<p>ah - I cross posted with justamom! Our experience was also about 5 years ago, at the Albuquerque airport which was very intense for security. They told me I had drug residue on my purse. It was just from OTC allergy medication, but it raised a flag for them.</p>
<p>Batteries also slow you down if they are in your carryon. Try to remove them and place them in a separate tray. My mother had trouble with leaded crystal way back in 1990. She had bought a vase and had it gift wrapped. It all had to be unwrapped and inspected by security which really bothered her.</p>
<p>Guess what they do allow in carry-on luggage: Bic lighters (the kind that you would use to light a grill or a fire in the fireplace)!!!</p>
<p>This past summer, I was taking my son’s in-laws through the airport screening as they do not speak any English. I was their translator, so I was allowed past the gate even though I did not have a ticket. So, I went through screening with them and image my horror when the TSA agent went through one of the totebags and pulled out a lighter! I was horrified and embarrassed at the same time. I profusely apoligized to the TSA agent (I had no idea that they had picked these up to bring home with them). The agent removed one of them from the package (they had 4 in the bag) and tried it out and saw that it worked). She then put it back in the bag and said that it was fine to have on the plane in their carry-on luggage. </p>
<p>I was beyond shocked! So, next time you travel by air, remember that your fellow passenger may have a functioning Bic lighter on board with him!</p>
<p>I would think that 15 tubes of watercolor paint would be well worth $35!</p>
<p>thats what I was thinking consolation- some colors- just ONE tube is $8-$15.</p>
<p>H and I travel a lot. Recently, we were behind a couple in the screening area and I saw each of them put 2 separate packed full zip-lock quart bags through the scanners. They just put them in separate plastic bins. The TSA didn’t notice, so they were allowed to go through with twice the allowable amount of gels/liquids than are supposedly allowed. Some security!</p>
<p>I admit that I have always been able to board with more than one bag of stuff.
I think the main thing is they just don’t want you to have a huge container.</p>
<p>I travel frequently and have had lots of things get through by accident (hand sanitizer, lotion, lipstick). Did have a problem in Europe with leaded crystal. H & I went to a wedding and traveled with only carry on. Funny that the glasses triggered a search but the carafe never did. I also had someone search my hand luggage for a metal name badge. I guess it looked like a blade of some sort. I remember connecting through a small airport in the Caribbean not long after 9-11 when they were still looking for nail clippers. Everything was outdoor except the security screening. The guy in front of me had at least 20 sets of nail clippers in all sizes in his carry on!</p>
<p>Well, but isn’t that silly, ek? How is it that 2 3 oz containers are safer than 1 6oz container? And if you have a 4oz container that is half empty they will still confiscate it.</p>
<p>TSA must be collecting small Swiss army knives. They have my husband’s. He claims
It was small…and should have been allowed. oddly it was taken on the last of eight flights on a recent trip.</p>
<p>She was 18, didn’t have $35, and was racing to catch a flight. She was in a bit of shock, and overwhelmed. I totally understood why she didn’t check the bag in.</p>
<p>i was scolded about my eyeshadow not being in the baggie- we have founds that the smaller airports are much more strict- they are more worried about being the gateway airport</p>
<p>My D got me a simply wonderful Christmas gift before she came home for winter break – some guava jelly that she found at a little store near her college. She knows that I have fond childhood associations with guava jelly, and she also knows that I can’t find it here. She was excited to be able to give it to me. TSA took it away. </p>
<p>So, I guess fruit jelly is a threat to national security, and can’t be carried on.</p>
<p>How about if your laptop is in a wheeled bag and so is your carry-on suitcase? Can you bring both? And a purse?</p>
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<p>You’ll be fine with these TWO items. DH travels on business a lot and brings a wheeled briefcase/computer bag plus his carry on bag of clothes/etc.</p>
<p>HOWEVER I will tell you that DD tried unsucessfully to travel with a computer bag, a carry on music instrument bag AND a purse. I TRIED to tell her the number was TWO items…but she did not want to listen. She was furious that she had to check a bag. She chose the computer bag to gate check. Her computer was worth about $500. The instruments were worth $14,000 (not a misprint)…and she could NOT get all the “stuff” from her purse into either of the other bags.</p>
<p>We live in Mexico, and I miss a lot of Asian food that I could get in the US, but couldn´t find here. The first time we brought dry goods down, they confiscated watermelon seeds (every though they were dried and cooked), beef jerky (meat), black beans and spices. </p>
<p>We then found out that according to the local rule, anything which is dry packed with bar code could be brought in, including meat. Many Europeans bring various dry meat when they come back. We may not know the rules, but certainly those local border inspectors should know, but just chose to ignore. </p>
<p>This time coming back after xmas, I loaded up my suitcase, and sure enough they tried to take my stuff away again. I got D2 to tell them, in her perfect Spanish, that we were allowed to bring them in. They paused for a minute (called over a supervisor), and sent us on our way. My pantry now looks like a Chinese grocery store.:)</p>
<p>The person that typically checks for 2 bags is the person who checks your boarding pass as you get in the security line. They are not a TSA agent. When I travel, I typically have my rolling bag, backpack and small purse and am rarely hassled. </p>
<p>However, a few months ago in Newark, one wouldn’t let me through, so I turned around, went down the hall to the next security check point, which was closer to my gate. She followed me and yelling the entire time, which had the entire airport looking at me. I stood in front of the Elite line & shoved my purse in the backpack and asked her if she was happy. Had a similar experience 2 years ago in Miami, as I was coming home from Brazil - was wearing shorts & tshirt, but heading to winter, so I had jackets, long pants & sweaters stuffed in a small duffel, which I showed the person checking boarding passes. No deal, so I stood in front of her & pulled on the jeans, jackets, sweaters & hiking boots over what I was wearing & she had to let me through, as I was sweating. She scribbled all over my boarding pass. I told the TSA agent what happened and he just shook his head and told me to have a nice flight. Once through security, I pulled my duffel out and repacked all the heavy clothes. Once I even ‘wore’ my scuba BCD vest through security, as I didn’t fit in my carryon. Don’t mess with experienced fliers that know the rules!</p>
<p>PS - I typically find small (under 2oz) bottles don’t get picked up. If larger bottles are nearly empty, they also don’t get picked up, so I save my large 12oz contact solutions when they have approx a week’s worth left for my foreign travel.</p>
<p>One new thing that TSA has done is to allow knitting needles and other crafting supplies again. That is nice for people who like to knit on a plane. Of course, for people who want to use them as a weapon, not so good. I believe you can also bring blunt scissors for cutting yarn.</p>
<p>Double check the TSA site, and be aware that other countries may not allow them.</p>
<p>“The person that typically checks for 2 bags is the person who checks your boarding pass as you get in the security line. They are not a TSA agent.”</p>
<p>It probably varies. At Seatac, a TSA agent checks your boarding pass. However, they don’t give a hoot abut how much stuff you try to haul through the security checkpoint. The individual airlines’ agents do the “2 pieces per person” check at the gates during boarding.</p>
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<p>Such bottles are supposed to be confiscated; last month my D lost two of them at security, in addition to her dangerous guava jelly. I don’t doubt that you get your bottles onto a plane; but it’s due to the TSA agent’s laziness, lack of observation, or whim, not TSA policy. It’s well-documented that enforcement is capricious and spotty. I once carried my pocket knife onto 3 legs of a trip before it was finally taken away on the 4th. </p>
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<p>[Why</a> the U.S. Should Bring Down the Curtain on Airport “Security Theater”](<a href=“http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/10332-why-the-us-should-bring-down-the-curtain-on-airport-security-theater]Why”>http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/10332-why-the-us-should-bring-down-the-curtain-on-airport-security-theater)</p>