Delta/JFK THREW OUT Skates

[dbny]

Not sure where this should go, but it really only affects skaters, so I'm putting it here. Moderators, please move or repost on anther forum for a wider audience, as you see fit.

An adult skater I know showed up with new skates today and told me why. She was flying from NY to FL, and thought she could carry her skates on. The line for the security checkpoint was 2 hrs long, and when she got to the front, they said the blades were sharp and she couldn't carry them on. They then took the skates and threw them out right before her eyes! Luckily, they were not expensive skates/blades, but even so! Since many of us fly with skates, I thought I should remind us all that the TSA is capricious, and you risk your skates if you try to carry them on.

[Sierra]

WHAT?? How is that legal?!

[coskater]

Denver Airport clearly states no skates! Pack them in your checked luggage and arrive at the airport in a timely manner...how hard is that?

[Skittl1321]

But not all airports say that. That said, I have only carried on skates if I knew I had time to go check them if necessary.

I am very sad for this skater, but are you sure she wasn't given the opportunity to save her skates by going back and checking them, but she made the decision not to because she would have missed her flight?

[dbny]

Denver Airport clearly states no skates! Pack them in your checked luggage and arrive at the airport in a timely manner...how hard is that?

It's great that they are clear about it. The problem is that many airports/airlines are not, and so people get tempted to carry them on.

[overedge]

It's great that they are clear about it. The problem is that many airports/airlines are not, and so people get tempted to carry them on.

They aren't clear? The ban on skates in carryons has been in place for several years AFAIK, and it's a TSA ban, not a ban by some airports/airlines and not others.

[GarrAarghHrumph]

Not sure where this should go, but it really only affects skaters, so I'm putting it here. Moderators, please move or repost on anther forum for a wider audience, as you see fit.

An adult skater I know showed up with new skates today and told me why. She was flying from NY to FL, and thought she could carry her skates on. The line for the security checkpoint was 2 hrs long, and when she got to the front, they said the blades were sharp and she couldn't carry them on. They then took the skates and threw them out right before her eyes! Luckily, they were not expensive skates/blades, but even so! Since many of us fly with skates, I thought I should remind us all that the TSA is capricious, and you risk your skates if you try to carry them on.

The way this works is that she had the following choices:

- Go back and check her bag, then go through security again (which may have caused her to miss her flight), or

- Go back and mail her skates to herself, then go through security again (which may have caused her to miss her flight), or

- Go through security without those skates, in which case yes, they would have been thrown away.

But this was her choice. She chose to continue through security.


I used to carry on my skates before 9/11. Now, I check them.

[aster]

They aren't clear? The ban on skates in carryons has been in place for several years AFAIK, and it's a TSA ban, not a ban by some airports/airlines and not others.

No it's not. The TSA, as a national policy, allows skates in carry-on luggage (the ban was over-turned a few years ago). The problem is that, like with all TSA policy, the final decisions are left up to individual airports and agents.

[steve skater]

In the dozen or so times flying with skates out of NYC airports, I have never had a problem bringing my skates on a carry-on. The only issue I have had was out of Newark, when a screener called over her supervisor, who then pulled me aside, made me take all my stuff out of my suitcase (ugh), took some residue swabs, and then visually inspected my skates (I do have 12" blades, so they must have really popped out on the X-ray!).

LaGuardia seems the most easygoing. I just took my skates onboard 2 weekends ago with nary a problem. I even asked the screener, and he flat out said that they were allowed.
As always, YMMV.

[overedge]

No it's not. The TSA, as a national policy, allows skates in carry-on luggage (the ban was over-turned a few years ago). The problem is that, like with all TSA policy, the final decisions are left up to individual airports and agents.

I looked on the TSA website and it seemed to indicate that skates can only go in checked luggage.

[Bunny Hop]

It's probably worthwhile to point out here that outside the USA, you will almost certainly have to check your skates, as many other countries specifically include ice skates in the list of items not allowed in cabin baggage.

For example, see the UK Regulations here (scroll down to section on sporting equipment). You can assume the rest of Europe is the same.
Similarly, the Australian regulations also specifically mention ice skates as being prohibited.

If you pack your skates well, preferably in a hard suitcase, and padded by lots of clothing, they should be fine. And as someone has already said, if your bags are well labelled and you arrive at the airport in plenty of time for your flight (and you have allowed plenty of time for any connecting flights, where applicable), there really is minimal risk of your bags being lost or even delayed. In many years of travelling internationally I've yet to lose any luggage. The worst that has happened is that a couple of times it's arrived home a few hours after me!

[aster]

I looked on the TSA website and it seemed to indicate that skates can only go in checked luggage.

Sports Equipment

Prohibited Items

Skates aren't listed on either.

What I said comes directly from a phone call to the TSA (a few years ago) about the policy, which granted is a little vague on the website and has caused a few issues at times. I have flown with my skates in carry-on many times, in many different airports, and only had problems once (at an airport where I had previously taken them through security). I always put them in my hard guards (which I do when I check them, too) and leave enough time to check the bag and go through security again if there is a problem.

[FigureSpins]

I took two pairs onboard last May from JFK without a problem. I put the guards on and used twist-ties to secure them in place.

There is no ban on skates at JFK, but it's not a major skating mecca like Colorado.

[Jenna]

Not sure where this should go, but it really only affects skaters, so I'm putting it here. Moderators, please move or repost on anther forum for a wider audience, as you see fit.

An adult skater I know showed up with new skates today and told me why. She was flying from NY to FL, and thought she could carry her skates on. The line for the security checkpoint was 2 hrs long, and when she got to the front, they said the blades were sharp and she couldn't carry them on. They then took the skates and threw them out right before her eyes! Luckily, they were not expensive skates/blades, but even so! Since many of us fly with skates, I thought I should remind us all that the TSA is capricious, and you risk your skates if you try to carry them on.

This is outrageous. They should have, at the very least, agreed to mail them to her. I would file a law suit.

[Cheylana]

I guess I'll add this to my long list of reasons not to fly Delta out of JFK - they make the experience as difficult and miserable as possible; I regret it every time!!!

That said, I don't understand why she didn't just backtrack and check the skates with her luggage??

[FigureSpins]

She could have asked to gate-check the skates, that's what the people with golf clubs and tennis rackets usually do.

Why did plan to take the skates on board in the first place?
She was going on vacation and was checking bags anyway, why not stick them in a save yourself the trouble of carrying them around?

[JadeDixon]

Thanks for reminding me, again, of why I don't compete if I can't drive to the competition...

[Stormy]

I've been flying with my skates, pre and post 9/11 for over 10 years. I've been asked to check them ONCE, and that was in Atlanta (a place I've gotten them through several times before). No other airport has had any issues. Sometimes the TSA asks to see them but most times they go right through. I actually got asked to look at them more times before 9/11 in Boston than after it. They ARE allowed in carry on luggage, but it's a YMMV with the TSA person you get.

Once I was flying with my old synchro team to Nationals from BOS to Grand Rapids through Detroit. I kinda made a stink since they made us check all our skates. Lo and behold, a teammate's skates were lost and she never got them back. Had to skate in someone else's skates at Nationals. *told them so*

[zaphyre14]

I always check my skates and I've never lost them; in fact, I think I can count on one hand the people I know whose checked skates didn't arrive with them - and then they got the skates within a day of landing. Considering the hundreds of competitors I know that fly to and from competitions, I think the odds of losing checked skates are pretty slim.

Besides, I only like to carry-on the stuff I'm going to need during the flight and in between if I'm chenging planes somewhere - books, glasses, snacks, etc. I'm going to need my skates on the plane so carrying them - and taking up space with them in the cabin - isn't necessary, IMO

[Skittl1321]

She could have asked to gate-check the skates, that's what the people with golf clubs and tennis rackets usually do.

Why did plan to take the skates on board in the first place?
She was going on vacation and was checking bags anyway, why not stick them in a save yourself the trouble of carrying them around?

People with golf clubs and tennis rackets are generally noticeable though- it would be impossible to get golf clubs, and tough to get a tennis racket into a standard size carry on, so they gate check because they can't carry on. Skates, however, can slip unnoticed into a regular bag, and this particular TSA agent was worried about them being used as a weapon. If that was the intention (and I'm sure it was not, here) then even though you say you'll declare them to the airline, it doesn't mean you actually will.


As for the person saying TSA should mail them back- they don't with anything else they confiscate, why would they with these. People who travel with very expensive knitting needles usually travel with stamped mailers, so that they can get out of line, mail their needles (which ARE allowed, but also left to the whim of the TSA agent) back to themselves, but usually have to go back through the line again.Although- I've heard they have warehouses of unclaimed confiscated items, so the "threw them away" is new to me....