Taking Tools Abroad

[Sebedee]

Hello, I would just like to ask whether anyone has had any issue lately when taking tools abroad on holiday, specifically for plastikard & cardboard scratch building while on holiday ? And if you regularly take sharp tools abroad and have not had any issues then please could you also reply ? 

 

I normally use Scalpels and Swann Morton Craft blades to cut both plastikard and Cardboard, and I would put my small tool sandwich box in my suitcase and therefore they would end up in the aircraft hold but with all the latest changes to what you can and can't take on a plane, it wouldn't surprise me if some of us had a bad experience of an official deciding that these items should not be allowed on a plane.

 

All I got from contacting customs and the airline was a "those items would not be allowed in your cabin luggage", not particularly useful when the question specifically asked about items going into the hold of an aircraft.

 

I've had a look through the forums and not easily found an answer to this question so if the answer is "Please go to a forum called ..." then feel free to answer in that way.

 

 

[amdaley]

I think you'll find that if you put anything sharp like this in the hold luggage you won't have a problem.

Don't take them in your carry on luggage.

We all forget at times.

Some years ago I did several trips to Europe & back with a multi-tool in my coat pocket with no problem until a sharp eyed security lady in Belgium spotted it.

I'd forgotten it was even there.

She advised putting it in the hold but as we were boarding the plane I just told her to hang on to it.

[jamie92208]

I did exactly that in January to Tenerife and ended up with 10 new EMU cabs.  No problem if it is all in the hold baggage.  The box even included a bottle of MEK.

 

Jamie

[Horsetan]

On the one occasion that I took modelling work overseas, the only tool that was allowed into the cabin was myself.

[Shadow]

As others have said before, if it's in the hold luggage you will be OK. Regularly take tools for work on flights, but always in the hold.

 

Not sure about solvents though, but unless they open the case to check it will just look like a liquid in a bottle. Ask about the solvents just to clarify.

[JeffP]

I'm having visions of modellers sitting round the hotel swimming pool, gluing styrene sheet together...and drawing strange looks........

[Shadow]

Just had a look on British Airways site and solvents are NOT allowed.

[Andy Hayter]

Just had a look on British Airways site and solvents are NOT allowed.

Not just BA it is a CAA requirement that solvents are not carried.

 

However........................

[Bernard Lamb]

As others have said before, if it's in the hold luggage you will be OK. Regularly take tools for work on flights, but always in the hold.

Not always.

A friend of mine was given a rail spike from the infamous Thailand - Burma railway recently.

On his way home his hold luggage was X rayed and the spike showed up. He had to open the case and remove the spike so that security could check what it was. He was then told to put it in his had luggage. I know it sounds far fetched but knowing various people involved I do not doubt the story. I better not mention which airport or even which country this happened in, but it was not an obvious one that could be worked out from my story.

Bernard

[MarkC]

"However..."

 

Indeed, Andy.

 

I've been taking tools, kits & <ahem> 'accessories needed' with me when travelling to/from ships for years. All well wrapped & in stowed in hold baggage.

[N15class]

Most of my kit I have with me now came as hold luggage. Even paints, solvents etc. I always make sure they are leak proof, and in something that if they do does not ruin everything in there.

[Lady_Ava_Hay]

Anything electrical or with batteries in hold luggage might attract attention from security.

[BR60103]

One of my friends gave me an old Codar throttle, the open panel-mount type with the resistors and capacitors sticking out all over. I put this on the top of my carry on, expecting to have to explain it, but it went through the X-ray with no comment.

 

I worried all the trip about what else might have gone through.

[corneliuslundie]

I took solvent abroad frequently when I lived abroad, but didn't realise at the time that it wasn't allowed.

 

What was worse was once years ago when I was in Italy and given an expensive bottle or prime olive oil. I had it in my hand luggage but they insisted oit go in the hold - where it burst in my case, ruining most of the contents including a library book which I had to replace. So if putting liquids in a bag to go in the hold make sure they are well padded and in something liquid proof.

 

Jonathan

[Lady_Ava_Hay]

If it actually burst, this is because the hold was not pressurised and should have been. Many are the stories of burst biros and the like. If it was just broken then yes extra padding would prevent this. Again modern aircraft have luggage containers that are loaded under cover and basically fork-lifted into the plane. The other bete noir is the extreme cold at altitude which can cause many liquids to freeze. Again the luggage holds are pressurised in the same way that the cabin is using an air bleed from the engine(s). It is a complex subject but it has been established that most aircradft maintain cabin pressure at around 10000ft as this saves cabin stress so extending the life of the airplane quite considerably

 

they insisted oit go in the hold - where it burst in my case, ruining most of the contents including a library book which I had to replace. So if putting liquids in a bag to go in the hold make sure they are well padded and in something liquid proof.

 

Jonathan

[Bernard Lamb]

One of my friends gave me an old Codar throttle, the open panel-mount type with the resistors and capacitors sticking out all over. I put this on the top of my carry on, expecting to have to explain it, but it went through the X-ray with no comment.

 

I worried all the trip about what else might have gone through.

At one time I used to travel regularly with an ultrasonic inspection device. It weight a ton and had a CRT screen almost the size of a domestic TV of the period. At no time was it ever questioned. Now I know that most airlines at the time used identical devices but I am sure the check in and security staff were unaware of what the machines looked like. As you say with all sorts of odd wires sticking out you would have thought some questions would have been asked. The oddest occasion was when I had to demonstrate that a camera was a camera and that the shutter did actually work, but the box of tricks sailed through.

Bernard

[Oldddudders]

My newly-purchased Maplin cheapo variable temperature soldering iron thingie caused a lot of interest at St Pancras Eurostar security, and delayed my entry to the platform by at least 10 minutes. Being in the original packaging helped, though.

[PatB]

Last year I was asked to unpack a Connoisseur LNER brake van, copperclad 0 gauge point and a Farish Class 24 which I had in a box in my cabin bag. Most inconvenient given how much bubblewrap I'd put round them.

[ejstubbs]

 

...modern aircraft have luggage containers that are loaded under cover and basically fork-lifted into the plane

 

Larger aircraft maybe but I have frequently, while waiting for a short-haul flight eg on a 737, watched my suitcase trundling up the conveyor from the baggage truck that hauled it round from the demonic hell that seems to exist behind the check-in desk and in to the aircraft hold.

[station cat]

I've had no problems with scenic materials (in the hold) or rolling stock (in hand luggage, I put it in a tray on it's own for security where it rather alarmed the x-ray checker but otherwise attracted no comment). I would think that tools would be fine in the hold.

[DavidR]

I bought a number of tools (inc scalpels and knives), plus a 12v transformer, from a model shop in Katowice last year - which was cheaper than comparative UK prices.

All put into hold luggage and went through no problem, with Wizz Air.

However, when I first travelled to Poland, by coach - back in 1999, my luggage was hauled out at Dover and I was questioned by security about two small kitchen knives at the bottom of the suitcase."Are you a Chef?", said the lady. "Yes", I replied (liar)."Oh that's OK then", she replied. Good job I wan't a mass murderer!

[Baby Deltic]

When I was working internationally I regularly took my tool case abroad. As others have mentioned, nothing sharp in your carry on luggage, battery devices will need to be switched on in front of security, just in case its a bomb. No compressed gas devices such as as soldering irons are allowed anywhere on a plane unless they are fully discharged.

[Foulounoux]

I've taken suspicious looking wiring through security and expected to be stopped

 

Luckily it was Barcelona and a motorbike wire harness

 

So I told customs it was for moto gp and they asked me if it was off Rossi' s Honda (before he swapped). Said yes and they opened up a security lane especially for me and passed me through. Sometimes a little white lie is worth it

 

Colin

[JDW]

Yep, I do wonder sometimes how easy it is to distract security like that - I mean, if you can tell them that (and they don't know any different), who else could?  Twice I've been sat in the lane waiting to board a ferry at Calais, and had the Police come along checking cars, and on getting to me and discovering I speak French (in a British registered car), got no further than asking me to open the boot, asked how come I speak French, exchanged a few pleasantries  and then carried on along the line.  Of course, its welcome, and nice they don't see us as terrorists or whatever, but at the same time sometimes does make me wonder...

[Jenny Emily]

Many years ago, pre terrorist threats, my Father got excited in Florida at the cheap prices in a hardware store and bought a rubber mallet and a set of mole grips. Like the tool he can be he put them in his hand luggage and forgot about them, until airport staff at Orlando found them. I haven't ever seen my Father turn so red with embarrassment. They let him keep them and take them on the flight; he was probably helped by three sniggering girls (me and my sisters) behind him, and my Mother's rolling of her eyes at his stupidity. I can't see anything less than rubber glove treatment in a quiet room for anyone trying the same these days.