Found knife in my carry-on luggage

[Raizinman]

My wife and I traveled to Seattle last month on Southwest Airlines. We were staying for 2 weeks and had baggage along with a carry-on for each of us. We were in a bit of a hurry (last minute packing) and we used a backpack that I had taken camping months prior. In one of the compartments in the backpack (not hidden) was an 8 inch hunting knife. I had totally forgotten about it.

Next thing I know, we are in the air and I’m asking my wife to get me down my book from my backpack. She pulls the backpack down from the above storage compartment and starts to shuffle through for my book. She pulls out the knife and gives me a mean look, “What the hell is this!” I quickly tell her to return that into the backpack. Fortunately, the flight was only about half full and nobody saw the knife. My wife and I then had a discussion on what to do? Do we turn the knife over to the stewardess? What would she do with it, as there is no lockbox or secure place and if someone saw it, they might overpower her to take it. Do we just tell the stewardess about it? We decided that if we did, we would be interrogated for hours after our flight for smuggling a knife aboard, the flight might be diverted, and we would end up on the five o’clock news. We then thought, lets tell someone about it after we land? We then decided that this was not a good idea, as the security people would want a complete description of who checked our bag and we would be held up for hours making a report. Again the thought of being on the five o’clock news was flashing before us: Couple smuggle 8 inch knife on domestic flight and security could not find it. Not what either of us needed in our lives. We decided that silence was the best answer.

What if we found a gun or some other contraband device in our luggage? What should a person do?

 

[Kaido]

I think the scary thing is that you got through security with it, haha.

 

[Dari]

You sound selfish. You should have told someone so the people that let you and your knife on that plane could be fired for not doing their job.

 

[lxskllr]

You sound selfish. You should have told someone so the people that let you and your knife on that plane could be fired for not doing their job.

Yea, because the most important thing here is to assign blame, and fuck up someone's life. Do you get fired for every mistake you make? I'd love to be as perfect as you must be :^S

For the OP... I wouldn't have said anything either. Bureaucratic agencies don't have learning experiences. The only thing that would have happened is you getting hassled. No good deed goes unpunished.

 

[drum]

She took the knife out of the bag on the flight to show you. Brilliant.
This instead of sitting down and yelling at you for it.
If you tell someone about it you would wish you hadn't. They are going to treat you as a threat and a criminal

 

[Dari]

Yea, because the most important thing here is to assign blame, and fuck up someone's life. Do you get fired for every mistake you make? I'd love to be as perfect as you must be :^S

For the OP... I wouldn't have said anything either. Bureaucratic agencies don't have learning experiences. The only thing that would have happened is you getting hassled. No good deed goes unpunished.

I guess getting 'hassled' is a bigger bother than a plane full of people going down because someone brought onboard and used a knife, right? Your cynical view of government should not stop you from doing your bit to make the system better, considering its the part that involves protecting lives. Cowards.

 

[lxskllr]

I guess getting 'hassled' is a bigger bother than a plane going full of people going down because someone brought onboard and used a knife, right? Your cynical view of government should not stop you from doing your bit to make the system better, considering its the part that involves protecting lives.

A plane won't "go down" due to a knife, any more than any other "weapon" they'd happily allow me to take on board(rolled magazine, mechanical pencil, coins...). Creating a hassle for yourself which makes no difference in the end is pointless.

 

[geno]

Yea, because the most important thing here is to assign blame, and fuck up someone's life. Do you get fired for every mistake you make? I'd love to be as perfect as you must be :^S

For the millions of dollars that the government has been funneling into security, you don't think it should be effective? You don't think that an 8" knife shouldn't be found? This isn't a pen knife we're talking about that's a little easier to slip through security, that's a serious weapon. I'm not saying I expect a system that's 100% effective, but don't you think this should serve as an example of what might be slipping through security?

 

[JulesMaximus]

I wouldn't say a damned thing.

BTW-I did something similar many years ago. I was traveling on business and grabbed a bag I sometimes take to the shooting range. Well, the bag had a magazine loaded with seven rounds of .45 ACP in it. The security guy asks me if he can look in my bag and I said sure. I was completely shocked when he pulled that out of my bag. I explained what happened and they were kind of standing around not sure what to do and then one of them said, "Well, you can't take it on the plane." I left it there for my wife to pick up on the way back to the car...this was pre-9/11 of course.

 

[Spineshank]

Howd that pass through security?

 

[lxskllr]

For the millions of dollars that the government has been funneling into security, you don't think it should be effective?

Shit happens, I don't care how much money you throw at something. With the government doing it, no I wouldn't expect it to be effective. The government is like every other monopoly... Service is less effective than when you have competition ;^)

 

[Born2bwire]

I wouldn't say a damned thing.

BTW-I did something similar many years ago. I was traveling on business and grabbed a bag I sometimes take to the shooting range. Well, the bag had a magazine loaded with seven rounds of .45 ACP in it. The security guy asks me if he can look in my bag and I said sure. I was completely shocked when he pulled that out of my bag. I explained what happened and they were kind of standing around not sure what to do and then one of them said, "Well, you can't take it on the plane." I left it there for my wife to pick up on the way back to the car...this was pre-9/11 of course.

Haha, I did that on the first day of work at a government lab. I went shooting a month earlier and remembered to take the guns out and put them away but I somehow forgot an ammo box in the trunk. I pull up to the gate, the soldiers check my trunk and the first thing I hear is the sargeant call over his fellow guardsmen and ask me to step out of the vehicle. I had to drive 20 minutes back home, put the ammo box away and go back and I end up in the wrong line and get turned around. One of the soldiers yelled out, "What'd you do now?"

Needless to say my car was selected for a "random" search every single day for the next two months.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Meh, it's not like anyone with a knife is going to be able to take over a plane in the US again.

1. Armed air marshalls
2. Armed pilots
3. Passengers remember 9/11 - they now know that terrorists won't jack a plane just for ransom

 

[Raizinman]

We were also thinking what would someone do with a knife? Is this really any more dangerous than a pen or plastic fork? The knife could obviously not penetrate the steel cockpit door and the best you could do is to hold it to someones throat and demand something. You could also do this with the strap of a backpack, a pen or pencil, or a plastic fork. If you have strong enough hands, you could strangle with your hands. Most anyone who knows some self defense should be able to disarm a person armed with a knife, but the real issue is the plane. How would this affect the plane? Truth is, it would not. Likewise, people on a plane tend to gang-up on anyone who might be causing a problem. There is a psychological term for this, but some call it just not wanting the flight to be late.

 

[hiromizu]

Is it your knife? I don't think you've clarified that point yet.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Your wife took out the knife while on the plane? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH HER? Why was she trying to get the two of you arrested? Sounds like she can't be trusted.

 

[Raizinman]

Your wife took out the knife while on the plane? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH HER? Why was she trying to get the two of you arrested? Sounds like she can't be trusted.

It wan't an issue of lack of trust or terrorism. It was more a 'look what you did' type of thing that many wives love to do.

 

[howlinmad]

they let you on with a knife, but they always, ALWAYS, hassle me about an unopened water bottle.

 

[FelixDeCat]

This is a good story. Hopefully you are not posting from a federal detention facility.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

im very happy i have had to stand in the airport security line for hours, unpack my laptop, throw away my beverages, and take my shoes off so that terrorists cannot take knives on airplanes.

 

[Analog]

Same thing happened to me. I had a 6" folding hunting knife in my backpack, checked onto a plane (carry on) from Minneapolis to San Jose, then back again. Both ways it was never discovered. I didn't even know it was there until I was pulling all my receipts out for the expense report. I couldn't believe it!

 

[SunSamurai]

Your wife sounds like a fucking genius. I hope shes a babe at least.

 

[BurnItDwn]

It wan't an issue of lack of trust or terrorism. It was more a 'look what you did' type of thing that many wives love to do.

The "look what you did" think on an airplane is stupid if it can get you both into trouble .... unacceptable.

 

[meltdown75]

We decided that if we did, we would be interrogated for hours after our flight for smuggling a knife aboard, the flight might be diverted, and we would end up on the five o’clock news. We then thought, lets tell someone about it after we land? We then decided that this was not a good idea, as the security people would want a complete description of who checked our bag and we would be held up for hours making a report. Again the thought of being on the five o’clock news was flashing before us: Couple smuggle 8 inch knife on domestic flight and security could not find it.

LOL make more wild assumptions.

yes, there will be a national security breach and the entire USA will be on red alert because of your "hunting knife". you watch too much TV....

 

[FelixDeCat]

LOL make more wild assumptions.

yes, there will be a national security breach and the entire USA will be on red alert because of your "hunting knife". you watch too much TV....

That may be true but the day when President Bush lifted the flying ban post 9-11, my friends dad was arrested for taking a knife strapped to his leg on a plane. It made national news, the media made their life heck for a week, they couldnt leave the house at all, and the phone rang 24 hours a day.

My friend stayed with my nephew until the storm blew over. When his dad finally made it to court he explained to the judge he had no ill intent but he wanted to make sure he was safe because (at the time) he felt terrorists were still bent on hijacking planes. The judge agreed and sympathized and he got probation given his clean record with the understanding he never own any weapons again. He gave his knife and shotgun to his son and that was the was the end of it.