Another US Air Travel thread

I am about to go to South America, with a connecting flight from Miami. My travel agent usually handles trips to Europe so she got fairly paranoid, almost to the point of advising me to travel naked and buy my clothes in Chile lol. Here are some questions I have:
1) Can I take flammable stuff in checked luggage? (mouthwash, aftershave, spray deodorant)
2) She advised me against putting shaving soap into my carryon. Did anyone ever get a bar of soap confiscated?
3) Any other thoughts on what I can and cannot check?

Thanks.

Copied/pasted from an airline website:

* Effective November 10, 2006, the TSA has advised that travelers may now carry through security checkpoints travel-size toiletries (3.4 ounces/100 ml or less) that fit comfortably in ONE, QUART-SIZE, clear plastic re-sealable bag. At the security checkpoint passengers will be asked to remove the clear plastic re-sealable bag from their accessible baggage and place it in a separate bin or on the conveyor belt for screening. X-raying these items separately will allow TSA security officers to more easily examine the declared items. In addition, prescription liquid, gel and aerosol medications, baby formula/milk/food, and diabetic glucose treatments must be declared at the checkpoint for additional screening if they are not included in the ONE QUART clear plastic re-sealable bag.
* Passengers who attempt to bring undeclared liquids, gels, or aerosols into the sterile area without providing to the TSA for separate screening may be subjected to secondary screening.
* Passengers who purchase liquids, gels, and/or aerosols in the sterile area are now allowed to take them onboard the aircraft.
* Duty Free liquids, gels, and/or aerosols purchased inside the sterile area may be brought onboard the aircraft by passengers, and no longer must be delivered to the aircraft.

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The container size has to be 3.4 oz or less - a larger one partially used that has 3 oz or less remaining isn't allowed. I'd put the soap into a checked bag.

Thanks. I think I'll pack everything in the checked luggage and hope for the best. Do they allow mouthwash, aftershave and spray deodorants in checked luggage?

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Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

Thanks. I think I'll pack everything in the checked luggage and hope for the best. Do they allow mouthwash, aftershave and spray deodorants in checked luggage?

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Yep, no problems there as far as I know. I routinely travel with all the above in checked baggage. Mine seems to get picked for opening & inspection most of the time on my outbound flight and I've never had any of those items removed.

After checking out the TSA website, I see why those South Park gyroscopes are more comfortable than flying :eek:
1) Having to take off our shoes.. So un-hygenic and I can't see how metal detectors/chemical sniffers don't work if you're wearing shoes.
2) Secondary screening in a separate area sounds so Gestapo/1984 to me.
3) Even if they change their gloves for each piece of inspected luggage, how will I ever trust a random minimum wage slave to handle shave-ready razors?

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Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

Even if they change their gloves for each piece of inspected luggage, how will I ever trust a random minimum wage slave to handle shave-ready razors?

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I'm going to advise you to NOT bring your razors with you on the flight.... Not in carryon bags OR checked baggage. They will be confiscated from carry on bags and checked baggage can get "lost" in transit.(my very first straight disappeared in this manner years ago... I'm still bitter about that)

Don't think that a DE will be left alone either. If you take one, make triple sure you don't take ANY blades along with you.(you'll have to buy new ones at your destination) They get all pissy about the possibility of the presence of a loose blade. I posted about this in another thread several weeks ago.

If you absolutely must have a straight with you, and your stay in South America is going to be an extended one, then you will be much better off shipping the razor to yourself at your destination.(make sure it's insured) It may be expensive, but the lack of red-tape hassle is worth it. If your stay is going to be a short one, then just buy a few disposables and suffer for a while.... that beats having your razor swiped or confiscated for "national security" reasons.

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Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

After checking out the TSA website, I see why those South Park gyroscopes are more comfortable than flying :eek:
1) Having to take off our shoes.. So un-hygenic and I can't see how metal detectors/chemical sniffers don't work if you're wearing shoes.

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From my experience, many shoes have steel shanks in the sole. These always set of the metal detectors anyway. There is no real way to know if it's just a steel shank or someone modified their sole to conceal a knife or such. By taking them off, they go through the X-ray machine where a proper determination can be made. This used to drive me crazy as I wear cowboy boots and they have that steel in the sole. I know some workboots and even dress shoes have this as well.

As for un-hygenic: two thoughts:

Not much more un-hygenic than packing a couple hundred people into a flying sardine can when there's alot of coughing and sneezing happening.

I agree there is a lot about the TSA (thousands standing around) that can be improved but I guess I'm a little biased right now. I'm happy to endure a little more security if it means 3k more of my fellow citizens don't get killed. As human nature is wont to do, we usually knee jerk react to a situation then the pendulum swings back to a more reasonable position later. It's not necessarily right, but it is the way of things sometimes.

By the way, the last paragraph isn't intended to suggest that others don't care about American lives. I'm just trying to establish a frame of reference for my statements.

I'll be facing a similiar thing as my family hijacks me in May to take me to Florida. I want to take my straight with me but I don't think I'll be doing so.

By way of suggestion, contact Josh. He travels with his straight alot from what I've understood. I'm sure he could give you some ideas for safely getting it through security checks.

Have a safe trip!

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Originally Posted by steve

TSA (thousands standing around)

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:roflmao

I generally fly a couple times a month, haven't had any problems with straights in checked baggage. I pack them inside my Dopp bag. My view is that a checked bag is no more or less likely to go missing if it has straights in it, that depends more on which airline you're flying and what airports the bag has to transit through. Your worst odds would probably be USAIR combined with a connection at DeGaulle in Paris.

It can be tough choosing which razors to take along since you want a good shave away from home but don't want to risk your best razors or ones that would be tough to replace in case of loss/damage. I take two in case the edge goes bad on one of them, along with one of Tony's wide paddles for stropping, diamond pasted on one side.

I bought one of the new Gilette Fusion razors recently and tried it just yesterday, have to say it's a real improvement over the M3. It was ridiculously easy to get a good shave with and I couldn't believe how clean it got my neck in two passes. It's better than a straight for me there and I think I'll just use this one for traveling in the future rather than bother with straights on the road. They only cost about $10 and come with two blade cartridges, beat the hell out of disposable razors in performance.

Miami might be the least of your worries.:roflmao

If you do much international travel you'll quickly discover every country has a different set of scary things. Depending on where you go (and what security alert they've had recently) will determine to what extent you'll be subjected to unexpected and/or invasive tactics.

After quite a few years of international travel, I'm pretty used to airports with guards carrying machine guns, tanks sitting alongside ramps and runways, armored vehicles meeting planes on the tarmac and transporting the passengers to the terminal in odd vehicles... even being diverted to another country! I've also become accustomed to various "search" processes... metal detector, xray, wand, hand frisking, etc. It will really go much easier if you follow directions and do what they ask... otherwise you draw attention to yourself and that usually doesn't work out to your advantage. Personally, I've never had a cavity search, but I've seen fellow travelers who were "mouthy" to the screeners get asked to go behind the curtain. They were always a little pale when they returned... if they returned... :roflmao

I don't know where you're going in SA... but I can tell you the system in most countries there lies somewhere between questionable and just plain corrupt. If you have someone meeting you there and they pay the right person the right amount you'll not even have to go through customs. If you don't then it's up for grabs whether your luggage will be searched and whatever the searcher likes will be appropriated. I happened to be unlucky enough to be flying to Buenos Aires the day some crazies blew up the Israel Embassy there back in the early/mid 90's... the experiences upon arrival were pretty surreal to say the least. Thankfully, the person meeting me "took care of things" so I was able to avoid most of the airport hassle. Most passengers that day didn't even get through customs for almost 24-hours.

My advice is don't take anything (carry-on or checked) that you value enough to be upset if it's "confiscated" (aka, stolen). Be courteous, follow directions, and dress/act like an average person. If you want to make a fashion statement... a civil rights statement... or whatever, then be prepared to spend some time not enjoying your trip as much as you would like.

just my $.02

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Not much more un-hygenic than packing a couple hundred people into a flying sardine can when there's alot of coughing and sneezing happening.

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Or being on a puddle-jumper flight where people have brought chickens onboard and the stewardess walks down the isle spraying you (and everything else) with an insecticide... I've actually had that happen in Mexico.

All that sounds similar to my pre-Christmas experience at Heathrow - no liquids; any deodorant, toothpaste etc in carry on had to be put in a plastic bag of certain proportions. I was also made to put my carry on bag inside my laptop bag to get through security - only one piece of carry on luggage was allowed at that point.

I did take two straights and a strop with me to the UK (in the checked-through luggage) and brought back an extra three razors the same way. I had no problems with this, but that may have been more good luck than anything else.

James.

PS I don't have a major problem with this level of security, especially if it deters psychos from exploding my plane mid-air. We had an experience in Melbourne recently where a young guy was refused entry onto an international Qantas flight because he was wearing a t-shirt depicting George W. Bush as a terrorist. Poor taste perhaps, and certainly ill-conceived, but hardly a security threat, I would have thought.

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Originally Posted by azjoe

Or being on a puddle-jumper flight where people have brought chickens onboard and the stewardess walks down the isle spraying you (and everything else) with an insecticide... I've actually had that happen in Mexico.

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:D How true. I bet that was after a mad dash for the plane, too.......... with every man, woman, child, goat, and chicken for themself in the race to secure a seat.

Removing your shoes to go through the metal detector isn't such a big a deal when viewed with a little perspective.

Take an extra $100 - $150 with you, per passport, if your passport(s) haven't been to Chile yet. I went last March and it was $100 on a U.S. passport. They hit you with that before you are allowed to go through customs. If you check with the agent you use to go to Europe they can probably tell you the amount.

Rick

If you can avoid mountain roads, do so. The drivers there are just plain crazy. I was on a cruise ship and twelve passengers went off a cliff outside Arica, Chile. Truck on the wrong side of the road forced the van onto the shoulder and from there over the side.

Thank you gentlemen. Complications are the last thing I want when travelling, so I'll be extra careful. On a good note the initial checkin happens in Toronto, so I don't expect any anal probing or whatever else they can come up with.
As for the entry fees, they will be about $140CDN (based on the reciprocity principle), and I will have them ready. Those Chilean drivers have nothing on me. I'm a product of Eastern-European and North-Ontario schools of driving, with a risk-taking mentality thrown into the mix :eek:

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Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

Thank you gentlemen. Complications are the last thing I want when travelling, so I'll be extra careful. On a good note the initial checkin happens in Toronto, so I don't expect any anal probing or whatever else they can come up with.

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Just be glad you don't go through Roswell, New Mexico. Those ETs are known for their anal probing :D

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Originally Posted by steve

Just be glad you don't go through Roswell, New Mexico. Those ETs are known for their anal probing :D

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Yeah, but he wouldn't remember it afterward! :D

I wouldnt sweat it much really. just checked everything like you said and you will be ok. I check my straights every time I fly (generally weekly) and have never once have a problem...other than when I accidentally tried to carry one on lol :fim: I dont have much experience in going international other than to london and I dont recall that being a problem. As far as your dress, dont sweat it, I usually wear steel toe motorcycle boots and a LOT of metal, I also refuse to take of my shoes or belt and get "wanded" its quck and often easier if you have to tie big heavy boots. I also check in with my concealed weapons permits as ID just to really piss them off lol :D

Through all that I have never once had a problem.

Thanks Josh. I haven't done any air travel in about 2 years, they got more paranoid since then and I've never been to the States, so I wanted to make sure I made it to Santiago.

IIRC, they have you take off your shoes so that they can x-ray the shoes to check for explosives (after the Richard Reed "shoe bomber" incident), rather than because they interfere with the metal detectors - though, as someone pointed out, shoes with steel shanks will make the thing go off. Take it from someone who spends a lot of time going through metal detectors at federal court houses.

Oh, by the way - the covering your belt with your hand thing doesn't work, either. And the precious metals in a ring aren't going to set the detector off.

I fly quite frequently myself, and have flown in lots of other countries (though I admit that I wasn't mad enough to fly Aeroflot - a friend who did said there's nothign quite so exhilarating as never knowing when you might fall out of the sky). Start worrying when not only do they ask how much you weigh, but have a scale on the tarmac next to the plane.

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Originally Posted by JerseyLawyer

Oh, by the way - the covering your belt with your hand thing doesn't work, either. And the precious metals in a ring aren't going to set the detector off.
z

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I noticed that from my wedding ring, but how then can they prevent someone from smuggling a platinum knife onboard?

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Originally Posted by Bruno

I noticed that from my wedding ring, but how then can they prevent someone from smuggling a platinum knife onboard?

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If you had enough platinum to make knives out of it, I'd think you would buy the plane not hijack it.

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Originally Posted by Wildtim

If you had enough platinum to make knives out of it, I'd think you would buy the plane not hijack it.

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Well, Osama B. is a multi millionaire. Platinum is extremely expensive, but you could make a pretty good knife out of 50K euros worth of platinum.

True but ceramic is cheaper and more effective. Hell some ceramic and other non detewectable items as well as some non brass cased ammo and you have a gun...

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Originally Posted by Bruno

Well, Osama B. is a multi millionaire. Platinum is extremely expensive, but you could make a pretty good knife out of 50K euros worth of platinum.

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