Ask Lemmy

Not really useless, and I volunteered it for disposal... a small LED torch. I was entering New Zealand, which has extremely strict biohazard rules. I remembered that I'd used the torch a few times while beekeeping in the UK. The risk was vanishingly small, but still a risk, so I handed it over and it went in the bin.

My sister knows I like knives. She went to Switzerland with her husband and bought a Victorinox for me. I think it was at the airport so she didn't had the chance to check in with her luggage. TSA equivalent at her layover in India confiscated it. She was livid.

Toothpaste

I had a torx handle with a single screw driver bit attached, left over in my backpack. (So basically just a screwdriver)

Combined, it barely exceeded the maximum safety length. If I'd stored it separated, it would have been fine.

I offered to separate it, that wasn't going to work. I needed to leave one of them behind. ...as the rest of the socket set (at home) needed the torx handle, I left them with the screw driver bit.

A salt-shaker sized container of MSG

I got an opposite kinda thing. I picked up one of those credit card sized folding knives. Forgot it was in my wallet, and wasn't even stopped at TSA. Didn't even realize it until a couple days after I landed at my destination.

It's ALL theatre.

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 traveled to a manufacturing expo last year. I had so much stuff to bring back that I needed extra room in my carry-on. So I loaded it up with these: box of drill bits and some endmills (very sharp), set of dial calipers, set of metal files, small containers of superglue, a couple books of sandpaper, set of precision pins for measuring holes (basically looks like a bed of nails in a box). Also I had a bottle of water. Yep the bottle was confiscated but they didn't care about all the other crap even if it looked like MacGuiver was planning to hijack a plane.

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.

$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.

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 sheet 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.

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

ಠ_ಠ

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

🤦