to be there for the trip to be worthwhile. If the equipment isn't there for a trade show, the opportunity is lost forever.

Ain't that the truth.

I had a close friend that worked in the field for another Federal (regulatory) enforcement agency. He used to tell me stories of how the inspectors would get into "contests" about how many regulatory violations they could find. In fact, one of the would go into the offices of one of the regulated companies to do an inspection and outright tell the folks that "he would find something that wasn't in compliance with the rules, regardless of how hard they tried". And he kept digging until he found something regardless of how minor that could be considered a violation.

When the letter of violation went out, it would always specify something a bit worse than the item found to be in violation - because they knew that the regulated company would come back and have to admit to the minor violation. Example: failure to keep a log of some particular function that they were supposed to do would result in a violation for... failure to do what they were supposed to PLUS the logging violation.

This is the way government enforcement agencies work. And the TSA is no different at all.