Cues Carried On Plane

9ballr has a lot more cavalier attitude about dings or scratches than I would express.
His attitude & approach will surely leads to a lot less frustration about your pool cues.

Personally, if I owned an expensive pool cue, and it was damaged from airport handling
but the pool cue was pristine when I started my journey and wasn't upon arrival at my
destination, I would become very upset and possibly even infuriated,

Why? The first thing that pops into mind is how much I paid for my cue and it doesn't
look the same any more and maybe I even lost value through no fault of my own aside
from travelling by airplane.

The second thought would possibly lead to becoming a little angry because what if
the cue needed a refinish because of it but my cue-maker is deceased, or retired or
has a huge waiting list even for repairs.

Then I would probably reflect about how long I searched or waited to find that cue or
even worse, to have it custom made and how long and carefully I cared for my cue to
only have some TSA _uck it up......Oh no, I'd definitely be pissed off it got damaged
because of someone else rather then being my own fault.

And lastly, every time I pulled my cue from the case and spotted that damage, even
slight, it would annoy me to no end. If I damage my own cue, then shame on me but
I can live with it. When someone else damages my cue, I would be very pissed off.

Reflecting back on what I originally wrote......9ballr's approach is a lot more low key
about this and in all likelihood, I'm likely wound too tight to feel that casual about it.


Matt B.
 
Bavafongoul said:
9ballr has a lot more cavalier attitude about dings or scratches than I would express.
His attitude & approach will surely leads to a lot less frustration about your pool cues.

Personally, if I owned an expensive pool cue, and it was damaged from airport handling
but the pool cue was pristine when I started my journey and wasn't upon arrival at my
destination, I would become very upset and possibly even infuriated,

Matt B.
Click to expand...

...and you could yell and scream about it to the TSA supervisor, who would politely listen for a minute or two then write you off as just another angry passenger. I can appreciate that those people have a hard job to do, trying to ensure that the entire flying public of one of the most hated countries in the world is safe and has a safe (if not terribly pleasant) travel experience, but those people are way under-trained and their policies are sometimes just out right stupid, and on top of all that there are some TSA Agents that shouldn't be allowed to contact the public at any time.

Why would you allow a pair of ice skates on a plane but not a pool cue? I can't figure that one out.
There is a ton of YouTube dedicated to the stupidity of the TSA.
I don't envy them and their job, and I do appreciate what they are charged with doing. It's an awesome responsibility, and I understand the state of the world today, but gee whiz, there has to be some kind of middle ground.
 
Because the job of the TSA is NOT security, it is security theater. A play put on to make us (the foolish among us) feel safe without actually making us safe. The long lines, strange rules, and delays are features not a bugs.
 
So I'm on my way to DCC and sitting in my seat looking out the window when the baggage handler picks up my cue case and I mean "heaves" into the cargo hold. Since then my wife found a luggage bag where I can place my cue in diagonally and still pack my clothing. You have to get a soft case that will bend into the luggage bag but it all works out OK. The pain of watching my cue get thrown into the cargo hold was just too much to bear.
 
Bob Jewett said:
Not that it will help with cue sticks, but it might....

The TSA has a new program where you can sign up and go in for an interview and if you look like "a nice, quiet person that you would never suspect is a mass murderer", they will sell you a 5-year pass to go through the pre-check line where you don't have to take off your shoes or separate your laptop.

I signed up for it last month -- my appointment to go in for the interview is in August at SFO.:angry:

Does anyone remember the National Guard troops who were at the airports for a while after 9/11? The automatic weapons they carried weren't loaded. Maybe they had bayonets in their pockets. I think they were there to make us be afraid.
Click to expand...

Heard last nite during a radio interview with TSA experts and people using the program you mentioned that's it's worthless. There are lines for that and sometimes it's not staffed at all. Good luck with the interview.
 
Bavafongoul said:
9ballr has a lot more cavalier attitude about dings or scratches than I would express.
His attitude & approach will surely leads to a lot less frustration about your pool cues.
Click to expand...


Yes, Matt, my attitude about cues is not one of much concern...lol. I love them all but I definitely buy them to be used, league night and otherwise, scratches and dings are a part of that.
I have some really great cues in my collection and recently took a Richard Black with me on a 4 city trip done over two weeks.
Checked the cue each time. Never had any problems.
Outside my old Instroke case is an old raincoat of sort, that's where the label goes and that's it. In the luggage it goes.
That being said most of my cues are in excellent shape. Although I sometime drop them on the floor when I'm trying to act all cool and start twirling them around....lol......what a mess...
 
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I work at Nuclear Power plants - some of them, if you have a dime or penny in your backpack/bag you have to find it and take it out......THEY ARE TOO STUPID TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A DIME AND A GUN!.
I can only imagine how stupid tsa is compared to them - how do they even make it to work???
 
I've flown many times with my cue sticks over the years domestically and internationally. I put my cues in my suitcase well wrapped with cloths or bubblewrap and carry my empty case on the plane. The TSA agents or security in other countries always ask an I tell them the case is empty. It goes through the x-ray machine and life goes on. When I get to my location I have my cues and my case back in place.
 
Celophanewrap said:
...and you could yell and scream about it to the TSA supervisor, who would politely listen for a minute or two then write you off as just another angry passenger.
Click to expand...
True, but they have at their disposal to do a lot more than that if they were of the mind to. They could have you arrested for anything from disturbing the peace to making terrorist threats...I'm not saying they would, but they could. The TSAs may look like crossing guards, but they can screw you pretty good if they wanted to.

For me, that's why I don't fly with my prized cues and a Lucasi is good enough.
 
Bob Jewett said:
Not that it will help with cue sticks, but it might....

The TSA has a new program where you can sign up and go in for an interview and if you look like "a nice, quiet person that you would never suspect is a mass murderer", they will sell you a 5-year pass to go through the pre-check line where you don't have to take off your shoes or separate your laptop.

I signed up for it last month -- my appointment to go in for the interview is in August at SFO.:angry:

Does anyone remember the National Guard troops who were at the airports for a while after 9/11? The automatic weapons they carried weren't loaded. Maybe they had bayonets in their pockets. I think they were there to make us be afraid.
Click to expand...
A lot of us early adopters got it TSA Pre-check automatically with Global Entry (the fast re-entry line for US Customs). I signed up for my 5 years in 2011, and they gave me 6 years. No idea why.
 
AceAngeles said:
I've flown many times with my cue sticks over the years domestically and internationally. I put my cues in my suitcase well wrapped with cloths or bubblewrap and carry my empty case on the plane. The TSA agents or security in other countries always ask an I tell them the case is empty. It goes through the x-ray machine and life goes on. When I get to my location I have my cues and my case back in place.
Click to expand...


Can't you put the cue case in the luggage too?
 
tonyboy59 said:
Heard last nite during a radio interview with TSA experts and people using the program you mentioned that's it's worthless. There are lines for that and sometimes it's not staffed at all. Good luck with the interview.
Click to expand...
To say it's worthless is utterly false. I've been using this pre-check since it started. It is anything but useless.

Freddie <~~~ travels entirely too much
 
Cornerman said:
To say it's worthless is utterly false. I've been using this pre-check since it started. It is anything but useless.

Freddie <~~~ travels entirely too much
Click to expand...

Fred,

Travel out of BUF and LAS quite a bit. Got to tell you, watching the look on most of the hundred plus people waiting in the regular line as i walk right up to the check point through TSA Pre is priceless. Kind of like when I purchased the first of the EZ Pass plates. The New York State Thruway exits used to have lines of cars both entering and exiting, I'd just drive right by them. TSA Pre is the best $80 I've spent travelling. Interestingly, I received only three years of service. Oh well.

Lyn
 
Baby Huey said:
So I'm on my way to DCC and sitting in my seat looking out the window when the baggage handler picks up my cue case and I mean "heaves" into the cargo hold. Since then my wife found a luggage bag where I can place my cue in diagonally and still pack my clothing. You have to get a soft case that will bend into the luggage bag but it all works out OK. The pain of watching my cue get thrown into the cargo hold was just too much to bear.
Click to expand...

straight up cue cases also have a tendency to fall off belts and also get hung up where they are not noticed, for hours if not days.
 
Cornerman said:
A lot of us early adopters got it TSA Pre-check automatically with Global Entry (the fast re-entry line for US Customs). I signed up for my 5 years in 2011, and they gave me 6 years. No idea why.
Click to expand...

i just put in my app-waiting for the interview-dreaming of a trip i'll probably never make due to my stomach issues of the last decade or so.
 
cardiac kid said:
Fred,

Travel out of BUF and LAS quite a bit. Got to tell you, watching the look on most of the hundred plus people waiting in the regular line as i walk right up to the check point through TSA Pre is priceless. Kind of like when I purchased the first of the EZ Pass plates. The New York State Thruway exits used to have lines of cars both entering and exiting, I'd just drive right by them. TSA Pre is the best $80 I've spent travelling. Interestingly, I received only three years of service. Oh well.

Lyn
Click to expand...
Absolutely. The "look" is priceless!

But, yeah, averaging less than 5 minutes through security is very worth it. Or when traveling internationally, coming back to the States (through Newark, for example), everyone has to go through Security again if you connect domestically. That means several hundred people from just that flight times any other international flight. Global Entry lets me walk through Customs like a boss, and then going through Pre-Check while a thousand people are waiting in line... totally worth it.

Yes, sometimes the Pre-Check isn't manned, but that's during the times where there doesn't need to be Pre-Check (like those 5AM flights or very smaller airports with less travelers).
 
9Ballr said:
Can't you put the cue case in the luggage too?
Click to expand...

You can but I'd be afraid to lose my cue. It's obvious what it is if your luggage if it's a pool case. It just always seemed safer for me to hide the cue in my luggage and carry my empty case. If the case was lost, the airlines would never reimburse me for the value of my cue.
 
In January 1990, I flew out of Istanbul, Turkey to Heathrow airport in London for a pool tournament in Oxford. My plane was late into London because of a hurricane and I was in a hurry because I thought I may have missed my ground connection to Oxford.

I asked someone for directions to the ground exit and was running through the airport, like the old O.J. Simpson commercial, with my Fellini case under my arm. Right before I got to the escalator, the bobbies decided to stop me to see why I was in such a hurry and what I was carrying.

Bet they were just singling me out because I didn't have a snooker cue. :)
 
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