re: Flying and TSA

quote:

---

What does the TSA do? Xray luggage? Use K9s?

---

Not sure if this has been answered and I don’t feel like reading all of it, but here’s your overly thorough answer:

-In your carry-ons, other than the obvious guns/bombs/bullets they’ll take large bottles of water/shampoo and big tubes of toothpaste. All they do is take them though.
-Don’t freak out if they pull your bag aside and go through it. It happens ALL the time.
-In your checked baggage, they’re a lot more lenient. You can even put unloaded guns, just disclose it to the person who’s checking you in. I’ve literally brought an instrument in a big case and there was a cop, asked me “is that a loaded gun?” I said no, and he said “alright have a nice day.” No big deal.
-They’ll confiscate anything with lithium batteries, but they won’t know they’re there unless they do a “random bag check” (which is usually only when you have an abnormal looking case).
-I’ve never had anything stolen, but I’ve heard of it happening. If you can, take your expensive stuff and put it in a carry on. This will only happen if you accidentally leave something at security (happened to me) or when you check your bags.
- If they choose something for random inspection, they’ll almost certainly be rough with it and your stuff is certainly going to be disorganized.
-if you have anything fragile, you risk them throwing it on the cargo belt. Ask for a “fragile” sticker on both sides if you have anything that can break, ALWAYS. Even if it’s small enough to be a carry on, there’s still the chance they have no room overhead and they gate check it. Those people are assholes sometimes.
-Try to check in early. This is mainly out of your control because most airlines just base it on when you booked the flight. This is because if they run out of space (if you’re last in line or close to it, on a full flight, that’s when they run out, and it happens often) they will gate check it, or if it’s way too big, they’ll do that too. If the space looks like it’s running out, put it in the first place you see.
-K9’s may be on the way to security. I don’t know if they’re at the checked baggage, but they might be. But I’d say I see it maybe 5% of the time at security,, if that. And in security at least, they’re primarily looking for drugs. They don’t care about ammo or guns. They may care about bombs,
-DO NOT BRING WEED EVEN IF IT’S LEGAL IN THE STATE. They probably won’t arrest you or anything drastic, but it’s not worth the risk.
-You can bring nicotine vapes through security. But do not, under any circumstances, smoke them on the plane. By the way, I’ve done that too, but I’ve also flown over a million miles and know how to hide it (hold it in, bring a sweatshirt, act like you’re sleeping, but don’t do it, I’m just an idiot like that).

Edit: someone said put your wallet in your bag. This will just make the way through security quicker and easier. They have never stolen anything of mine through security. Don’t sweat it.