TSA question re vegetable peeler

[Miffy]

No mention of vegetable peelers on the TSA website. Does anyone know if these are permitted with carry-on?

 

[ironz]

I'm going to bet no.

 

[NotUrsula]

Sharp blade you could snap out of the frame and bend in half in order to expose the cutting edge. I really wouldn't even attempt it.

 

[Miffy]

That's what I thought.

I'm thinking if I really want it, I'll ship it with the box we're sending ourselves and abandon it for the trip back, since we don't check our bags.

 

[bumbershoot]

Sharp blade you could snap out of the frame and bend in half in order to expose the cutting edge. I really wouldn't even attempt it.

I'm just not sure they are that logical.

 

[pumpkinboy]

That's what I thought.

I'm thinking if I really want it, I'll ship it with the box we're sending ourselves and abandon it for the trip back, since we don't check our bags.

I'd recommend a query to the TSA, probably via the website. If you do, pls let us know the result.

In DVC 1BR and 2BR units, I believe we have vegetable peelers in the kitchen, or you can at least get one from Mousekeeping.

 

[rwdavis2]

I'm curious. Who eats vegetables on vacation?
Bob

 

[mom2meiko]

i'd say no. worst case scenario - you bring it and they make you toss it.

even if you emailed tsa and asked, you could get an agent who has his/her own opinion and say no anyway.

seriously - aren't nail clippers banned? if they are, i can't imagine they would like to see a veg peeler. can't you check it with your baggage?

 

[Miffy]

OP here. Well, I eat vegetables all the time (I'm vegan), but I want the vegetable peeler for the apples I'm ordering from gardengrocer. I'm not staying in a place with a kitchen, so I won't be prepping food, but I am going to want to peel the apples. I bought a $2 veggie peeler today and it's going in the box of nonperishables we're mailing ourselves tomorrow. The peeler is scheduled for abandonment at AKL on the 27th. Perhaps it will find a happy home with someone else! For $2, it was worth it. As much as I like apples, I despise the peel.

FYI, nail clippers are permitted in carry-on luggage and, in fact, so are "Scissors - metal with pointed tips and blades shorter than four inches" (I just pasted that last phrase from the TSA website).

 

[Miffy]

Forgot to add that we have only carry-on bags, so unless we're forced to check them (if the plane's overhead compartments are overloaded, for example), they're going on the plane.

We travel pretty light.

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm curious. Who eats vegetables on vacation?
Bob

vegetarians.

seriously - aren't nail clippers banned?

as Miffy mentioned, nope!

 

[DisneyWalker44]

Sharp blade you could snap out of the frame and bend in half in order to expose the cutting edge.

You are thinking logically here. Always a bad idea when speculating about TSA rules. As with many TSA rules, prohibitions against sharp-pointy things are there to make people feel safe, rather than to actually prevent a tragedy. Did anyone really think terrorists were going to bring down a plane with knitting needles or nail files? As long as people can carry on a piece of glass (which breaks into very sharp objects) the rules don't actually prevent people from getting sharp objects on planes (and if you prevented glass, there are endless other things that can become a sharp weapon easily).

If I had to guess (and maybe I'm guilty of trying to be logical here) a vegetable peeler falls into the same category of knitting needles, nail files, dull scissors and other "acceptable" sharp-pointy things. They'll probably go through, but you always run the risk of a TSA agent who decides on the spot it's dangerous and makes you throw it out.

 

[DMRick]

The lady sitting behind me, was allowed to bring her 15" knitting needles. If only you could use them to peel vegetables LOL.

 

[ironz]

and yet, a bike multi-tool...that has several allen wrenches, a couple of short screwdrivers, and usually no sharp blades...will get confiscated.

 

[NotUrsula]

You are thinking logically here. Always a bad idea when speculating about TSA rules. As with many TSA rules, prohibitions against sharp-pointy things are there to make people feel safe, rather than to actually prevent a tragedy. Did anyone really think terrorists were going to bring down a plane with knitting needles or nail files? As long as people can carry on a piece of glass (which breaks into very sharp objects) the rules don't actually prevent people from getting sharp objects on planes (and if you prevented glass, there are endless other things that can become a sharp weapon easily).

If I had to guess (and maybe I'm guilty of trying to be logical here) a vegetable peeler falls into the same category of knitting needles, nail files, dull scissors and other "acceptable" sharp-pointy things. They'll probably go through, but you always run the risk of a TSA agent who decides on the spot it's dangerous and makes you throw it out.

Ah, but you're missing one key point: knitting needles, nail files, dull scissors, etc. do NOT look like a knife. Unless it is the Y-shaped kind (which is pretty unusual), a vegetable peeler does indeed have the general shape and look of a knife. They will see it on the x-ray and feel that they have to examine it, and once that happens, they will confiscate it just to save face. IME the rule of thumb seems to be that if they need to look at it due to shape and find that it is NOT one of the specified exceptions, then they will say it is a no-go item.

We all know that we can kill someone with a shoelace + an ink pen; I agree that the whole search mission is largely theatre and isn't keeping anyone safe, really. That isn't what this is about. It is about the combination of a rules-minded bureaucracy plus delusions of grandeur -- they have the power to confiscate things and they tend to like to use it. The rules give them the leeway to do it, so they almost surely will.

Oddest thing I've had confiscated? A five-foot bungee cord with plastic end-hooks, because I might be able to use it to tie someone up. Hello, it's a bungee, it stretches? Never mind that the shoelace from a hiking boot would be much better for the purpose.