SkyGourmet From Germany, joined Jun 2006, 120 posts, RR: 0 Posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 14 hours ago) and read 6226 times:
Hi everyone,
I was travelling with OA from MLO (Milos, the island where the Venus de Milo was found) to ATH a few days ago. At the security checkpoint in MLO, the security agent found the two small metal spoons I was going to take along, and told me I wasn't allowed to take them on board. They would have been thrown away if I hadn't been able to talk the airport manager (or whoever that person was) into putting them into my checked-in luggage for me (which wasn't a big deal since MLO is a tiny airport and not many people fit into the twice-daily Dash 8-100 to ATH). So my question is, are spoons that dangerous? The airport manager stated that the spoons could be broken apart and used as a weapon, but spoons don't break apart when force is applied to them, they just bend. Was anyone else here ever not allowed to take spoons on board? I did find this rather odd.
Meine dispatcher says there's something wrong mit deine Kabel?
CaptainJon From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 2, posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 12 hours ago) and read 6126 times:
Even CO gave me flatware for an international flight in economy. Metal fork, spoon, and knife were given to ALL customers. Weird how I can't take it on board but they just give it to you later on. I wonder if they count them like in prison?
HPRamper From United States of America, joined May 2005, 3664 posts, RR: 8 Reply 3, posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 10 hours ago) and read 6054 times:
This wasn't in the United States however. Maybe they just do it differently there. As far as I know spoons are not prohibited from carry-on baggage here.
YULWinterSkies From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 2109 posts, RR: 6 Reply 6, posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 9 hours ago) and read 5988 times:
Quoting SkyGourmet (Thread starter): The airport manager stated that the spoons could be broken apart and used as a weapon, but spoons don't break apart when force is applied to them, they just bend.
Really crappy cheap spoons will break, but I wonder how sharp a weapon they would make...
Seems you were the victim of one of these thousands of ignorant unprofessional overzealous security people that act as parasites on air transportation.
Just tell him that there is a list of prohibited items that IS the standard, it is not about how safe/unsafe one security agent feels about items being carried onboard, it is about finding out whether one brings items that others have considered dangerous. If I were a security agent, I would still think of water as the most innocuous substance, however, others have decided for me it is a threat, and I would feel sorry to ask anybody who brings some in to get rid of it.
Makes me think of carrying such a list with me next time I fly, so I can show it to a possible overzealous moron who is dumping all his anger on my poor person...
Yellowstone From United States of America, joined Aug 2006, 3071 posts, RR: 7 Reply 7, posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 9 hours ago) and read 5978 times:
I had a couple of friends in high school who were joking about weirding out the TSA agents by walking up to the metal detectors, taking a single spoon out of their pockets, placing it through the x-ray machine, and picking it up on the other side. Good thing they never tried it!
Hydrogen is an odorless, colorless gas which, given enough time, turns into people.
SapphireLHR From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2006, 103 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (6 years 6 months 3 weeks 1 hour ago) and read 5883 times:
Quoting Columbia107 (Reply 1): Interesting comment. BA's Club cutomers are provided with metal knives, forks and SPOONS on long haul flights. AT least they did on BA2232 last night.
That is quite correct. Metal cutlery is allowed on board BA flights as long as it meets the criteria laid down by DfT and Transec. The forks are to have squared or rounded prongs and the knives are to have rounded ends minimally serated on one side only. The really silly thing about the original banning of metal cutlery was that, as anyone who has flown would know, as the metal knives were used over and over again they were never that sharp. But were replaced with plastic disposable knives, and every one that I had been given were razor sharp and heavily serated and much more dangerous than the metal ones.
But there is no security measures related to spoons.
SkyGourmet From Germany, joined Jun 2006, 120 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (6 years 6 months 2 weeks 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 5752 times:
Thank you for your responses so far. I would have expected that spoons aren't officially forbidden in the carry-on luggage, but who knows what kind of crazy laws people come up with.
Quoting YULWinterSkies (Reply 6): Just tell him that there is a list of prohibited items that IS the standard
Would I really be able to take something onboard which the security agent thinks is prohibited if I proved that it isn't?
Meine dispatcher says there's something wrong mit deine Kabel?
Starlionblue From Hong Kong, joined Feb 2004, 15871 posts, RR: 66 Reply 10, posted (6 years 6 months 2 weeks 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 5740 times:
Quoting SkyGourmet (Reply 9):
Would I really be able to take something onboard which the security agent thinks is prohibited if I proved that it isn't?
The trick is not to be confrontational. Just be very polite and say "I checked the list and spoons are not on it. I didn't want any trouble and I have the list with me just in case."
"There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots." - from Citadel by John Ringo
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