"Roger N. Clark (change username to rnclark)" wrote in
message ...
About two weeks ago I left for Hawaii from the
Denver airport. I was carrying a small photo backpack
with my usual gear, including 2 small allen wrenches
for the screws on my Wimberly mounting plates.
These are small, ~1 mm and ~2 mm, allen wrenches.
I've carried these for a couple of years without a
problem. I was flagged for carrying a potential
weapon, my bag went through secondary screening, including
taking it all apart to find the wrenches.
In discussing the issue with TSA, they said there is a
"New" rule that says no tools of any kind are allowed as
carry-on. A TSA guy said you could poke someone with
these wrenches. I pointed out how much smaller and
less effective small allen wrenches were than keys
or nail clippers (which are allowed). His answer was
that the higher ups know more than we do, and the
allen wrenches were banned.

So don't take any tools on board any more.

That is right, the prohibited items list (conveniently available in .pdf
format on the TSA web site) includes tools, but specifically says nail
clippers and safety razors are allowed.

Furthermore, if you attempt to bring Allen wrenches to a checkpoint again,
you can be fined $250 - $1500, because now you are supposed to know better;
you have been flagged. Do it again and they will assume it is intentional.

Perhaps Homeland Security believes that the best way to protect US citizens
is to lock them up on any pretext possible in order to keep them out of
harm's way.

I am firmly convinced that TSA is the best possible argument for learning to
fly. You can carry anything you want on your own airplane.