You can’t possibly make anything that is ‘TSA compliant’. Chances are, if you label a 1 oz. bar of soap as ‘TSA compliant’, some TSAsshole will confiscate it.
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Not the TSA, but last weekend when I attended my first ever political rally, I forgot to take the key-shaped folding knife off my keyring. The cop who searched me totally missed that but questioned my Picopen (magnetic keychain ballpoint pen).
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…proving the tiny pen is mightier than the very tiny sword, I guess.
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If there was a TSA-approved multitool, I’d buy it in a heartbeat, and if I had faith the tool would always pass, I’d make one in a heartbeat, but if/when they confiscate a custom hand-modified tool, you’re losing more than if you paid full-price, because it was harder to get it and harder to replace it.
To me it makes the problem worse. 
Good thinking with the etched “TSA compliant” message - I bet that’s a big part of its success to date.
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I hate to point out that he needn’t have taken it apart just to bob the blade, file and awl. Presumably he just wanted to use that pretty Kurt milling vise.
If that happened in NY he’d be led away in cuffs.
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Believe it or not, the fastest and easiest, most hassle-free way to get onto an airplane is to bring a gun.
You go to the baggage check, tell them you have a firearm in your luggage. They call over a security guard who checks it, then walks you straight onto the plane, and your bag straight down to the cargo hold.
So says a competitive shooter friend who travels extensively with a small arsenal.
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It’s what you get when your organization is dedicated to hiring people who’s IQ matches the Celsius temperature on a sunny day.
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It’s what you get when you get the plebes scared of a statistical non-threat and the govt rushing in to soothe them with security kabuki.
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I’ve never had the TSA object to a bar of soap, but they really don’t like my semi-solid deodorant.
What nations does he fly in? Because that is not the procedure in the USA.
That said, flying with a firearm in your checked baggage is only a very minor annoyance when traveling through most US airports (I avoid JFK and Austin). No security guard, no getting waked onto the plane, and usually no more than a 5 minute delay in checking your bag.
Agreed. I had some plans to swap the blades for other tools from another multitool, but realized none of them were unique enough to crack open the second one.
I’d like to try an experiment in which identical tools are brought through multiple checkpoint, but half of them are marked “TSA COMPLIANT” and half of them are marked “TSA APPROVED.” See if the language that more clearly implies the bearer’s docility in the presence of the TSA has any effect on whether it gets by.
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It was posted above, but this Leatherman is TSA approved.
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I have one of those in my bag. I don’t fly often, but of the four times I’ve boarded a plane with it, the TSA only looked at it one time (in San Diego). The guy started opening it up, I said “it doesn’t have a blade”, he said “okay” and put it back in my bag.
I did make sure to remove my Swiss Army knife before flying, at least.
As far as I know, it’s mostly the US and Canada, but I can ask next time I see her.
Oh my god, Leatherman, I know the clever people here figured out that you take the bracelet off to use the tool and squeeze it together to make the unused parts a handle, but show a simple picture of that before the one million different screw driver, hex, etc heads on each little link. Instead of the 5 minute super pretentious video about design where the guy uses it once to take out a headlight on his bicycle but spends the rest in “design saves the world” pretension and fetishization. It looks very clever and I would love to have one, but sheesh!
Here you go, I had to download the user manual to find a picture that should be second on the sales page.
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No multi-tool is TSA “approved.” The TSA is not in the business of “approving” commercial items. “Compliant” is about as close as you can get (and all Leatherman actually claim) - but even that isn’t strictly accurate. A more accurate statement would be “Not explicitly banned in the TSA’s publicly listed prohibited carry on items list.” In all cases, this remains the case: “The final decision rests with the TSA officer on whether an item is allowed through the checkpoint.”
I also wouldn’t rely on absence from the TSA list too much, either. About scissors they say this:
[quote=“TSA”]Scissors
Metal with pointed tips and a blade length greater than four inches measured from the fulcrum are not allowed[ as carry on items].[/quote]
Does anyone here think that the TSA will stick to the literal wording of that and rely on the “and”? Who here thinks that round ended 10" scissors will be allowed? Or that very pointy ended 3.9" scissors will always make the cut, so to speak?
I suspect one can buy “TSA Approved” multi-tools in bulk from the TSA’s confiscated items auctions.
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Very nice. Although maybe you misread – mine was $12 plus labor.
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