Flying with knives

A

anthonydoraz

Joined
Nov 19, 2012
Messages
36
Hi all, it has been a little while since I have been active on these forums but I have a question that I think you could help answer for me. I will be taking a flight (Southwest) Tuesday morning and I am wondering what is the best way to travel with knives (I am hoping to bring one or two with me on the trip), and are there any possible complications that could arise? I will also be traveling with a firearm and was thinking that I could possibly just keep a couple of blades locked in my hard case with my choke tubes and other accessories. Thanks for any help you can give.
 
Hey Anthony!

I've travelled & taken a few knives with me on several domestic flights, with zero problems. If I remember correctly, certain carrier's may have slightly different rules. I realize that this is a no brainer, but whatever you do, don't try and check in with a knife on your persons. :o Believe it or not, but there have been a couple of instances, where member's here have posted about this actually happening to them.

FWIW- I've personally carried a Hinderer Ti tactical pen with me on a few flights, & didn't have any problems whatsoever, boarding with one on my persons. I'm not certain about the legalities of carrying one on board; regardless, confiscation was a risk that I was willing to take.

Have a safe flight!

Edit: What Danke42 said! ^
 
Guns make it easy, since any theft then becomes an ATF matter, rather than an internal one. Some airports have a worse rep for sticky fingers than others, but I don't know if there are any published stats.
 
As has already been said, since you are travelling with a gun, pack the knives in the same case if you can. Gun thefts get escalated and investigated. Your knives should be pretty safe.

Honestly, I am sometimes tempted to buy a little gun for just that purpose.
 
Be aware of what the laws are in the cities the airports you are going through. I had a buddy flying through NYC and he was arrested for having his gun. He had called the airline and asked how to legally have it flown there and they never told him about New York City's local laws.
 
gadgetgeek said:
Guns make it easy, since any theft then becomes an ATF matter, rather than an internal one. Some airports have a worse rep for sticky fingers than others, but I don't know if there are any published stats.
Click to expand...

^ That is correct. I typically pack (hide my knifes) inside the zippered lining, because of baggage handling theft.

abbydaddy said:
As has already been said, since you are travelling with a gun, pack the knives in the same case if you can. Gun thefts get escalated and investigated. Your knives should be pretty safe.

Honestly, I am sometimes tempted to buy a little gun for just that purpose.
Click to expand...

^ Great idea! An inexpensive $300 handgun would be worth the investment, even if we're talking, one knife!
 
I fly allot for work, anywhere from 2 to 10 flights a week. I always have atleast 3 or 4 knives in my suitcase. I shove my multi tool and pocket knife in a pants pocket, and put my fixed blades in the pants leg of another pair and fold it up inside.. Ive also leaned the valuable lesson of bags get left in the rain often so I spilt my clothing up and place em in 2 large trash bags with the pants with the knives on the bottom...This keeps em from being easily accessible and keeps everything dry when it gets left in the rain for an hour or more....I also put a heavy duty tsa lock on the bag.


But locking em up with a gun will likely be best option...then you only have tsa inspectors to worry about..(do they even have access to inspecting firearms?)
 
You dont even need an inexpensive $300 handgun, just buy a race gun. A race gun uses blanks only but is still considered a firearm and its cheap!
All guns have to be declared and locked in a lockbox inside your suitcase by you with a non -tsa compliant lock. THATS right, NON complying TSA lock! Nobody will have access but you and you only by law.:thumbup:
Declaring a firearm has got me nothing but positive results and a safe place to put my expensive knives. Takes a bike cable and run it through the gun lockbox and the frame or handle portion inside of the suitcase for extra protection. (modding may be required)
People with really expensive camera/computer equipment have been claiming a race gun as a firearm for years just to protect there stuff from getting ripped off.
 
Last edited:
I need to buy a gun to fly with! I've never thought of that!

I fly with knives a lot and I have a Maxpedition R7 Razorshell that I can put up to 4 knives in...usually 3 knives and a multi-tool. The Razorshell is configured in such a way that I can loop a zip tie through the zipper pull and around the clip hardware on the back. The zipper will open a little, but not enough to get a knife out. Then I zip tie the Razorshell to one of the tie downs in my suitcase and I'm good to go. I fly with a SAK Jetsetter so I have some small scissors handy.

I don't have the greatest degree of comfort over the TSA agents I've encountered lately, so even with the zip ties I try to only travel with knives I can afford to lose.
 
Its not just the TSA guys but the ramp-rats with sticky fingers. bag security is important, there have been some cases where ramp-rats were using luggage to smuggle stuff to other cities.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top