Knife problems at airport

A

Andre

Joined
May 22, 2000
Messages
913
This happened on Sunday at Cape Town international airport (South Africa).

With my ticket for a new airline, I went through the security checkpoint. I placed my Spyderco Merlin (Plain edge) with my wallet, Mini-maglite and cellphone in the basket. I was stopped and the security guard was very "disturbed" by the knife. I was instructed to hand it in at the ticket counter for safekeeping. I was quite annoyed cause I've travelled without hassles with a Spyderco Delica before.

Went to the service counter where the lady told me they don't transport firearms or other valuables on this airline, so I could LEAVE IT AT LOST PROPERTY AND PICK IT UP WHEN I FLY DOWN AGAIN!!! Yeah right! I would only be driving down that way in December again and there is no ways I was going to leave it there. I asked for the post office, but it was Sunday so the post office on the airport was closed.

I got sent from one place to another, but eventually I got to another airline, British Airways, who checked my knife in with airport security to accompany one of their flights to Johannesburg (my destination). I picked up the knife at Jhb airport security, but decided to lock my knife in my check-in luggage if I ever fly again.

Why didn't I use British Airways in the first place? Because the new airline had prices that were impossible to beat. So the lessons are:
a) Cheaper does not mean better
b) Be careful what you try to take on the plane

BTW, my Toologic credit card in my wallet was not a problem, but then again it was not detected.
 
No offense, Andre, but it seems a little off-base to think you'd be allowed to carry a Merlin onto a commercial carrier. Were you really surprised when they balked? :rolleyes: More than a few have gotten away with it, I'm sure. At the same time, though, I'm not at all surprised you ran into the hassles you did. Better to stow it into the checked baggage.
 
What is the blade length on the Merlin? The reason I ask is I've never had a problem with the BM 705 (3" blade). However, if I couldn't afford to lose it I would check it.
 
I would not give BA the time of day much less a piece of my baggage. Last time I flew BA, just a few months ago, they lost an article of my baggage in Heathrow. They told me that Horizion Airlines (the small, regional carrier that few me from Seattle back to Portland) would handle the missing bag. Without access to BA's computer records, without access to BA's Heathrow operations, and saddled with BA's Seattle baggage office which simply does not return phone calls and which gave Horizion false information, my item languished in BA's Heathrow facility for more than 48 hours. I subsequently found that if a bag is lost in BA's Heathrow operation for more than 48 hours, it gets sent to "the wearhouse." There is no way to find a specific bag in "the wearhouse." Once the bag goes to the wearhouse, it's gone. I then discovered that BA Customer Service does not, by policy, talk to customers. All communications must be in writting and the average turn-around is four to six weeks. Well, after over fifty phone calls (many of them international), BA Customer Service did agree to talk to me. They finally did pay me $640 (their limit) for over $2200 in loss.

Every airline misroutes and misses a bag now and then. It's what happens next that matters. For BA, by their policy, to rely on a small regional carrier to find a bag that's missing in their Heathrow facility (and we ultimately did find computer records proving that the bag went into BA's Heathrow operation and never came out), is irresponsible and, coupled with this "wearhouse" policy and operation, it dooms the bag to loss.

You're lucky that BA did not misplace your item. Had they, you'd never see it again.

Why does BA work this way? Simple, the maximum liability they have for a bag is $640 and then only if you can prove it (in this case, BA was unlucky since I did have my receipts and could prove it).
 
BTW, in all the flights I've taken over the years, that's the first time any airline has just given up, declared my bag lost, and paid for it. Continential once delivered what was left of my suitcase and contents to me in a bag and told me to make a list of the dammages. They paid for everything. SAS once busted butt to find a suitcase that got routed all the way to Turkey (wrong tags). They did not have an office in Turkey at the time and had to hire an agent in Turkey just to deal with my one bag.

Oh, and when we left Heathrow, BA boarded a 747 Jumbo Jet all at once. I've never seen a 747 boared all at once. It was a mob scene. We stood in line for an hour. The fellow in line in front of us was on crutches! He almost collapsed. BA never offered any assistance. When I finally flagged down a BA person, they really didn't see the problem and offered to bring a chair.

Even Horizon knows enough to board even a DASH-8 by rows.
 
If you're checking any luggage at all, put your knife in your luggage!

If you're not, it's going to be a crapshoot.
 
Originally posted by mnblade
No offense, Andre, but it seems a little off-base to think you'd be allowed to carry a Merlin onto a commercial carrier
Click to expand...

I know in america, it's well under the length limit imposed by the FAA, and people had had no problems with delicas, so I would have expected that it wouldn't be a problem here. I'm unfamiliar with the laws there however...
 
At Denver International they allow folders with blade lengths up to 3-1/2", BUT no serrated edges, regardless of length. I play it safe and carry my Spyderco "Q" knife or Copilot, or Al Mar "Havana Clipper" cigar knife. Never any problems. One funny note though, they _always_ examine my French nail clipper, from A.G.Russell, very closely. Go figure.

Mikey - Littleton, CO
 
I never could get an official policy on knives on airlines over here, but it appears to be no knife, period. In the US the laws in most states are quite liberal, allowing blades up to 3" with plain edge. I thought this was international practice. (The funny thing is, you only read about this stuff in US magazines and on .com websites.

If your blade is longer than 3" or serrated then you must want to hijack the plane or cut open the fuselage or something terrible like that :rolleyes: Nevertheless, it appears as if South African policy is "don't carry that knife with you".

Never had so many hassles before, but you can bet that I won't let it happen again. Too much hassles. In the check-in baggage they go....
 
Andre, having traveled in your country before, I know that your knife laws are much, much less restrictive than those in the United States, however, airline folks are airline folks and they don't like "wicked" looking knives. Since the Merlin is a serrated hawkbill it is high on the "wicked" or "evil" looking list to non-knife nuts even thoough it is a fairly small blade. Despite its size, I would not try to carry one onto a plane.
 
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