[Harp-L] Re: Harmonicas and Airport Security...

[scott gold <scottgold@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Like Richard, I travel a lot ­ about 200,000 air-miles a year.  I have been
to China, Ethiopia, Geneva, Sudan, New Caledonia, Tibet, Palau, etc. with
harps in my bags.
I have written in about my experiences  at airport security (Manila, for
example)  some years ago when it was a hot topic ­  I won¹t get into that
now ­ it¹s in the archives, somewhere...

Part of my work involves security.  I agree with Richard -  TSA security can
be quite spotty ­ from airport to airport in the USA as well as
internationally. 
The machines vary and most can be calibrated for sensitivity and so on, but
in the end, it all comes down to the person dealing with the info that the
machine gives out.
The TSA  staff looking through thousands of images of thousands of contents
in thousands of bags every day ­ even if trained well - most likely can¹t
see everything, nor catch all ³weapons² (thankfully, my fountain pens
mechanical pencils, rolled up magazines, etc., have not yet been confiscated
as weapons).

Sometimes, it¹s the way the harps (or  any questionable item of your choice)
is packed and laying in your bag ­ configurations and angles of view can
look more suspicious than others;  other times, it can be due to fatigue,
poor training, etc.  you just never know.

Some know right away:  ³oh, you play harmonica² ­ ³I see you¹re a musician,
have a nice day²  others call for the secondary search ­ which is not really
all that pleasant.

TSA can always give you a visual once-over and size you up ­ when you do
like I do and try to cut off the search with:  ³oh, you probably are looking
at my harmonicas, right?  3 smalls one and a large one with a button.²
Sometimes it works , sometimes not (since I kind of look a bit
terrorist-like, perhaps).

Consequently, I don¹t pack as many harps, etc. as I used to mostly b/c I
like to travel carry-on only when I can. I keep them all together and easily
separated ­ like someone else on list mentioned.

When I am forced to check in bags,  I try to pack all questionable items ­
harps, mics, anything and everything ­ in my suitcase.
I have just given up caring anymore about lost, stolen, or damaged goods ­
the hassles are just not worth it to me any more.

In the words of Steven Stills:

    Paranoia, it strikes deep -  in to your lives, it will creep. . . .

-sg
tokyo

> on Sun, 20 Jul 2008 14:52:47 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
> In the Subject: [Harp-L] Re: Harmonicas and Airport Security...
> Richard Hunter wrote:
> 
> I travel a lot. I always take harps and my Zoom H4, and I often take a mic,
> cables, and the Digitech RP200.
> 
> I assume that any TSA officer who's earning his or her salary is going to want
> to see that stuff up close, and I'm rarely disappointed.  It's never gone
> beyond opening the bag to look through the stuff, and I deal with that by
> showing up early.
> 
> Non-harmonica airport security related info: on 2 recent trips, I mistakenly
> left a knife with a 6-inch folding blade in the back pocket of a pair of jeans
> that I had packed in my carry-on luggage.  That knife went through security at
> LaGuardia in NYC both times, was caught once at Minneapolis (where I checked
> the luggage containing the knife) and once at Reagan National in DC (where I
> surrendered the knife, because I didn't have any luggage that I wanted to
> check).  I don't know why TSA at LaGuardia can't find the stuff that they see
> immediately in Minneapolis and DC.
> 
> Regards, Richard Hunter
>