My wife and I have traveled by air many many times.  Personally, I have been all over the world and in most instances have had no security problems.

Now, since things have changed, what I have previously deemed as a minimum level of protection for my family must also change.

Both me and my wife have always carried some sort of Spyderco or CRKT knife.

Until the FAA banned anything serrated I carried a Wegner or a Delica.  Never a problem (cept' once in Mexico).

Now, since the FAA seems to have banned any type of "Pointy Object" be it a knife, nail clippers, scissors etc etc I am looking for the first time at my wife and child traveling without that "minimum level" of protection that we always relied upon.

Lest anyone chide me for relying on a simple knife I remind you that a knife in the proper hands can save ones life (I know you all know that), in addition, it serves many varied uses while one is one one's travels.  I even saved a girls foot once from being ripped off by quickly removing her shoe from her foot....everyone else stood around with their fingers up their a-holes and just watched in horror as she was dragged along an escalator....idiots!

Anyhow, not that I am trying to piss on any measure that is designed to keep our country safer I must ask.......What about my family and our own needs?

In addition, is anyone aware of any acceptable way to carry any sort of knife on an in country commercial flight.

I suppose she could check and ship the HK if the Airport folks would even allow that now.  At least she could pack that while on the ground as our Tennessee permits are valid in Florida.

Top that with the fact that she is going to Disney.................now you see my point.

Like I said......sorta ranting...sorta searching.....anyone got any suggestions.

Heck, I'd feel better just knowing that she could take her little Spyderco Ladybug with her.

I know a knife will not save the world....or stop a terrorist attack be it conventional or biological....but it is not the world I am concerned about when my wife and kid are in the air or on the ground away from me.

As far as I know, Guns can be checked with your checked baggage, as long as you declare it, and use the proper proceedures.

A knife can be in checked baggage, but not in carry on. No knives of any size in carry on.

Get an out of state carry permit for states you might be traveling to:


[url]http://pweb.netcom.com/~chingesh/nonresCCW.html[/url]

What increased security measures?  I flew in and out of Logan last week and lets see, couldn't bring nailclippers on board but no-one batted an eye at my keyring with 20 some odd keys.

Oh yes, they made me turn my laptop on, but not my cellphone or pager which they _used_ to check, but not now apparantly.

Saw lots of bored state police, federal marshall's, and NG folks.  Also saw three airport ninjas walking together, one with an M16A1, one with an M16A2, and one with an MP5.

Took over 2 hours to check in, but less than 3 minutes at security.  Ok, my ID _was_ checked two more times than they used to, but not at the gate where you get on the plane.

I would consider a strangle cord. Take a length of shoelace or twine and attach 2 handles to it. When the SOBs walk past you wrap it around their neck and pull tight until they turn blue and meet Allah. You might also consider a reinfored "straw" or tube for a blowgun. Use a small dart and lace it with something to knock Abdullah out. You can also use a paintball filled with mace. Just make sure the blowgun has something to prevent you from swallowing the maceball. I considered a spring loaded tube with some kind of projectile. Take a tube or straw just so it isn't obvious. Place a spring in it and a pin in the back that can pull the spring back. Then take some projectile place in straw and pull pin back aim and see abdullah wonder what happened. It should give a few seconds to rush them. A rubber band and paper clip can make an effective stun weapon as any 7th grader nowadays can tell you. Bend the clip so it creates a pair of fangs, then pull back against rubber band and stun the guy long enough to rush him. There are many more you can try.

Now if you don't mind breaking the law, youi might consider any weapon small enough to conceal but not made of metal. Even small amounts of metal wont be detected. I once had a friend who flew down to meet me and had some bullets in his pocket and never knew it. The metal detectors never even caught it. This same guy boarded a plane once with strings of firecrackers strapped to his chest. He flew home to a state where he couldn't firecrackers. He never even relaized what trouble he could have gotten himself into. I could just see that headline. "Local guy caught boarding plane strapped with Explosives."

It's no secret that one of those polymer "CIA letter openers" will not be detected by a metal detector since there's no metal in them.  However, it is considered breaking the law to take one on a flight with you now.

If you send a plastic knife through the X-ray machine, that's a different technology and the machine will easily pick it up.  Whether the operator notices it or not is a different matter.  The FAA is also highly aware of these plastic-type knives and say they are taking steps to look out for them.

If you're like most people and don't want to break the law, just want something that could be used just in case, try this:

Have an AOL CD littering up your desk somewhere?  Perhaps a CD-R that got ruined?  Take it, snap it in half, and voila!  There's some mighty sharp points and edges on those pieces.

So on your flight, if you take some CD's with you, whether it's with your CD player or your laptop computer or just by themselves, you've got some improvised edged weapons in waiting.

That's just one idea...