Airport Security

Anyone know if I take my rack on my carry on, will it pass through security??

I don't think carabiners are allowed on carry on

I've carried it on and checked it. It's best to check it. Carrying it on can lead to explaining to TSA what it is. It seems the bigger airports are the ones that will question you about it as a carry on.

last time they told me that biners were a "chain"

May depend on the airline, but we just flew out of the country on Delta with a full sport climbing kit in our carry-ons. Airline website will address this, usually under sporting equipment or similar.

I've gotten through TSA with a full trad rack. They pulled us aside and asked us to explain what it was, then let us through after pulling one cam out. We also had a knife in there that wasn't caught (Whoops!). I would try it as a carry on, but be prepared for the time and aggravation of having to check it. Good luck!

Yes you can bring your rack and biners no problem. You just have to make sure that you don't have anything classified as "tool". I even brought by rope and draws.

Nardo wrote:Anyone know if I take my rack on my carry on, will it pass through security??

I took two complete trad racks, carabiners and all, though security on a carry on. Needless to say, it get draw attention and they emptied the contents of my backpack. But I did though without any problems. The one thing I didn't have was my nut tool, which I could see them not liking.

John...

I carried a double rack on without any problem. At one end they swabbbed my bag, but that was it. Here's a link to a previous thread which contains a link to another previous thread. Carrying on Gear

There is "Security" at the airports ?????

I have carried mine on. Make sure that you have plenty of time because they will examine it most likely. They were curious about the nut tool but once the realized that it wasn't sharp they were ok with it but they totally missed my knife that was clipped to my harness.

I've flown with a full trad rack in my carry-on twice now, no questions asked.

Yep... carrying a rack on board is no problem for the two times I've tried. They will open it, but it helps if you have a climbing magazine in there as well, so they pull that out too. It's worth the hassle for the weight it saves in your check in bags.

tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel…

You Should have no problems with it. Let the scanner guy know that you have Rock Climbing equipment in the bag and that he is free to examine it. Leave the nut tool in the checked bag or at home. I've flown with rope and rack before without any incident. It's obviously easier to check it and i've never had a bag go missing even internationally so unless i'm travelling light or it will put me over the weight limit i'll just check it.

just flew with having to split my rack up into my carry on, due to weight limit. They told me to just take it out of the carry on and set it in its own bin, no problems. I would recommend taking it out of the luggage for the xray.

I've definitely had carabiners confiscated by French airline security. Beware.

I flew from New England to Tuscon, Arizona last March with full trad gear up to Number 4 camalot, biners, slings, shoes, harness, etc. as carry-on, with not even a second look from the TSA coming and going. All this climbing gear is not mentioned on the TSA list of prohibited carry-on items.

I personnally hate checking-in my climbing gear. A lost sleeping bag or clothes is one thing, but lost climbing gear equates to lost climbing trip.

As a side note, a mother and infant that was behind me was searched. The screaming infant was even patted-down and searched. Doesn't make much sense.

Good luck,

AB

along with Blissab's remarks, lost climbing gear can suck. So can late climbing gear. I recently had to wait a day to get my bags and missed a day climbing devils tower. I will consider sending my climbing gear via the mail next time.

Just got back from a domestic flight where I carried my rack, including chalk bag and nut tool. The funny thing was that the guy pulled out my small backpack that contained the clothes I'd been wearing for two weeks and my camera (carabiner attached). Didn't even look at the bag with the climbing gear in it. I apologized for the smell and they didn't confiscate my camera or carabiner. If you're carrying a lot of climbing gear I suggest sending it ahead to save money.

I'm actually writing a blog post about traveling for climbers. Just started the blog and won't have the post up for a few days but there might be some helpful info for you later: coclimbing.blogspot.com/

JLP wrote: Ice axes aren't on the list either, but good luck with that. Carabiners used to be. Individual anecdotes don't mean as much to me. I think it's a little whitebread to worry about your precious rack. Make sure the luggage scan tag is correct. If it is, your odds of losing luggage are really low. Toting stuff around the airport and jockeying coach class for space in the overheads is a PITA.

Actually, ice axes ARE on the prohibited list, killer. Look under "Sharp Objects" at the top. BTW, how do you know I'm not gingerbread?

Uh...scroll up a little bit. Ice axes are on there. I agree that the anecdotal stories aren't necessarily proof positive but the number of anecdotal stories and the number of times I've traveled through airport security with climbing gear makes me confident that I'll get through security with my rack and I'm comfortable telling people to go for it believing that negative incidents are fairly isolated. Where did you see carabiners on the list, I didn't see it?