CAMS ON A PLANE

I've flown with a trad rack as a carry on out of Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham, San Francisco, and Seattle. The only place where they looked twice was Atlanta. I had a copy of climbing magazine stuffed into the top of the pack so that they could see the gear in action. After much consultation with other TSA folks, they finally decided I was good to go.

I've flown with mine several times. I fly with my chalk bag too, but leave the nut tool in my checked bag or at home. Once in a while someone looks at it funny or asks me a question about it. If they really want to know I show them how it works and and explain the gear. It doesn't really hurt me and it helps the TSA guys add to their knowledge base of what may come through.

Once I've had to unpack my pack. Once I've had them send it through twice because the girl wasn't paying attention and did a double take when she saw my pack on the monitor. I about keeled over laughing.

+1 to DFrench. That's the first thing I thought of.
I always checked the gear and took the shoes & harness on, but not lately. Never had a problem flying Denver to Las Vegas. Lots of good tips here; I really like the idea of splitting up about half the gear and ropes. Simple insurance against the screw ups. (I did always check-in out front and tipped the skycap well--it's heavy.)

Just got back from vegas, this was the 2nd time I've flown with ALL my gear in carry-on including cams up to 5" and a pair of half ropes. No issues going from O'hare to Vegas and back.

I fly all the time with all my gear. It fills about 45-50 L of my pack if I had to guess. I just don't trust a non-climber or even an inexperienced climber with something that I trust my life with. Never really a problem with TSA but I have been asked to pull everything out about half the time on average (been getting nailed a lot in the past year). Not a problem once they take a look at everything. Its worth it to see the look on their face when a huge mass of metal shows up on the screen. Especially in a city that doesn't see a lot of climbers like LAX.

I've always carried my rack on the plane, mostly omaha, ne, grand island, ne, las vegas, nv, and san francisco, ca. I've never had a problem, nut tool, chalk bag, and rope included.

A list off prohibited items will do you little good by my understanding. What gets on a plane is up to the discretion of the TSA agent. Prohibited items will be rejected, but the list doesn't cover everything so any openness with the agent will serve you far better than debate.

Kalil Oldham wrote: Geez, man. This is really nasty. Downright bigoted. Historically, we can see similar sentiments expressed toward pretty much every immigrant group that has turned up in the U.S. looking for new opportunities, fleeing chaos and persecution, and hoping to find peace and prosperity in the New World (e.g., Irish, German, Chinese, Italian, Russian, Mexican). I'm hoping against hope that the next generation will practice a little more tolerance. It's how we progress.

Kalil, you really shouldn't quote out of context and then make accusations - it really is unbecoming, especially for a teacher.

SlowTrad wrote: Other areas may be different, but at MSP, the majority of the TSA are Somalis, and are idiots IMO. Not because they are Somalis, but because they don't seem to care if you miss your flight because they are unfamiliar with climbing equipment.

CascadeKid wrote: Kalil, you really shouldn't quote out of context and then make accusations - it really is unbecoming, especially for a teacher.

I don't see a loss of context in Kalil's quote. SlowTrad made a generalization that Somalis as a race are idiots and uncaring, as opposed to calling out a few individuals. That fits my definition of bigotry. The additional lines you quoted from SlowTrad just underscore the ugliness in his post.

To the OP, I have carried my rack on a plane on over twenty occasions without serious difficulties. My nut tool and knife go in the checked bag with my clothes and other items less valuable to me than my rack.

CascadeKid wrote: Kalil, you really shouldn't quote out of context and then make accusations - it really is unbecoming, especially for a teacher.

In my defense, he added the line beginning with "Not because" after I posted. It's offensive enough even with that disclaimer, however. If they're idiots because they don't understand climbing and don't care that he misses his flight, why mention their ethnicity?

I've never had a problem carrying on gear. Put your chalk bag in a ziploc freezer bag and compress the air out before sealing. Unless I'm checking a bag, I leave my nut tool at home bc I figure it would just be confiscated.

Cat

I have never had a problem bringing any of my climbing gear on as a carry-on bag. They only do scan it twice and give me a funny look.