Ask Lemmy

Never had an issue in the US. Coming back from Cozumel Mexico one of their security people was on a pair of micro wire cutters, had to empty most of a bag so she could "find" them. Then she took it to a supervisor who said it was fine so she gave them back and I wasted another 5 minutes repacking my bag wasting their space. I had flown down with them and passed through TSA again heading home without issue.

When I got to Cozumel they decided I needed extra screening because of all my cases. I was there to SCUBA dive. Woman in front of me lost like six cartons of cigarettes and had to pay a fine. Her husband passed through and was gone, she was pissed... Dude half ass checked my two cases, carry on bag, and personal item bag and sent me on my way.

I took my bike, but they confiscated my entire tyre patch / repair kit because it had an allen key in it. Apparently I might try to disassemble the plane from the inside or something. Then I learnt it's surprisingly hard to find a tyre repair kit in my destination. Hooray

I had a flight safe multitool, one that specifically had no blade, nor anything sharp. It only had tools for my camera. I also had a fisher space pen which they said looked too much like a bullet.

Both were confiscated, but they couldn’t figure out how to open the front flipper knife I had with me, so they let it through.

The TSA bullshit isn’t about keeping us safe.

How about not confiscated?

Was in New Orleans for the Jazz Festival.

My wife gets headaches, so we brought an ice bag like this one:

In the morning we fill it with ice in our hotel, and toss it in a backpack. We empty the water at the end of the day.

On the last day, we gather our luggage and gear and head to the airport.

When we got home I realized that my backpack went through the airport scanners with the ice bag full of water. Probably about a quart.

I think that might be above what's allowed.

I had a small piece of broken mystery metal tucked in my wallet on my way to a trade show. I knew a supplier who had X-ray fluorescence equipment on hand was going to be at the conference and I wanted them to ID the metal piece (there were like 50 sheets of it in the warehouse, and I figured it might be worth something).

Unfortunately this random piece of metal broken off a corner happened to be shaped like a box cutter blade, lol. Sure, it was like 4mm thick and as dull as a Republican voter, but still shaped like a knife on the scanner, so away it went.

I've never had anything confiscated but, I did have an argument with security about whether my backpack was allowed to be used as a carry on or not. It contained a portable battery that strictly is not allowed to be in checked luggage by TSA guidelines and must be via a carry on. It took me having to pull up the TSA regulations on batteries in order for them to give me the backpack back.

A bottle of water.

Never confiscated, but apparently sleeved Magic the Gathering cards look like explosives to the TSA. I kept getting "randomly" searched and being late for flights until I finally asked the dude why I kept getting "randomly" flagged for additional screening and he told me. It was also frequently cold when I was traveling and my suitcase was often left in the trunk of a cold car all day while I was at work and that also makes them suspicious of my belongings.

$11.8 billion dollars a year in tax money and airfare fees.

Since they were formed in November 2001, they've never stopped a terrorist plot, never prevented an airport attack, and never prevented an attacker from getting on an airplane. So literally everything they've ever taken in their two decades, including their budget, has been useless.

TSA took a half-eaten banana away from my crying toddler niece to run it through the X-ray scanner.

ಠ_ಠ

I had a bottle taken from me because the bottle was rated for 250 milliliters, even though it only had about 30 in it, and it was translucent, and you could see how little liquid was actually in the bottle.

It was on a return flight as well, so I had already flown in with the bottle, but I was not allowed to fly back out with it.

The file/nail pick part of a nail clipper. They opened it up, twisted the file out, snapped it off, and gave me back the nail clippers.

Nothing.

Was led to a cubicle area and interviewed for 15 mins. No reason given and they searched our carry on bags at the same time.

A coworker had a pair of boxers shorts confiscated because of the camouflage pattern. Equatorial Guinea is paranoid when it comes to security, and anything that can be interpreted as being of a military nature is a big nono.

This one time I was in Berlin with my girlfriend and the guy is taking a long time looking at the xray of my bag. Finally, he asks me, "do you have a flashlight in your bag?" and I told him no. He looked puzzled and he asks me "what is the device in your bag that is shaped like a flashlight?" and I told him I really had no idea but I was sure I don't have a flashlight in my bag. Then he tells me he needs to search the bag. Of course I agree.

He opens the bag, chuckles, and closes it back up and says "its ok have a nice flight!" and I'm so confused. Right then my gf comes from the line and grabs my hand and drags me to the gate.

We get a little bit away and she starts laughing her ass off "it's my vibrator!" because of course she stuck it in my bag without telling me but no he did not confiscate it.

A finger's worth of cream/moisturizer from a container I bought as a gift. It was labeled as being 0.1 oz over the carryon limit, so they asked me to open it and scoop out a tiny bit so that it would be under the limit.

🤦

I had a blender bottle from which I had drank all the liquid, which still had ice in it. Because the ice was above the 100ml line (the limit for LIQUIDS), they took it and threw it away. They wouldn't even just dump the ice, but tossed the whole bottle. Being that I was running short on time for my flight and I got my work to pay for a new one, I didn't fight it (also just because I'm correct doesn't mean the argument is going to go my way in a situation like this) but I'm still flabbergasted that ice was a liquid according to the pair of TSA seat fillers checking my bag.

I almost had a multimeter confiscated on a different occasion when they couldn't figure out what it was. That one I put my foot down until a supervisor thankful instantly waved me through when he showed up.

There was a soda machine a few feet from the TSA line. I bought one and noticed the agent looking my way. I walked up to them within a minute (small airport) and they took my unopened Coke, that they watched me purchase, and threw it in the trash. It was a dollar more at the machine on the other side.

This was a while back when the TSA was a new concept. I had no idea you couldn’t carry a closed bottle of soda through the checkpoint and was very irritated at the lack of common sense.

Another item I didn’t have confiscated but did create a big stir with was a bullet on a keychain. It contains some of my dad’s ashes. I put my keys with the keychain in the basket and several agents were shaking it saying “there is something inside there” they took me aside and I explained it was my Dad and they dropped it like a hot rock and apologized. I was surprised by that reaction given my soda experience.

In the army fully kitted out with gear. This means we have full plate and a M4 strapped to our chests, all mags were empty though. My friend had to give them his nail clippers out of his shit kit.

Collar stiffeners for a dress shirt. "Sir, they're pointy and they're metal".

sandwich spread

Not airport security, but at a venue in NY that thankfully died, they confiscated a small silicone plunger I use to take out my contact lenses. It's literally a medical device, and I can't take them out without it (glass sclerals)

My partner yelled at them and dug through the garbage for it

Not confiscated, but i had a bag full of trail mix in my carryon once and security said it looked scary on the xray scanner.

I don't travel any more than I have to at this point. When I do have to do air travel I only carry whats absolutely necessary for the trip. generally it was a suit. I treat it like going to the court building and slim down my keychain and such. so I never had anything confiscated.

Goldfish crackers and a cold pack.

I had a plastic card that fit in a wallet: it had various conversion numbers and measurements and a ruler on the side. Decently handy pre-mobile internet days.

They took it because it was thin enough to be "dangerous", I guess?

It was weird and I didn't care enough to say anything about it.