Electronic Scale in Carry On Baggage -- Will TSA Care?
 

Howdy all.

I like to weigh myself every morning, in the privacy of my room. It's a weight management tool I have used effectively for years. No, I don't like the Gym scale at the hotel, thanks for asking ;).

Now that I have to travel for work, I have not been able to weigh myself. I avoid taking my scale with me in my carry-on because I'd rather not deal with a checkpoint goon. It's a standard electronic body scale I bought in a pharmacy.

Are my fears founded? Do you think this is the kind of thing I would get a lot of questions about, since it is not often traveled with?

Thanks for any input.

April Fool!

I promise you it's not. Though I guess it's a bit of a stupid question. :)

Unlikely to cause any issues. A lot of us have traveled with much "weirder" items (think custom electronics a lay person wouldn't recognize, or worse, home-built custom electronics) and not had problems. Of course, some people have had problems with very common items (e.g., Macbook Air).

It's a roll of the dice, but I doubt a scale would raise eyebrows. Any screener who causes problems over this would likely find some excuse to harass you regardless of what you were carrying.

If you're concerned, the first few times you travel with it, consider putting the scale, contained in some sort of cloth bag or even an opaque plastic bag, in a plastic bin by itself. That way nobody but the x-ray viewer "sees" the scale, but if TSA freaks out they can secondary-screen the scale without messing with your main bag. That's what I do with my own weird (home-built custom electronics) stuff.

If someone questions you about the scale and you don't want to tell the truth, tell them you use it to weigh your luggage. Seriously. It's totally plausible.

Welcome to FT.

That's great advice, I appreciate it.

And thanks for the welcome.

Cue Ink and his carry on contents:

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/...G_8771-2-2.jpg

Yes, I carry this on in a Pelican 1510. They usually swab it, and should. I don't think your scale will be a problem.

The last few trips we have had an electronic luggage scale in a carryon. It's never been looked at except as an item in the way when other things were being looked at.