What's the dumbest thing you've ever lost to the TSA?

Almost every time I fly, I lose something during the security check.

What’s the dumbest thing you ever lost to the TSA? It could be a stupid mistake on your part (“I forgot I kept that bowie knife in that backpack”) or a stupid enforcement (“That is not an assault crochet needle, sir”).

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I flew to TX using cheap lines, so I had to put everything in carry on bag.

This piece didn’t meet TSA standards. :joy:.

A 2022-02-27 15-02-55

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XMA Chucks. These are extremely light weight so they can be spun really fast, they are made for show and flash. Hitting someone with these is like hitting someone with a pencil tied to a piece of string. The TSA guys actually took me to a private room and searched all of my stuff, including my check baggage.

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My USCCA tactical pen🙁

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My son. It sounds funny but it wasnt at the time. We were arriving back in the country from Dubai, my son has dark hair and a full beard and he got singled out to go to the search room. Had nothing on him so it was just ‘random’, but he was taken back alone and held for about an hour. In the end they did give him back, which was nice.

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A pair of tweezers. Technically not TSA since they were taken from me in Nairobi. I guess the Kenyans thought they were too pointy.

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Water.

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Golf divot pick

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Never flown; never will.

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I will never fly again, I see all the trouble everyone goes through since 911. :roll_eyes:

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I’d like to not fly or never fly, but it’s just not possible to avoid it sometimes. I mean, I guess it depends, but like, for me personally in order to have never flown or have stopped flying and said “never again!” at some point, I’d have to explain to family members why I can’t make it to the funeral, or why I can’t be there when they have their heart surgery, or go to the wedding, or visit for Thanksgiving when everybody will be there.

But I realize some people have all of their family living within close driving distance, where we are kind of the complete opposite

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The freedom to fly commercially with the dignity of a free citizen.

I was already trending to avoid air travel long before TSA existed, except as work required due to the screenings to disarm all but the criminal. After the outrages of Patriot Act, I was done. There’s no place I need to be that I cannot walk or drive. I just won’t do it.

My dumbest loss at airport screening was a five-minute fusee I carried in my pack as emergency fire starter.

Shoot, that might be the one! Not sure I could have hijacked a plane with it, But I should have been able to anticipate the exclusion. Harder to be calm about was flying outbound with a folding belt knife, and being prohibited on the return…

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Multiple tac pens, colt .38 super mag, nail clippers with the little fold out file, and kubatons. Funny how the older lady across the aisle has her two 16 inch x 3/8 aluminum push daggers.

I fly twice a week

If it looks like a knitting needle, it is a knitting needle. If it looks like knives, then the umbrella is knives. Yes, go through TSA enough, it becomes quite interesting what they think they see in your carry-on items.

@Steven194, yes, that is bad. When we were a bit younger, my wife was frequently “randomly” selected for pat downs. After getting the TSA-Pre, I got “enhanced” screenings probably about 1/3 of the time. I have not flown much since the lockdown. One trip we were going to a Caribbean island, and I was in shorts, and t-shirt. The buzzer sounded and the guy said he needed to do a pat down. He then looked at me, and asked if was okay for him to pat down my shorts. I said yes, I should have also turned my head and coughed, and saved a trip to the doctor. :sunglasses: At the time, I told a friend of mine who worked part-time for TSA that the next time I was going to wear bicycle shorts and a tight-clinging muscle shirt and flip-flops. :rofl:

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That makes me nervous.
I’ve never lost a tac pen. Maybe I should say they haven’t taken one from me… yet. I always bring one because it’s one of the few defensive tools I can carry when I fly. The local PD have me that tip, they all do the same thing. Now I’m afraid they’ll take it.

The specific airport seems to matter. My local TSA has never taken anything from me. Some airports always seem to find something, no matter how innocuous. It’s almost like they have a bet going on whether they can find something or not.

Yes, a tactical pen is a prohibited item for carry-on. However, we know that they miss a lot of stuff. My wife had a small pocketknife in her pocketbook for years, and had forgotten about it, until the TSA found it. The stories of what TSA does not find appear limitless. It is pure theater and does nothing for safety. It costs billions and creates nightmare lines during peak travel times, even with Pre, it can be slow at times.

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I had a .357 mag shell on a chain that I had around my neck. Flew from Arizona to Georgia with it on. No problems. In Georgia when coming home TSA said that I could not have it. I told them that I had no problems when I came from Arizona and that I had it on there. TSA in Georgia said that they had different rules. And took it from me. The bullet was not usable because I drilled a hole through the sides to put the chain through. But in Georgia they didn’t care.

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I believe the tac pen is only dangerous IF it has the glass break point on the end

My boss’s dad flew not too long after 9/11. TSA inspected his calculator. They picked it up and punched the buttons several times. He told the agent, “you idiot, it goes off (or blows up–can’t remember) the third time you press the buttons.” He got the special treatment.

My uncle is a retired corrections officer. He applied to be a TSA agent. Rumor is he wasn’t hired because he was overly qualified.

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@Mike164 Chucks are actually listed on the TSA’s website. :joy::joy::joy:

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