Question about flying with questionables.

[littlejedi.livejournal.com]

Allo, D*Con peeps! I have a question for y'all. I am going to be flying to D*Con this year, but thanks to my costume, I'll have some questionable objects with me. The items in question are a chainsaw made of foam board, and a plastic rifle (take a wild guess as to who I'm going to be, lol.)

Do I need to call ahead to my respective airlines and let them know that I'm bringing questionable props with me? and would I be allowed to carry the (obviously fake) chainsaw on the plane with me? While it's certainly sturdy enough to withstand the con (I hope!), I don't think it would survive being treated as luggage.

What say y'all?

Comments

[reddheart.livejournal.com]

Pack it carefully and it should be OK. Bubblewrap is indeed your friend and ally, as well as your regular clothes :)

An additional tip to consider: I went to a panel about costume travel run by two local TSA agents, and some advice they gave us was to attach a photo to your questionable item, particularly one of you in costume with your props, and include your contact information (cell numbr works) if they have questions. If my memory serves, people in the 501st have done tghat to reduce issues in transporting their blasters to long-distance events.

It's not absolutely foolproof, but I did this in 2006 with a wooden sword packed in a cardboard guitar box. The sword went both ways without incident other than a few confused glances at first from the X-ray guys.

(Sadly, that packing arrangement did not prevent thieves from stealing it from our storage unit two years later, but that's another conversation entirely, and I am sure their faces were embarrassed when they tried to take it to a pawn shop...)

[songbirdsews.livejournal.com]

I've also found using cardboard boxes within suitcases helps, as does buying a suitcase with some kind of frame inside it (like the rectangle rolling ones). Bubblewrap, as laragoth says, is a must. I also like socks. They're really great at wrapping around things. If my suitcase has a liner I can get into, I'll slip cardboard panels into there (I just use cereal boxes cut up), which gives it enough structure it can bounce off some things that would normally smoosh my suitcase.

Another easy way to eliminate any issues: when you are speaking to the service clerk at the desk to check in bags, etc, just say "In the bag I'm checking in, I have something that looks like a weapon/is a weapon". They allow you to check almost anything (weapons are allowed, with some restrictions), and they like it if you don't surprise them. For toys, all they ask is you stand by the scanning area while they scan your bags, and so you are available to pull things out of your bag and explain what it is if the scanners have questions. They also had us do this for my husband's bastard sword (real) and my bow (also real). The only time we've even given them pause is one of our steampunk guns looks like a real kiddy shotgun (I guess we did too good of a job painting it) and they had us pop it open to make sure we didn't need to sign any forms. So, just show up a bit early to allow them to inspect your bag and allow for repacking time.

[littlejedi.livejournal.com]

I dig it.

[thatwordgrrl.livejournal.com]

Yeppers. When I used to fly with my fencing blades, I had a hardshell wheelie golf case for them. I'd always watch while they unlocked the case, checked the blades and relocked it. No way was I gonna have close to $1,000 of custom blades out of my sight!

[dark-blade.livejournal.com]

Seconding this. I built a prop lightsaber hilt from bits of plumbing. I put it in a ziplock in my suitcase and set it in between layers of clothes, with a note for security explaining that it was NOT a bomb, just a prop, and told them when I went to check my luggage. I was told that it would NOT have been allowed carry-on, and they appreciated the heads up as bomb squad may have been later called unnecessarily.

[littlejedi.livejournal.com]

I love your idea :) Also, rock on for the hilt.

[cygess.livejournal.com]

What a FABULOUS idea for a D*C panel for one of the costuming tracks!!! I would attend that!!!

[littlejedi.livejournal.com]

Serves the stupid thieves right :P