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The absurd restrictions on knives really needs to go.

A blade is a necessary tool for a lot of people in everyday life. It's time to get over the unfounded fear and face reality like adults.

It's especially ridiculous because of how ineffective it is, https://onemileatatime.com/tsa-fails-tests-95-percent/. This is a worthless waste of resources that only serves to inconvenience regular people and give the masses some feel good security theatre.

And it affects more than travel. I'll never put even the smallest knife in a bag I use for airline carryon because I will forget it's there and probably end up losing it.

I once lost a very nice wine corkscrew to the TSA that I forgot was in a backpack due the little foil cutter blade.

The guy in charge acted all jubilant, like they successfully thwarted a hijacking.

I've _only_ had success with regularly carrying "prong-style" wine openers (especially internationally).

https://www.amazon.com/Belwares-Wine-Opener-Two-Prong-Stainl...

I'd even gone through the trouble of dremel'ing off the foil-cutter blade on a "double-knuckle" corkscrew in order to comply with the "no blades" rule.

I was able to exit the U.S. with it fine, but Mexico security refused it for simply the corkscrew part (and I wasn't willing to argue about it).

I'd just like to reaffirm pretty much every aspect of his experience and recommendations. It's great to see so many overlaps between my favorite travel-gear and his.

I carry one of those cheap corkscrews where you pull off the corkscrew cover and insert it through the hole at the top of the corkscrew.

BUT they're really crappy corkscrews and I've sometimes had a lot of trouble getting the cork out and have ended up opening bottles in the bathroom because I was afraid I'd get wine flying everywhere.

And I've even had one of those confiscated in Spain.

I've lost two multitools that happen to have small knives on them this way. Very frustrating and embarrassing.

Funnily enough I have a credit card sized (well, roughly triple thickness) thing in my wallet, never occurred to me before now, hasn't been flagged in X-ray yet. (I suppose now I'll remove it if I remember though.)

I lost a tiny SAK -- the keychain size -- a while back, and it turned out it was stuck in a weird crease in the bottom of my computer bag.

I found it, most of a year later, when TSA finally noticed it. I had flown with it "lost" in the bag literally dozens of times.

It's so inconsistent too. I cannot bring my safety razors on board, but it's ok to bring a bunch of razor cartridges that are filled with blades... Even traveling with the safety razor but no blades is inconvenient, since the TSA will frequently do a secondary inspection to confirm that there is really no blade. So you gotta travel with the thing disassembled which means I cannot use my regular case.

Sometimes you can even buy a full set of kitchen knives in the duty free shop on your way to the airplane!

A bottle of whiskey from a duty free shop can be just as deadly as a knife.

And any battery can be used to start a fire.

I've had TSA open my kit and triumphantly remove a blade from my safety razor that I'd accidentally forgotten to remove, while missing loose blades I'd also accidentally forgotten to remove.

Just put it in any small cardboard box and have it shipped as you would do with a small bag, then collect it from the baggage collection place upon arrival.

Small cardboard box might get easily lost; also, you now have to wait for the baggage collection.

Then lose your knife ok.

There's absolutely nothing on a Swiss Army Knife that's going to make me want to wait through luggage multiple times for it to arrive. There are travel limitations but not prohibitions on liquids. TSA sized toothpaste is 3.4 oz. I'll live.

BTW, an up to date passport is worth it, TSA Pre is worth it and Global Entry is worth it. GE requires an interview but if you live near the office, after you get your appointment, just go to the office on a Sunday and wait through line. I took BART to SFO on a Sunday morning and waited an hour. Done. The California Enhanced Drivers License was much more of an ordeal.

If I'm not going through TSA, sure, bring tools.

If I'm going light, I pack up an REI Flash 22 day bag ($50) with whatever. A Macbook Air fits in easily. Side pockets for Nalgenes. Ripstop. Light. I can't praise it highly enough.

My daily driver is a Timbuk2 Messenger ($80) bag. I think equally highly of it. It is more rugged and so usually the Air lives here.

Carryon policy is one bag plus one smaller, personal-type item. These two pass muster.

If you must know, yes, I have an American Giant hoodie.

> One-bagging is also a poor choice for business travel, since you likely want a smaller computer bag so you don't have to use your much larger "one bag" as your office bag.

I just keep a very small shoulder bag inside my one-bag that fits my Macbook and acts as a walk-around. In travel mode, it's used to compartmentalize. Likewise, my wife has a small ~15L daypack inside her one-bag that is empty and rolled-up in travel mode.

No wheels is also great for sprinting to be the first to the border patrol line :D

There are expandable backpacks that are business looking when compressed.

I probably want a small bag with things I want in the airport/on the plane anyway. The bag that I normally use--which I've had for decades and use for almost everything--takes very little space by itself. So it makes sense for me to use it for compartmentalization even if I stick it in my carryon.

I went through a Timbuk2 phase but this old Mountainsmith bag (nee a big fanny pack, now with added strap) works better for me these days.

Yes makes sense. I used this https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32975256528.html which is very cheap and 22lt for daily use expandable to 37lt profesdional looming enough.

> One-bagging is also a poor choice for business travel, since you likely want a smaller computer bag so you don't have to use your much larger "one bag" as your office bag.

For small work trips, I generally just pack all of my clothes and toiletries in my laptop backpack. When I get to the hotel, I take all that stuff out and leave it in the room and then bring the same bag into the office. Works fine for me.

FYI: airlines usually allow a purse or small laptop bag for free, in addition to your carry-on bag.

Wheely bags just gross me out because you roll them through public bathrooms and city streets, then you have to access that underside to get at the zipper.

It's good for the immune system.

If you’re grabbing the wheels, you’re doing it wrong. Also, if you get urine on the zipper, you’re doing it wrong.

The big annoyance with checking a bag imo is dealing with the entire process.

Many airlines charge you per leg per bag. Then there is sometimes a holdup at the bag drop. Then there is the weight limit. Then after you are done with the flight you have to wait at baggage claim which can be quite long at certain airports. Then there's the nonzero chance that something catastrophic has happened with your luggage; I think we all know a few people with luggage fiasco war stories.

With a carry on, you roll in and out and you are gone. No extra lines. No extra nickel and diming.

Oh, absolutely. This is why frequent fliers almost never check bags, or at least traditionally don't. I almost never did when I was flying all the time.

I'm not a OneBag purist (and, in fact, always have a fairly full carryon backpack and a small shoulder bag). But I don't much care for rollaboards in part because I don't like them myself and partly because they're a big cause of overfull carryon compartments.

I can live with those restrictions fine for city travel, though they're a pain. The bigger annoyance is that there's a decent chance I'll get a hiking pole confiscated. (They're theoretically not allowed.)

It's odd not being able to take a walking pole considering that tripods are on the allowed list.

> - Equally absurd restrictions on carrying my Swiss Army Knife.

You're not wrong, but for possible future reference, multitools are fine as long as they don't have a knife (<4" scissors are fine):

* https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/...

The TSA can and does confiscate anything they want. If you happen to get the wrong agent on the wrong day, they may still choose to confiscate a technically compliant multitool.

...additionally, international security screenings can be arbitrary in different ways. A strange one to run in to is high-capacity rechargeable batteries.

One guy confiscated my lockpick even though they are allowed.

Hate the TSA

I had all my toiletry containers, specifically chosen because they were 100ml, confiscated because they "looked big" to the agent. The agent literally said they "looked like 110ml versions". I had like 4 total.

I had an almost-empty container clearly marked 150ml (or something) confiscated because it was.. marked more than 100ml.

Also razor blades, I don't know if they're supposed to be allowed, being only about an inch long, but nope - shaving with expensive junk or growing a holiday beard are the only approved options!

> almost-empty container clearly marked 150ml (or something) confiscated

That's correct according to the TSA rules.

https://www.tsa.gov/sites/default/files/liquidsrule_example-...

(We can wrap ourselves around many axles debating the utility of these rules, but that's at least a correct interpretation of the rule.)

Well it wasn't in (or travelling to) the USA, but sure, it may have been by whatever book was in use. I'm just saying it's nonsensical; that what we put ourselves through is quite detached from actual risks and what's reasonable.

I can buy a >100ml container post-security, or even take an empty one through, and decant there, so what's that protecting against?

> they may still choose

Which is the biggest problem, the TSA does not have to follow its own rules. And if you dare point out the rules to them, you will be told that "for your safety and security" individual screening is "up to the agent's discretion" and asked "do you want to fly today" while also being loudly informed that you obviously "do not care about the security of others."

This is why I am such a huge advocate for trains, though I imagine that if rail got more usable and widespread here the TSA would just infest it as well. Until that happens, I will always take a train for short regional trips. SEA to PDX might be scheduled for 45 minutes on the plane and 3 scheduled hours on the train, but the experience is so much better on Amtrak not having to put up with the sad mess our airports are.

Institutional rot corrupts all of civilization. The TSA is an example of an institution that has largely become a malignant tumor, contributing very little while actively contributing to the relentless de-humanization of society.

Like Gulliver tied down by hundreds of tiny strings. Death by a thousand cuts.

I've never had the TSA confiscate my bladeless Swiss Army Knife (it has scissors and a screwdriver).

But I have had it confiscated abroad more than once. Many other countries won't allow scissors, or anything that looks like a knife, to fly.

I had a Knifeless Fuse for a while so I could have something when traveling, but TSA goons are so, well, goony about everything that it became not worth it to explain that it didn't have a blade on it even if they managed to notice it (which was, we should be clear, nowhere nearly half the time).

Not in most European countries, where what matters is whether the blades are lockable or not