I have never tried and was wondering if shirts with french cuffs will pass security, or do I have to remove the cufflinks itself first? Does anyone travel with french cuffs?

Is there a written rule on this, or is TSA so inconsistent that I might as well go and exchange the shirts?

I can not answer your question directly but in general when traveling I try to remove any all metal that might set off the WTMD. I go through the WTMD with two medically necessary items with metal, my glasses and my wedding ring.

That said my initial response is that the cuffs are small enough that like the metal zipper or buttons on trousers are small they should not alarm the WTMD. But you never know how sensitive they might set it at.

As such, I would just remove them and secure them in my carry on like I do with my watch.

FWIW, I've never had metal-banded watches, or cufflinks set off the WTMD.

There's no way to answer that question without knowing how much other metal you have on you. It's sort of the same question about bags with lots of cables. If you have a few small pieces of metal on your clothing and no other metal, it won't set off the WTMD. But if you have a few of them, a watch, a belt buckle, and other stuff, it may add up to be enough to set it off. It also depends on the geometry of where all the metal is located relative to each other and the detector and perhaps nearby metal, along with the speed at which you walk through and the speed at which you swing your arms, and perhaps dozens of other variables. So there's no definitive way to answer your question except saying that most likely there won't be an issue.

It's the same with cables in a bag. A few won't cause a bag check, but a lot of cables combined with a bunch of relatively dense stuff will. But there's no way to give some exact numbers because it depends very strongly on such essentially random things as what shadows what.

Not necessarily true. My bag has at least 20 various cables and lots of dense stuff. It is always packed exactly the same way as it is the only way everything will fit. Sometimes it is checked, sometimes it is not. It is a mystery to why it does not get the ETD every time. It should.

As for the cuff links, keep them away from the vertical sides, walk with your hands out front, and they will be less likely to set it off.

Last time I went through a WTMD, I was wearing a silver buckle, a stainless Heuer watch, and later discovered both coins and keys in my pockets. No problem.
It was about 6:00 AM, maybe the WTMD hadn't had it's coffee yet.

Cufflinks may or may not trigger the WTMD depending on how high it's cranked up. Or malfunctioning. Or the screener kicks it.

I wear them all the time, and I don't recall it ever having been an issue in any airport in any country. Sometimes I have set off the metal detector and then been wanded; in these cases, I don't necessarily know what the problem was, so I can't swear that they have never set off the metal detector. But I don't think I have ever had to take them off, anywhere.

It might depend how big and garish they are

I have found them totally consistent (that is, completely indifferent) on this particular point. I'd hang on to the shirts

i havent flown dressed up for decades, i travel very light, just a bugout kit and what im wearing, besides ive spent too much on my ink to cover it up with shirtsleeves.

I have never had my cufflinks set of a metal detector. I travel with some frequency wearing them (not all the time though). The metal in most cufflinks is pretty minimal--even my most metallic ones don't (they're buffalo nickels).

My cufflinks have been known to set off the WTMD at FRA transit security, but I think it is cranked up to fry.

I now wear cotton closures for flying and put links on when I get to my destination.

Just tell the TSA clerks they're Freedom Cuffs and there shouldn't be a problem

I'd guess that even a few degrees different tilt could make things look differently. Also, it may depend on what experience the TSO has with bags full of cables.

1) You should definitely not exchange your shirts. I always wear french cuffs when wearing a suit. I just feel it is the proper thing to do.

2) I walk into court all the time and don't set off the medal detector. My shoes, some of which have metal in them, are far more likely to set the machine off.

3) If you are concerned, wear cotton knots. They are still very stylish and no metal.

It came through today and they barely slowed it down to look at it. I do not think it is experience as much as they are not paying attention or do not care. They did make a little kid take a netbook out and run it back through. It must have been netbook day and not cable day.