Do you check a bag just so you can have a knife?

Guyon

Guyon

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Flying tomorrow, and while I'd like to just take carry-ons, I'd also like a knife along. Of course, this means that I'd have to put the knife in a piece of luggage that I check. Any of you check bags just to have a knife?
 
I've never been on any plane trips short enough to only need a carryon, but I'd check a bag just to have my knives.
 
No. If I need to check a bag I will but most most of my trips are pretty short so a carryon is sufficient.
 
I haven't flown since they put all these 'safety' rules into effect. I used to fly with 3 or 4 knives in my carry-on and never check a bag. Since 9/11 I have just been driving everywhere I go for training.

If I had to fly, I would check a bag and I would take nice but not expensive stuff with me. I still think that theiving baggage handlers are more of a threat than terrorists......
 
Frank: Carry-on is no longer sufficient for knives. No knives allowed in carry-ons, in fact.

I think I will be checking a bag with at least a couple of CRKTs. Thank goodness for these knives. Good quality, but replaceable if thieving baggage handlers strike.

FWIW: Airlines are now recommending that you don't lock your checked baggage in case of "random" searches (in which case they cut your lock). However, I called the airline (Southwest in this case) and was told that you can tell the agent you want the bag to be searched in your presence and then locked.
 
Absolutely,

Most flights I take are international; if possible depending upon destination, the following are in the bag(check in of course)

Multi Tool - Swiss Army
Emerson CQC 7
26" ASP

Depending on length of stay and where a firearm and larger fixed blade will go also.



45acp

(Edited for...duh...spell check
 
I'd like to say that I will never fly again due to the sh!tsucking situation we're in, but that's not true. I will check my knives when I leave this money vampire of a country.
 
Archieblue,

There's an old saying, "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence."

Personally, I hate carry-on. All I want with me is my book, my tickets, and my shaving kit (travel tip #1: never be separated from your shaving kit). I'd like a knife with me, but I understand the situation. And I usually carry my camera too. And if I'm uncertain about the weather at my destination, I may carry my sun glasses, shoe covers, and or umbrella. But, a little, light, easy carry-on is all I want. Everything else, the baggage people can deal with.

We've been doing the 100%-inspection-of-checked-bags thing for about a month now. I have not heard one complaint, much less one credible complaint, about theft from checked baggage.

And we're doing another thing now that you may not realize. We're 100% matching bags with passengers. If you haven't noticed, all of the airlines are now bar-coding all the luggage. The result has been a dramatic drop, like 10X, in mis-routed bags. The other side-effect is that the bags arrive already sorted so the airlines are able to get the destination bags out for claiming much faster these days and get the connecting bags to their outgoing flights faster too. You've heard of "The Peace Dividend," all of those handy products and technologies we use that are side-effects of military development, stuff like WD-40 and GPS and cellular phone? I'm calling the better and faster handling of our baggage "The Homeland Security Dividend," and the good thing is that this Dividend is already tax-exempt (Shhh. Don't tell the Democrats.).
 
Well there are still thieving baggage handlers...i heard from someone that his new sneakers got stolen on a flight to the US...and they confirmed that it happened when it arrived there and not from where he left...

It really sucks that they have to do all this...puts me off travelling to US...isn't that what the X-ray machines are for?

and sniff dogs...

or maybe they should have a sort of plastic tamper proof tapes to re-lock your bag...make sure that the only people who open your bags are the ones that are authorised to do so...

anyway...i never leave without a SAK or multitool in my luggage...
 
I fly every week. and I use carryon and since 9/11 I travel without a knife. Its just to big of a hassle now checking bags..they have to be scanned etc.and the airlines lose luggage now at a exponential rate..Id just go sans knife for a few days...
 
Yes, but be careful: The security checkpoints are in different locations now at many, if not all, airports. Don't get stuck having to go through a security checkpoint because you didn't know of the changes and didn't have time to find another way to baggage check-in like what happened to me a few days ago.
I had no choice but to give up my knife (fortunately it was a $35 CRKT). On a positive note the security personnel were 100% right, very professional and were able to interpret the situation for what it was. I used to have a high IQ - not quite sure what happened.
 
It really sucks that they have to do all this...puts me off travelling to US...
Click to expand...

It was British Airways that lost one of my bags completely. They denied it and denied it. First, they claimed that Horizon, the regional airline that flew me from Seattle where my BA flight arrived, back to Portland. When I pointed out to them that international baggage must be claimed in Seattle and carried by the passenger through Customs and that my separation receipt was issued by BA inside the secure area in Seattle, they then shifted stories and claimed that US Customs had confiscated my bag. A quick call to US Customs in Seattle confirmed that they had not confiscated any bags in several weeks. Then, BA claimed that UK Customs had confiscated it. A quick check with Heathrow customs confirmed my suspecion. They don't deal with outgoing baggage, just incoming and they also had not confiscated a bag in several weeks. The officer I spoke to told me that BA blames missing bags on them all the time. When I reported this to BA, they then claimed that Heathrow Security had my bag. Another quick, but expensive international long-distance call to Heathrow security confirmed that they did not have it. BA then gave me a number to call for lost bags. I called, another expensive international call, and the number was Heathrow lost-and-found. The very nice lady told me that they almost never handle any baggage and they had no baggage items larger than a handbag at the moment. She said it was silly to suspec that I might. She gave me another number to call. That one turned out to be right to BA's baggage handling center in Heathrow. The pleasant fellow I spoke to said, "Let's check the computer records... Oh look, your bag was scanned coming into this center, but was never placed on an outgoing flight." Bingo! It must be right there near this very fellow! Nope. He informed me that if a bag sits in their area for more than three days (which it now had been because of BA's stalling) that it gets sent to "the wearhouse." He also informed me that they do not keep any records of what's in the wearhouse and that there is no provision to get anything out of the wearhouse. Once your bag goes to the wearhouse, it's as good as gone. That bag contained a $1500 WD Pease Folder. Once I confronted them with their own computer records (which I was not supposed to see and wouldn't have had the nice Heathrow lost-and-found lady given me the secret phone number and the nice chap at the baggage center who didn't know any better checked for me) BA finally confessed and paid me something like $640 for the bag.

No US Airline has ever lost a bag of mine. So don't go getting your English dander up about traveling to the US. It's the UK that screwed me.



the airlines lose luggage now at a exponential rate
Click to expand...

According to the offcial stats, baggage loss rates are at an all-time low and dropping like a stone.
 
I absolutely check my bags to have knife/knives. I flew to three knife shows last year, minimum baggage but knives. Wouldn't be without!!

Just flew to Mexico, two Terzoulas and a WM1. No Hassle!! The luggage got up quickly on all my flights, simply not an issue. Why be intimidated?

I bought brightly colored wire ties at a discount store and put an extra on top inside each bag. Didn't need them but they were there.

Win
 
Originally posted by Guyon
Frank: Carry-on is no longer sufficient for knives. No knives allowed in carry-ons, in fact.
Click to expand...
I guess I didn't make myself clear. Unless I'm leaving for a long enough trip where I need to check a bag, I just use a carryon and leave the knife at home. It's inconvenient since I have a pretty strict diet. For dinner last night I stopped at a supermarket and got 3 cans of tuna, 2 bananas and some water for dinner. Luckily it was a driving trip so I had my Champion SAK to open the cans.
 
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