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Did you think oversized toiletries or razors were a problem?
Baffled travelers have now revealed some of the most extravagant items confiscated from them at airport security – from caviar to cannonballs in the mix.
in a reddit In the thread titled ‘items confiscated at the airport’, a user asked: ‘What is your most interesting, funniest or strangest story about items confiscated at the airport?’
They added that the strangest object they were forced to hand over was a jar of honey.
The thread quickly garnered hundreds of comments. Here, we reveal some of the strangest stories of run-ins with the TSA.
Baffled travelers have now revealed some of the most extravagant items confiscated from them at airport security – from caviar to cannonballs in the mix (file image)
Caviar
Caviar caused a problem for a traveler. The Reddit user revealed: ‘My father was traveling from Russia to our home country about 20 years ago.
“She had a medium can of caviar in her bag, she told me that she checked three times if she could carry it and found no indication against it.”
‘Sure enough, they stopped him at security and let him know that it was not allowed.
“My father was pretty sure that security just wanted to keep the caviar.
‘After arguing for a while, he proceeded to open the tin of caviar and eat it all in front of them. (He then) thanked them for their time and passed.’
A traveler had his caviar confiscated during security checks when returning from Russia (file image)
bread knife
An innocent home purchase turned out to be a traveler’s nightmare.
Explaining the offensive kitchen item, they wrote: “I bought a beautiful bread box from a home goods store in Sydney and the store wrapped it for me.
‘At the airport the security asked me what was in the bag and I told them. Then they told me to stand back and not touch anything while they opened it.
‘Unbeknownst to me, the bread box came with a 12-inch bread knife, which was inside the bread box. How embarrassing. And, frustratingly, it was a damn good knife.
Recently, two American cruise ship passengers were arrested in the Turks and Caicos Islands after security found ammunition in their bags during a stopover.
And one Reddit user in the thread reiterated that bullets are also a no-no at airport security.
Recounting one incident, they wrote: ‘I know a guy who was an avid hunter, and at some point a single .22 caliber bullet made its way through a hole in his pocket and lodged deep in the layers of fabric in his cargo pants.
It turns out that the TSA takes getting a concealed bullet through security very seriously.
“In the end no charges were laid, but needless to say he missed his flight that day and now appears to have a lifetime supply of extra screening at airports.”
mathematical compass
A compass caused problems for a passenger at an airport in Egypt (file image)
Designers and mathematicians beware, as a compass caused a commotion at an airport in Aswan, Egypt.
The traveler revealed in the Reddit thread that the implement was examined “very closely” by several guards.
After inspection, the guards decided that it could be dangerous.
Continuing the story, the Reddit user wrote: “One of the guys picked it up, then unscrewed the bolt and removed the little tip (it’s small, like 4mm max), made a face at me and threw the tip away.” in a biohazard box.
‘He put the rest of the compass back in its box and handed it back to me. I just laughed and said he could keep it… I mean, it’s pretty useless without the period.’
dried mandarin
Check every corner of your suitcases before traveling, warns one Reddit user, as they found an old piece of fruit problematic while traveling through Los Angeles.
Detailing the debacle, they wrote: ‘Los Angeles airport security insisted that we were importing food from outside the United States in our checked luggage.
‘They made us wait for two hours and emptied our huge suitcase in fruitless attempts to find said food.
“They finally found a dried tangerine that must have been traveling in a corner of that suitcase for the last five years and proudly confiscated it.”
space slime
Still haunting them to this day, another Reddit contributor revealed how they had an “amazing slime” confiscated by airport security when they were around 11 years old.
Referring to the chain of events, they wrote: (The slime) was my only souvenir that I chose for myself at the Smithsonian Space Museum in DC.
‘We went to so many of them that day, I literally loved it so much. The last one was the space one and in the gift shop they said the slime was “space slime”, obviously just a cool looking slime, but when I was a kid I thought it was the coolest, most interesting thing ever and this was before that slime was in all the stores.
‘So we got to TSA and they took it out of my backpack, I literally cried a lot. I begged the lady not to do it, to the point where she felt bad and she asked if we had another suitcase we could check. My heart hurt a lot.
“Looking back, I know it wasn’t a big deal, but for a little kid it really is.”
After the traumatic incident, the Reddit user says they now always check their suitcases “double” before traveling to make sure nothing is ever thrown away.
Mustard
Many people on the Reddit thread revealed foods that had been confiscated by airport security, including jams, honey, and Nutella.
One contributor said he was shocked when some Icelandic mustard he had purchased at the Reykjavik airport was confiscated when he entered the United States.
They added: “The look of shock and sadness on my husband’s face still haunts me.”
Another traveler recounted a similar fiasco when traveling from Dusseldorf to Newark.
They recalled: ‘To me it was a jar of grainy mustard. It still hurts to have lost that one. It was a completely arbitrary decision.
“In the meantime, I’ve ended up with lighters, matches, knives, etc. that were in some dark corner of a pocket or bag and long forgotten.”
Cannonballs
The cannonballs got a user of the Mexico City airport into trouble (archive image)
Avoid cannonballs when buying souvenirs, recommends one Reddit user.
They revealed in the thread that they bought two cannonballs “the size of a baseball” at an antique store in Cartagena, Colombia, believing they would make a “good souvenir and only cost about 10 dollars.”
Recounting the setbacks that occurred as a result of purchasing the novelty, they wrote: ‘I packed the cannonballs in my carry-on luggage and flew from Cartagena to Bogotá without problems.
‘On the next flight, from Bogotá to Mexico City, we still had them in our carry-on luggage. But when we went through security again in Mexico City, the security officer said we couldn’t fly with them.
‘We had very little time and didn’t want to miss our connecting flight, so we just dropped them off.
‘I’m not sure if we could have put them in our checked luggage, but we probably shouldn’t have flown with them in the first place.
“I later found out that other tourists had done the same and forced the airport to be evacuated, as they could sometimes still have gunpowder inside.”
Wives
The handcuffs caused problems for a handful of travelers.
One contributor on the discussion board said of his handcuff headache: ‘My handcuffs were confiscated in Morocco.
“They were in checked luggage, but at the airport you put all your bags through a scanner before you can check in.
‘Then the security officer took them out of my bag in front of everyone. Bless his heart, he had no idea what they could have been for. My husband had to convince him that we had no bad intentions.
