RRC Archives

Has anyone had any problems taking trad gear as a cary-on in the air ports in the recent months?

Just put Bcombs on a delta plane out of cinci this morning with a pig full of stuff with no problems.

Try sweating a lot and looking at everyone with darting eyes. You should have no problems.

my carry on bag was full so I kept my new rope between the handles on top of it. Started more than one conversation and a couple odd looks.

I would be shocked if you would be allowed to take your rack on in a carry-on this day and age. Ever since 9-11, I have been packing my trad rack in it's own suit case, a beat up old hardside that I close with duct tape. The TSA has gone through that bag several times, but now that most big airports have in-line CT bag scanners (as does Louisville now), they shouldn't have a need. I pack it in its own bag because of the weight issue, BTW. They are really cracking down on max bag weights and making you pay if you are over.

no weight limit on carry on = pack all your biners and cams as carry on.
there are no problems with it, (other than a little longer on the security check) and you can have fun with people. i carry on at least my harness, shoes, chalk bag, and vitals in case your other stuff is lost you can still climb. just make sure you don't have the knife/nut tool combo.

Ive taken gear as a carry on twice for U.S. and twice on flights in europe,
My second time in europe taking gear as a carry on, I was turned back at security, and had to go re-check my bag. Was a huge hassle, so...
Ill never try again, but the rules dont seem real clear
(no ice axes for sure)

I was pro-active last year and went ahead to the bluegrass airport security officer and showed her what I was bringing on and what it's used for. She was very cool, gave me her card and told me to ring her up if there were problems. she even gave me a hug and told me to be careful (what?)

The salt lake city airport had seen it all before and presented no problems.

Just don't try to cary on any ice screws....

I work at the airport in Louisville and I can tell you that your experience in one place will not be the same in the next. Everyone at TSA seems to have thier own interpretation of the rules. I've seen a TSA inspector try to pull a military special operations team off of thier own plane because they wouldn't let him search through thier weapons and gear (the special ops guys won out in the end, but it took a call to the pentagon). So I would check your gear to avoid the hassle and take out insurance on your baggage. It's cheap and worth it. The easiest way to avoid lost baggage though is to take a direct flight. It's when they switch luggage between connecting flights that it typically gets lost.