TSA confiscated my mom's nail file. Anything remotly in the ralm of sharp is automatically labled as a weapon. If yo can bring lighters on a plane, then why not nail files?

Uh, you CAN'T bring lighters, filled or unfilled, onto planes these days. Ironically, nail files are generally approved - but if they are long and sharp, they will probably go bye-bye. And it varies by country (and even airport) as well - I've traveled with a small corkscrew (screw goes into the plastic cylinder that also becomes the handle lever) in the US with no problem, at London Heathrow it was confiscated and I was lectured last week. I guess they use corkscrews for different things in the UK...

For easier flying, whether you agree or disagree with the rules, get a copy of the latest information (PDF from the TSA) of what is banned.

On another note, the UK still hasn't fully allowed the used of metal cultery on the majority of flights commencing/terminating there.

And I quite often see ladies with foot long metal croshay (sp?) needles on board all the time. Which would you rather face in a fight?

My travel folder always has a metal-bodied pen and mechanical pencil tucked into it... I think I could do as much if not more damage with one of those than someone with a nail file (which is more likely to bend if used to stab than either of my "weapons.")

Nail files are not prohibited. Whoever made that call to prohibit the nail file blew the call, plain and simple.

On a CX flight out of GVA, their security personnel gave my mom the option of a) giving up nail clippers with the flip-out file, or b) break off the file. She chose "B", so the guard twisted off the file and handed the clippers back.

Yet with no accountability and no appeal, grandma passenger loses again.

Not quite. If the screener followed correct procedure, then she had the option of taking the item out of the checkpoint and disposing of it by either giving it to a non-travelling companion, arranging to have it mailed, returning it to her car or arranging it to be placed in checked baggage. Not a good answer because the item should have been permitted in the first place.

I share your frustration over incidents like this. You've seen how I've gotten into it with other TSA forum members when they put out erroneous policy and I call them on it. (On another web site that primarily consists of screeners, these arguments get pretty heated.)

You always always always have a right to speak to the supervisor. Very few people take advantage of this, believe it or not, even when I OFFER it to them.

CX has never had any passenger service flights to/from GVA (still doesn't).