How Many Banned Items Have You Gotten Past TSA?
 

People think that the TSA isn't paying attention any more, so more passengers are attempting to bring guns (1,828 of which were discovered in 2012) and other items to the airport.

http://www.fool.com/investing/genera...-past-tsa.aspx

One recent poll found that 50% of travelers have gotten a banned item past TSA at least once.

I haven't tried to get anything past the TSA? Have you? By accident?

I once brought a "bunadskniv", a silver knife (ca. 5 inches long) that comes with my traditional Norwegian folk costume, undiscovered through BGO and LHR. I attended a wedding the previous weekend, and forgot it completely.

Butane Lighter
 

Last year OAK-KOA forgot a lighter in my pocket and discovered it after security. On the flip side, I have had my snowboarding multi-tool, tweezers and nail clippers confiscated

I've never tried to (beyond the bottle of water I stuffed in my bag because it was the only place to put it and then forgot about it), although I have been guilty of not declaring liquid medicine I knew their system wouldn't see.

TSA-proxies, though--I have smuggled water onto the plane in places with a gate check for liquids. 100% success.

Disclaimer: I neither understand nor condone people who "just forget" where their gun is. Knives, water bottles, snow globes, sure. But a loaded gun shouldn't just be forgotten somewhere.

That said, the conclusions of the quoted article need some scrutiny.

Published statistics for TSA's own tests ("Red Team") from several years ago showed that they regularly missed about 70% of the "banned" items. In February 2011, an undercover agent got a handgun through security without fail on multiple occasions. TSA hasn't been "paying attention" for a long time. ;)

The fact that TSA found more guns in 2013 than 2012 doesn't necessarily mean that people just think TSA isn't paying attention. It might be that 20% more people are carrying guns in the first place, and the proportion who "forgot" has stayed the same. Or it may be that TSA has gotten slightly better at finding them. Or a bit of both.

1828 guns in 2013 is a 20% increase on 1523 guns in 2012. If 1523 is 30% of the total guns through checkpoints (TSA missed 70%), that's a total of 5078 guns. If there were 5078 guns again in 2013 and TSA found 1828, then their success rate went up from 30% to 36%. I sure feel safer, don't you?

And isn't it curious that there have been no dramatic events due to the ~70% of the things they've missed?

Back to the original question; I got through Australian airport security with a Swiss Army knive on 9/18/01. I took the big knife out at home but forgot the medium one was in the same bag.

Not once, not twice, but THREE times on one trip I had a stun gun in my purse I had totally forgotten about. Realized it just as I was going thru the third check point too late. They never caught it. I have since given it away. It was one shaped like a box about the size of a pack of cigarettes and had a 9v battery. Not a suspicious shape, but still. The inmates are guarding the asylum...

Big bottle of personal lubricant (well over 3oz) in carry on bag. :D

1. 4" nail -- MIA
2. spent, fairly-large caliber bullet -- DFW. (Not so lucky at LHR where security held me for about 30 minutes.)

Some good home made wisconsin maple syrup. Through MKE tsa staff....It was 6 or 8 oz and was in my 1 quart bag of toiletries baggy. The metal container looked smaller than the weight since syrup is so dense. Cant even count the times Ive gone through with forgotten water :/

The restriction isn't weight... i.e. its not OZ (ounces) its OZL (liquid ounces) or VOLUME... The density of the syrup makes no difference. The restriction applies to the amount of volume.

So your small amount of syrup was probably just fine in terms of volume.

pocket knife for about 1/2 yr :eek: found it when I emptied my backpack at home. Full bottle of water as well.

Illegal substance blotted on paper. It had been stashed several months earlier and actually it was forgotten about. I discovered it in my travel wallet after getting to my destination.
Oops :eek:


years ago

A found a small bag filled with a funny white powder in my bag once after I boarded a flight.

My heart nearly jumped out of my chest.

Many many years ago

If it was your everyday average lighter, those haven't been banned for about 6 years.

For those who mentioned a bottle of water, I regularly take a bottle of water through security. Just tell them you have a medical condition and they'll check the bottle and let you through with it.

I've carried small bottles of liquid (approx. 1 oz/30mL) in my carry-on bag literally 100+ times without objection from the TSA. But the one time I inadvertently had a Swiss Army knife in my bag the TSA caught it.

Literally never use the liquids baggie and routinely have 20+ makeup products with me. I'm sure many of these are considered liquids or gels. I've never been stopped for anything except drinks I've forgotten were in my backpack.

At work there is a group of six ultra marathon runners. They run for charity world wide and yearly raise about $75K. Few years back they ran thru Siberia with some side trips for sightseeing and visits. Flew from USA to eastern Europe, then into Russia. Russia back to eastern Europe. Back in to Russia and then on to the U.S.A> and home.One of them emptying a carry on bag found one of his 9mm practice rounds in the bottom of the bag. The bag had previously been used when he went on competition shoots. We were all amazed that it had not been found by anyone and still razz him about having it loose in the bag to begin with.

...by accident, of course
 

honestly, so many things... but it's not like I'm trying to sneak things past - I just forget. I must say, though, that they are really inconsistent in what they take - I had cologne taken away at MIA that they were fine with at FLL, LGA , JFK, HPN... aand AMS & TLV!

Probably a half dozen times, all by simply forgetting to clean out my backpack before flying. I'm too much of a chicken to try my luck slipping something past TSA deliberately.

My biggest "offense" was a DCA-(hub)-DEN trip several years ago. On the return in DEN, I got flagged for the unopened mini-sized water bottle I stashed in my backpack from the flight there. Fine, honest mistake, and I tossed it. When I got back to DC and emptied my backpack, I found a 6-inch pair of scissors that I had taken from my work desk for some reason. The scissors went right through security in both DCA and DEN.

Curious that TSA agents are so trained to look for liquids that sometimes the more obvious items go undetected.

Same for me. TSA never fails to find those mini Dasani bottles, while repeatedly missing other items.

I forgot a leatherman with 5" folding knife in my bag when I was coming through security in Yemen (outbound to Dubai). Funny thing is the guy saw it on the x-ray and I convinced him it was in my buddy's bag (behind me) so he searched through his bag while I walked through.

Lots gets missed in Yemen's security screenings, especially in the VIP area, but I guess that's why Dubai always re-screens everyone before their connections.

Put me in the camp of those who have never used the plastic bag for liquid toiletries, including sunscreen, toothpaste, etc.

I have always attributed that to common sense from the screening staff, rather than incompetence tough. Somehow, deep inside, they also as well as us that some of those rules are just for show.

Last year, I realized upon returning to the US that I had taken my boxknife on a return TATL journey, with a layover in the US both ways. I also once got through with a full bottle of water.

Then again, I once accidentally put twelve tubes of toothpaste in my carry on (long story), and got caught. :)

Nothing banned, but in my pre-precheck days I literally NEVER pulled out my liquids baggie. Not once. No one ever said anything.

Hunting Knife
 

Was flying once with my friend who forgot his hunting knife in his bag - was a 6 or 7 inch blade. He also had two of those tiny 50ml or whatever they are tabasco bottles in the same bag, those were confiscated (it was in the days before you could bring small liquids again)

Large amounts of weed. #often.

I often forget my knife in my pockets. It's a Smith & Wesson tactical knife with about a 3.8" blade (just to give you some perspective, so it's not like a boxcutter that is relatively much safer) that I always remind myself to put in my checked baggage but never actually remember to. I use it for work to open and to cut boxes, but it was also a gift from a friend who is a Marine so it has some sentimental value (plus I imagine it isn't cheap) so I never want it to get confiscated.

It has been three separate occasions now, twice through LAX and once through ONT, that I managed to stuff it in my backpack full of electronics and cables and playing cards, and I have gotten it through every time.

It makes me sad actually. On the one hand I'm glad I got it through because I get to keep it, but on the other hand it upsets me that airport security is so lax - no pun intended.

Liquids all the time. The one time I brought a pocket knife, by accident, it was also snatched by TSA.

I have "liquids" in the quart bag but never bother removing it from my backpack. I've never been questioned about it.

Deb

Back when lighters were banned, I never once had my lighter hiding in plane sight in the front pocket of my jacket taken away nor was the "backup lighter" in the bottom of a deep pocket of the same jacket ever found*


*and the best part of the so called lighter ban was back when the airside smoking patio was still open at LAX T-6 where a TSO came out to smoke on his break and when he lit up with a lighter, I went to the airside portion of the checkpoint and asked for a supervisor to follow me to the smoking patio to report that someone was using a lighter and suffice it to say, the supervisor was none to pleased when I pointed out who the culprit was in front of everyone there ;)

Both of these were accidents, not on purpose:

Pre-9/11, a box full of Black Cat firecrackers in a large carry-on duffle bag that I had previously used on a July 4 camping trip. Boarded a flight from RDU to BOS, found them when I unpacked in the hotel. Left the box with a colleague in Massachusetts.

Post-9/11, two speedloaders for a .38 SPL Smith & Wesson revolver, complete with very expensive law-enforcement-grade +P+ live ammunition, in my briefcase. I had put them in there after a trip to the range to keep them from rolling around in my car, and forgot about them. Boarded a flight from BNA to ATL, found them when I arrived at my business meeting. I rented a car one-way and drove home, because I didn't want to toss the speedloaders or the ammo. After that, I got much more careful about checking my luggage for jail-worthy stuff.

Small novelty-size Swiss Army pocket knife in my shaving kit. I flew all over the world for over 15 years with the knife, never had an issue at any airport. Then last year, an X-ray operator at ATL domestic security saw it in my very lightly-loaded luggage, and that was that. I replaced it with a Gerber Shard.

This is not TSA but a funny story. Few years back I visited a factory in Mendoza, Argentina. When I left the boss gave me a box of 3 bottles of wine. My first leg was Mendoza - Lima. I carried it with me and boarded like everyone else, it was allowed there. Then when I board the LIMA-LAX flight there was the check point at the gate, the usual one you see for all inbound US flight where they open each carry on bag. When my turn came and the guard opened my bag, she saw this big (unmarked) box and asked me something in Spanish. I had no idea what she asked but I guessed it. And I said "It's a box" She looked around for help but no one was available. And I said again "Its a box" She gave up and waved me in :)

Coming back from Hawaii (LIH) to SFO last fall, I forgot that my Swiss Army knife and a bottle of water were in my backpack. Neither got picked up by security, and I didn't even find them until I was unpacking everything at home that night.

The sad part (from a TSA effectiveness point of view) is that I had accidentally packed my photo ID, so I went thru "enhanced" screening in LIH due to my lack of ID.

Bob

Zippo Lighter I didn't know was in a side pocket of my bag. Got pulled aside for secondary bag search every flight for 3 years, and then let proceed when they couldn't find anything. Finally a TSA agent at Las Vegas told me what they were looking for and I happily threw out the dead lighter and haven't had an issue since.

4" blade folding tactical knife probably a half dozen times. It lives in my backpack when I'm not flying, and I sometimes forget to take it out. I usually have no idea it's in there until I get back and unpack. I did lose one once, but it was on the return trip - I made it there with it, but they found it (and surprised the heck out of me) in AUS.

Leatherman micra (with a 2" blade) more times than I can count. It's on my keychain, and I just don't think about it sometimes. I have lost 2 over the years, but have since discovered how to make sure the scanner never picks it up. (I was going to say how, but thought better of it.)

And, of course, like everyone else, the liquids never come out of the backpack. I usually have a couple 4-5oz bottles, too. I think they're pretty lax on that at this point - they can see liquids on the xray, and can easily tell if you've got too much. I usually do at least put it in the quart bag, and I've never even been close to that being full.

I smuggle in a few jars of Bovril paste in my checked bag whenever I return from Ireland/UK...

Soft cooler full of dry ice and frozen shrimp. TSA never opened it.

A dozen Kinder Surprise eggs.

You mean all?

I'm at 100% success rate with my full sized tube of toothpaste.