Flying With Stamp Tongs

I am planning to fly to a stamp show and I wonder if you have any idea if the TSA will permit stamp tongs in a carry on. I have only done this once before with a carry on, pre 2005, and I got a big hassle from a TSA agent on one leg, although the agent did let me keep the tongs.

Thanks, Bill

I think it's a good question, I just can't help myself.



O.k., everybody just back up.

I've got some spade tips here and I'm not afraid to use 'em!

Those times when I have flown I did not have a problem. I once had a short polite discussion in Grand Rapids after the APS show, but nothing else.

Yes ,I had them taken away . Back when Daniel Kelleher had stamp auctions in Boston . Stanley Richmond would award 14kt Gold stamp tongs to some of his regular customers . These came in a leather holder and I got a pair .

On the way home thru Boston Airport ,TSA inspector said "No way No how ", they went into circular file under the desk {I think he fished them out and became a world reknown collector after I left }.

Off on a tangent..

According to TSA tools less than 7 inches in length are allowed in carry-on. Under the Sharp Objects category scissors need to be less than 4 inches from pivot to tip so maybe very small tongs would be okay. Tweezers are specifically allowed. Maybe you should tell them your tongs are tweezers. Spade tongs will be an easier sell than lethal point tongs.

However, the reality is that TSA can and will make arbitrary decisions so if you really like those tongs put them in checked luggage.

The TSA are all trained about the laws and rules. On somethings like this, to me it can be subjective to each idividule own judgment. If you can take supporting documents such as things about the stamp convention or show, something showing support for the forum, stamp purchase recipts, etc. And I think you will be fine.

Another tangent: Medal of Honor winner (and former Governor of South Dakota) Joe Foss took his medal to wear at a meeting in Washington, DC, of the Medal of Honor Society. At check in/security screening at the Sioux Falls airport, TSA confiscated his medal. Why? It had sharp edges and could be used as a weapon. Foss apparently got angry and told the screeners that if an 80-year-old former state governor could hijack an aircraft with his medal, then we are in real trouble. TSA were unfazed, but Foss was able to FedEx his medal to DC -- so he had it at the meeting. Rules are rules, I guess, but a little common sense wouldn't hurt either.

It will be arbitrary and good luck arguing while standing in line.

if I were flying these days I would use the checked baggage option, and avoid still another hassle.

On the outbound leg of a recent trip (two weeks ago), my briefcase with tongs was flagged by the x-ray technician. When the inspector pulled my tongs out of the briefcase, I said they were stamp collecting tweezers. After discussion with the x-ray technician, he allowed them. To avoid any potential hassle on the return flight, I mailed them home. The outbound trip was from a smaller airport; the return flight from a major hub. My tongs were the 6" Showgard pointed tips. I thought about taking spade tips instead but opted for the pointed tips. If I were flying again to a show, I think I'd either take spade tips or not take tongs at all. If I had checked luggage, I'd put them there; I didn't have any checked bags on this recent trip. Mailing them home was much less expensive than buying a new pair.

I have done this any number of times, most recently when attending the APS national in Columbus, OH last summer. No issues.

If there's still time, just mail them to yourself. Wouldn't be more than a couple bucks, tops. Just call the hotel and let them know a package will be arriving a day or two before you get there.

My contribution to the discussion might not be entirely relevant to the topic except how it might affect someone going overseas to a stamp show or to visit dealers. I recently visited the United Kingdom and for my carry-on I took my backpack that I take to work every day. I emptied it out of the stuff I normally have in there, or at least I thought I had, because although it was fine going there, on the return flight, my bag was searched by inspectors at London Heathrow. They searched it quite thoroughly and in a little Velcro-ed pocket they found a tiny open end wrench that I use sometimes to take apart a piece of equipment at work. I'm sure it was less than 6 inches long, so it would definitely come under the 7 inch limit that Germania mentioned, but I guess the UK has more stringent rules. I wasn't annoyed so much about losing the tool as I was that it was so old and rusty, I couldn't read the size on it so I don't know what size wrench I need to buy to replace it! So the bottom line here is that even though it wasn't a pair of tongs, it WAS a small metal tool about the same size and weight, and equally innocuous.

I've had little 2" Swiss army knifes taken away and thrown out. I wouldn't try to check in anything even remotely sharp or useful as a weapon since you're likely to lose it. Put it in your checked baggage or mail it.