On 10/5/05, cbwaters <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I did notice while checking the TSA's list of things one isn't allowed to > carry onto an aircraft that they listed the Ice Axe. Now, having seen some > nice examples of climbers ice axes, I just can't see why... (Always wondered > about falling a little ways down the hill as these climbers are known to do > in the movies with such a deadly looking pointy thing teathered to one's > body...)
Does this TSA thingie say anything about freaking bicycle locks? I brought mine down to New York this summer in my carry-on. No problems from Toronto down to NYC (although they did inquire about it), but they confiscated it at Laguardia. They said I could check it, but my checked luggage was already checked. They said whoever drove me to the airport could take it from me and mail it (but I took a bus). But, they wouldn't let me take it on with me, as I could use it "as a bludgeon". I said that a pen could be a weapon, too, but that didn't sway them (and indeed, it ~was~ a fallacious argument on my part <g>). It was only a $40 bottom of the line Kryptonite, so it wasn't the end of the world, but it did kind of piss me off. The happy ending to this story (which is likely of no interest to anyone but me) is that the replacement lock I bought when I got back to Toronto was a "New York style" lock - that is a 36 inch chain of two-inch hardened steel links with a padlock. Two days after I bought it, someone used a lighter to burn a hole in the nylon covering and tried to break through the chain (one could see tool-marks on one of the links). All they managed to do was scratch the metal. So, in fact, had security not confiscated my u-lock in NY, my bike would likely have been stolen three days later. All's well that ends well, I guess. <g> cheers, frank (in a rambling OT mood today - sorry) -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson
