Flying with Jewelry

Hi all- Just wanted to let you know of a little test I did last week

  • flying with jewelry. My husband and I decided to take a weekend off
    and support the economy in our “own little way” - we flew from San
    Francisco to Seattle for the weekend.

I thought I would do a test run with flying with jewelry in my carry
on to see what would happen. I brought about 50 pieces with me to
stock up a consignment account in Seattle - consisting of pins, tack
pins, earrings, necklaces and bracelets. A couple of larger pieces.

Here’s my experience with recent flying: The lines to check in were
long (20-30 min to check in). The lines to get through security were
longer (30 - 40 min to get through security). They asked a few more
questions at check in and at the gate, but the security people just
took longer - they stopped each bag, a couple of people would look at
it, but I didn’t see them open anything but computer bags - to turn
the computers on. No one looked at the jewelry; no one asked any
questions about it.

This may change as time goes on, but I didn’t see that it was much
different from before 9/11. If you have dangerous looking/hard/sharp
edged stuff, you may want to figure something out. And - there’s
always the possibility that if they do stop you at security, you
would have to go back through 2 lines (check-in and back through
security) to get your stuff on the plane.

Has anyone tried to fly coast-to-coast with jewelry/etc. yet? Just
wondering… Regards, Lori Bugaj One-Eyed Collie Jewelry Design

I just got an hysterical (laughter) phonecall from a customer in
Columbus who was flying to Kansas City with several pieces of my
jewelry in her carry-on luggage. One of those pieces was a sterling
silver and amber starburst pin. The security guard would not allow
her to pass with the pin. Said it was a weapon. She had to consult
the head of security and then a police officer before the pin was
deemed ‘jewelry’ and she was allowed to board the plane. Fear
not…they are keeping us passengers safe from jewelry. Batya Stark

I can readily believe this; years ago there was (pohaps still is) a
security guard in San Francisco who always objected to me carrying my
badge (a Sheriff’s badge, which is a star shape) on board the plane;
I’d say “what’s the problem?” So she’d call the policeman over, who
would say “what’s the problem?” and she would mumble something about
"it can be used as a weapon". The policeman would as if I was
"carrying" (a weapon), and I would say “of course not” (as I wasn’t)
and he would thell the guard “baloney” or something like that, and
let me by. And, actually, at that time, I almost always had a
pocketknife along, in my purse, and nothing was said about that!!!

But nowadays, with upgraded security, I imagine that they have been
told that anything that is hard and stiff and has a sharp point can
conceivably be used as a weapon. And I imagine a starburst would
fit into that category. When I got on the plane in Anchorage Ak on
Sep. 15, I made sure even my nail clippers were in my checked luggage
(and she said GOOD!)

margaret

Dana Singer here, at SNAG. I’m responding to an email message from T
Lee on February 28 about Flying with Jewelry/ACC Baltimore Report. I
would love to publish something about this in SNAG News, and am
hoping that some of you will pool your experiences and knowledge as
suggested. I realize you may have been hoping for a wider
readership (you’d mentioned the Crafts Report) so even if you go
that route, please keep us in mind too simultaneously.

Thanks,
Dana

would love to publish something about this in SNAG News, and am
hoping that some of you will pool your experiences and knowledge as
suggested.

Just doing some thinking about this “outloud” – it might be helpful
(we would hope) to share these observations with those in the
transportation/security industry. I’m sure that as time goes on,
they will need to develop methodologies of managing various
population segments with differing approaches – and I think this
would be a good example for them to start thinking about it. . . .

Laura.
@LWiesler