Flying with hand luggage

[maxb727]

Hey,

Does anyone know what caving kit I will be okay to fly with in hand luggage?

Thanks


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[aricooperdavis]

It really varies Most airlines are IATA members so abide by IATA rules, which are quite prescriptive for some things (e.g. lithium batteries; you're allowed to carry a certain number of Wh). The IATA really aren't prescriptive about other things though, such as rope and carabiners - then it's up to airport security to decide, and then there's no telling whether you'll be let through. I've had carabiners confiscated in the past, but I've also travelled with B2 mountain boots and a caving helmet with lights and batteries...

That being said, you'll almost certainly be fine with all horizontal caving stuff (oversuit, kneepads, wellies, belt, helmet, light, tackle sack) but I wouldn't bring a donkey dick or crabs. I'd imagine that you'll struggle getting much of an SRT kit through, except maybe sit harness and chest harness. You can try and ask the airport you're flying from in advance, but a) they're hard to pin down and b) it's up to the person you see on the day, not the person who responds to your initial inquiry.

[Boy Engineer]

but I wouldn't bring a donkey dick

At the risk of regretting the question, could you explain this term to the uninitiated?
Thanks.

[Maj]

A length of rope/cord attached to the top of a tackle sack such that it can be hung from sit harness or belt etc.

https://starlessriver.com/shop/cowstails_footloops/bag_tether
https://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=19089.msg246020#msg246020

Maj.

[JasonC]

It really varies ..... it's up to the person you see on the day, not the person who responds to your initial inquiry.

- and don't expect airport security staff to show any commonsense or reasonableness whatever.
I was once travelling with an 80-year old couple. Security insisted on wafting the explosive-detector gizmo over her diabetes kit.  For some reason it showed positive, so they insisted on going through the full 20-minute check process in a leisurely fashion, then refused to lend a wheelchair so we could be sure of catching our flight.
In the end we did, by the skin of our teeth, but no thanks to the Manchester security Stasi

[Alex]

Manchester security made me check in my Disto, apparently I could shine it out of the window and blind people.

[aricooperdavis]

Manchester security made me check in my Disto, apparently I could shine it out of the window and blind people.

There's a strong argument that it shouldn't be in the hold, as it's got lithium ions in it so should be somewhere where it can be easily extinguished...

Although that argument might not go down well with security, now I come to think of it.

[Mr Dinwiddy]

A long while ago I flew back from Mallorca with caving light and helmet in my hand luggage. You can tell how long ago it was as the carbide light had one of those Malham generators- a steel cylinder. I should have thought this through but the x-ray of the steel cylinder and battery with wires etc caused the Spanish security to get very excited. My Spanish was not very good but I understood the message as a soldier pointed a rifle at my chest whilst another bloke jabbed his finger at my rucksack in an agitated manner. All happily resolved when I (slowly) put the hemet on and opened the generator to show it was empty. I somehow think there would be less flexibility with todays security.

[Roger W]

Needless to say, avoid anything sharp and/or pointy, and anything resembling Dr Nobel's patent linctus...

(I was once marched off at pistol point at a certain German airport for having a pair of scissors in my hand luggage - but that had nothing to do with caving.)

[Fulk]

I was once obliged to repack a short length of rope in my rucksac into my hold baggage because 'You could use it to tie up the pilot'.
Just don't assume that common sense will be enough to deal with security.

[Alex]

Manchester security made me check in my Disto, apparently I could shine it out of the window and blind people.

There's a strong argument that it shouldn't be in the hold, as it's got lithium ions in it so should be somewhere where it can be easily extinguished...

Although that argument might not go down well with security, now I come to think of it.

Yeh, that was why I told them when I checked it in, it was powered by double As otherwise I would just be going from pillar to post.

[topcat]

Not caving, but slightly related:  when I used to travel with hand guns they were contained in a totally non-descript brief case.  After going through security they always insisted on adding a big sticker with FIREARM written in red.  I went from being completely blended in with the holiday crowds to being the centre of everyone's attention, and a target [pardon the pun] for any nut fancying a hand gun.  Needless to say the sticker was removed asap, and certainly before hailing a taxi !

I know air port security is on 'our side', it just seems that sometimes they are not.......

[Graigwen]

Almost four decades ago when flying to ireland I was pulled out of the queue and given a twenty minute grilling by British security because I had a geological hammer on my belt. The hammer eventually travelled with the pilots in the cockpit.

Coming back, I offered up the hammer at Dublin airport and Irish security fell around laughing, the hammer travelled on my belt.

It is different times now I suppose.

.

[Tripod]

Again not caving but related by way of airport security. Back in the 1970s I went on a fishing trip to Ireland. In order to get around luggage restrictions we carried reels, lead weights, underpants and in my case, a Concertina in our hand luggage. I was stopped, outbound, and had my bag searched - everything out, pants, Concertina, everything. When we arrived in Ireland there was a call of "have you any maggots" (livestock of course) and when we answered "no" we were waved through with a smile. A member of a the party on the same trip a year earlier had tried to be "funny" and the result was a strip search, on the English side.

Years - decades - later I was leaving Sardinia with my son-in-law. We were both stopped at the same time, in adjacent aisles and had to demonstrate our playing of traditional music - Sardinian and English - on our respective instruments, carried as hand luggage, in order to prove that we had nothing secreted in them. 

[Robert Scott]

About 16 years ago, going through Manchester airport, there was a security chap by the check-in queue asking if we had “dangerous” stuff in our hand luggage. I mentioned that I had a disposable razor in my wash-kit. I was commanded to hand it over. I pointed out that on our long-distance flight, there would be the same razors in the aeroplane toilets. “No there aren’t” said our security chap with sure confidence borne of total ignorance.

Needless to say, once the seatbelt lights went off, I confiscated every razor from the economy class toilets to prevent their use by terrorists. During my holiday in New Zealand, I got rid of about two dozen razors in various gents washrooms.

[CatM]

On the contrary to previous posts, I've travelled multiple times with SRT kit / metalwork / Via Ferrara lanyards / helmet in hand luggage and not had a problem.... A couple of occasions security have asked to have a look inside but I've never had anything confiscated.

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[aricooperdavis]

Maybe I just got unlucky - the only time I've ever traveled with a carabiner in my hand luggage it was confiscated, so I've never risked it since.

[paul]

Although it's from a climbing/mountaineering point of view, it's worth having a look at: https://andy-kirkpatrick.com/blog/view/365climbtips-1