I know this has been discussed before, but I did a couple searchs of "security" or "flying" and I didn't find anything. I never thought I'd need to fly with my trains, but moving south I got invovled with a club that runs a lot and would like to have some equipment with me. I am heading home in a couple weeks flying on a major airline. My question is, on the return I will have a bunch of N scale engines and cars. What should I do? I'd really, really, like to carry on, but is it better to put them in checked bags and just pack them very securely? For obvious reasons, I don't think I want the equipment to be out of my hands on an airplane. If i carry the stuff on, what is it like going through security? Are they going to rough my stuff up? Or ask me to take apart my nice Atlas and Kato engines. Prehaps it is better to pack them up and just ship them via UPS/USPS? Please fire some imput as i have never done this before, and since this will be display equipment, it will be a lot of my nicest stuff. Thank You
Ship them UPS back home fully insured. Two or three loco's/cars on a plane is not an issue BTW. Stay cool and run steam.....
Having worked at the local airport for the last 12 years I have to agree with Bob. When in doubt ship your items insured via UPS or FedEx. The screening seems to vary some from airport to airport. Ben
My job requires me to travel to a different city across the US every week. This is good for me to be able to check out hobby shops, and pick up good deals as I find them. I have brought back cars without any problems, but locos I now FedEx back home (of course on the company's account!!! ) You will most likely have a TSA open your bags if you carry locos. The heavy metal frames will red flag the TSAs on the x-ray everytime. Even more so if they are DCC equipped, something about a chunk of dense metal with a circuit board on top, that really sets them in motion! As long as you have them in the original jewel cases, they will be able to see what they are without actually handling the locos. But since no one likes having their belongings unpacked in front of any who may be in line, I recommend shipping them. Keep in mind, if you put the locos in your checked bags, they will still most likey go through your bags, and leave a nice "security opened" letter in them. Just some advise from a well travelled business traveller.
Thanks for asking. I can just see myself doing this without even thinking. Me, 3 or 4 engines and a long line of irratated people. sheesh
Hi! I bet if you ask nice, the store vendor will allow you to call them on your cell phone if you step outside the store. Then, they will ship your purchases to you! The cool thing is that it's then considered mail order, i.e no tax! I'm so deeeeevious! Tony Burzio San Diego, CA
If I buy any loco's when I'm traveling, I always have the loco's shipped to my PO Box fully insured. By shipping items, you don't pay state sales tax if you travel out of your own state. Stay cool and run steam......
I remember a ways back, there was a person that built an entire N scale layout in a luggage container that fit the dimensions of carry-on luggage. There was a pic of him at the airport placing it in the carry-on sizer. I would imagine that the layout too would raise some flags now as well! Russ
Do NOT pack anything of value that is not a common household or personal item in either checked or carry-on bags. Last winter I had packed a very small pocket knife (1-1/4" blade) in a checked bag. It did NOT make it out of the departure terminal. I actually saw the TSA luggage ferret put it into his pocket, but when I tried go 20-25 feet to confront him, I was told by the line supervisor in no uncertain terms to "GET BACK IN LINE, SIR...NOW!"
So, From my personnal experience i can tell you there's no problem carrying trains in an airplane. If you put the trains in your luggage just be VERY careful about packing the cases well so they won't get damage. If you take them with you on board, be prepared to explain to this stupid security women what it is... I live in Europe and travelled many times to north America these past years and always with trains with me or in my luggages and never had any problems even with PnP decoders..... Seb
Even the most miniscule of knives are now considered a no go. However, the TSA agent should have alerted you to this and at least given you the option to have it mailed back to your house. Many airports are setting up USPS kiosks just for this purpose. I witnessed many arguments at the airport lines already for simple household items such as a nail clipper.....yes these too are a no-no! Russ
We've taken to always shipping our travel purchases home rather than hassle with getting them through security or whatever. At the national conventions there's usually a UPS shipping station in the convention hotel, and I have yet to have a problem with anything that I ship home. The only time I won't ship purchases is when I drive my own car to the convention. Also, if I'm presenting a model building clinic at the convention, I will purchase all the solvents and liquids at an LHS near the convention, or borrow some from one of the convention volunteers, so I don't have to worry about shipping hazardous materials. I also always ship tools. Those airport guys/gals don't look kindly on a package full of Xacto blades and flammable liquids. Finally, on the comments above about sales tax, be exceptionally careful here. Even though you may not be liable for sales tax, your own state will probably require you to file use tax on any out-of-state purchases where you did not already pay a sales tax. I actually prefer to pay the sales tax so I don't have to worry about saving the receipt and filing use tax at the end of the year. The difference isn't all that great, and it's just not worth the risk.
We both deliver pre-ordered merchandise to people at conventions (no shipping cost) and will ship their purchases to them after we return from a convention. Sean: Having done interstate taxes for more than 20 years, not every jurisdiction has a use tax.
Even the most miniscule of knives are now considered a no go. However, the TSA agent should have alerted you to this and at least given you the option to have it mailed back to your house. Many airports are setting up USPS kiosks just for this purpose. I witnessed many arguments at the airport lines already for simple household items such as a nail clipper.....yes these too are a no-no! Russ </font>[/QUOTE]Yes on carry on luggage, but your allowed to carry such item in checked luggage since you have no access to it until you're back on the ground. Given the facts its pure theft. I was once nicked by the Russian border control police for taking excess currency out of the country. Seems thier scanners pick up the MICR strips on the new US 100 bills. They graciously kept the additional cash until I returned to Moscow through (very surprising given their reputation). After that I only travelled with used but clean 20s.
Any sharp objects are a no-no and have been since 9/11. I'm still amazed at how many claims we get where someone gets a knife confiscated through TSA and they didn't "think" it would be taken away. That being said, you can file a claim through TSA for the knife. TSA also has a confiscated item bucket in which you can retrieve your item on the way back through that airport. The thing to remember is anything "fishy" is going to get looked at. Metal frames will set off the x-rays. I've put trains in my checked luggage with no problems, I've also put my trains in a clear zip locked bag in my carry on. As long as TSA can see it readily, they won't cause much trouble.
I usually ship stuff just to avoid any hassles. But I've put eXacto knives and supplies in checked luggage without a problem. I have much more problems with my camera bag, which usually contained a pocket disk and a table top tripod. The tripod now goes in my checked luggage--it does look like a gun when folded up.
I once went through the airport security with a 49 car coal train and 12 SD40-2's in a carry on bag! The guy called someone else over to take a look, and then they both looked at me and asked what the heck it was! He opened the bag and laughed!
Shipping questionable items takes some of the hassle out of passing through security at an airport. I do quite a bit of traveling each year. Stay cool and run steam......
