By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org
School is out. Summer travel is in.
That means a lot of people will be heading off to visit family and friends as well as checking out destination points such as the Bahamas; Virginia Beach, or Miami. With that in mind, the Transportation Security Administration or TSA recently hosted an informational event to remind travelers what they can and can not take on the airplane.
During June and July 2018, the Gerald R. Ford International Airport had about 550,000 passengers move through the airport. Those numbers are expected to increase this year as the Ford Airport was recently named the second fastest-growing airport by Airline Weekly.
Needless to say, TSA officials and employees have seen a lot of interesting items that people have tried to bring on to the plane in their carry-on bags. Items have ranged from an electric hotplate to a dead squirrel.
“By far the most common thing we see by far is your oversized liquids, your 3.4 or greater size liquids, gels and aerosols,” said Mark Howell, regional spokesperson for TSA. “Those are OK in your check bag but if you want to take those on a aircraft, they need to be limited to 3.4 ounces or less in one quart size bag and each passenger is allowed one of those.”
Other items not allowed are kubaton pens, a self-defense keychain weapon, according to Ross Faase, a TSA worker at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport. Another item not allowed are replica weapons.
“This would be a great item to leave at home,” Fasse said. “Bringing a replica grenade like this through the check point could cause delays for you, your fellow travelers, and it could shutdown the check point until we are able to get the item resolved.”
Knives of any size need to be in checked luggage, Faase said. Scissors are allowed if the scissors are four inches or less from the pivot.
“As we get more into the summer, we are going to see a lot more bike tools,” Faase said. “Bike tools need to be seven inches or less. Any tools greater than seven inches must be packed in checked bags.”
With summer, there are a number of passengers who do not travel that often and therefore do not know what is allowed and not allowed, Howell said.
“People try to avoid the check bag fees by just taking a carry-on bag with them, but when you do that you have to know the difference of what’s allowed in a carry-on bag versus what’s allowed in a checked bag,” he said.
Howell said TSA does not confiscate items but will give passengers the option to get rid of things when they come to the check point.
“Unfortunately people wait until the last minute to come to the security check point and don’t want to go through security again, so they end up surrendering the item at the security check point,” he said.
TSA does have a no cost contract with the Michigan state surplus office which will either dispose of the item or resell it. All monies raised from the resell goes to that agency, Howell said.
So if you are planning a trip that involves heading to the airport, make sure to give yourself plenty of time to get through the TSA check point. The recommended time is about 2 hours from departure. For more information about items that are allowed in carry-on bags and on the plane, visit the TSA website, tsa.gov.
