Pool cue as hand luggage

C

Catalin

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
As most or you know, pool cues are currently not officially allowed in hand luggage. Emphasis on officially.

The reason is that pool cues are wrongly put in the category "blunt weapons" together with baseball bats. I hope you will agree that there are major differences between pool cues and baseball bats. There are much more dangerous items that are allowed on planes - best example would be airlines using real cutlery on intercontinental flights and even steak knives in Business and First.

The rule concerning pool cues is very inconsistently applied. I personally had no trouble bringing a cue in the cabin when flying from the US to Europe one time, but I was not allowed to bring it on a different occasion and I had to check it. A friend of mine is regularly bringing his cue as hand luggage on European flights and has never had an issue. When returning from China with several cues, he wasn't allowed to to bring them on only 1 leg of a 3-leg trip. This tells me that at any given time there is a good number of cues brought on board of planes. I believe there hasn't bee a single security incident involving them. Walking canes can also be brought on board without any proof that one needs them.

I believe that the whole thing is a mistake based on misinterpretation and that there is a case to be argued with the regulating bodies to allow pool cues as hand luggage. Which pool organization would-be the best placed to do that ?

Julian
 
Catalin said:
As most or you know, pool cues are currently not officially allowed in hand luggage. Emphasis on officially.

The reason is that pool cues are wrongly put in the category "blunt weapons" together with baseball bats. I hope you will agree that there are major differences between pool cues and baseball bats. There are much more dangerous items that are allowed on planes - best example would be airlines using real cutlery on intercontinental flights and even steak knives in Business and First.

The rule concerning pool cues is very inconsistently applied. I personally had no trouble bringing a cue in the cabin when flying from the US to Europe one time, but I was not allowed to bring it on a different occasion and I had to check it. A friend of mine is regularly bringing his cue as hand luggage on European flights and has never had an issue. When returning from China with several cues, he wasn't allowed to to bring them on only 1 leg of a 3-leg trip. This tells me that at any given time there is a good number of cues brought on board of planes. I believe there hasn't bee a single security incident involving them. Walking canes can also be brought on board without any proof that one needs them.

I believe that the whole thing is a mistake based on misinterpretation and that there is a case to be argued with the regulating bodies to allow pool cues as hand luggage. Which pool organization would-be the best placed to do that ?

Julian
Click to expand...

It really doesn't matter what we think about this subject. FAA looks at them as a possible risk, so check-in is what they want.
Just make sure you pack them well for protection.
 
Catalin said:
The reason is that pool cues are wrongly put in the category "blunt weapons" together with baseball bats. I hope you will agree that there are major differences between pool cues and baseball bats. There are much more dangerous items that are allowed on planes - best example would be airlines using real cutlery on intercontinental flights and even steak knives in Business and First.

Julian
Click to expand...

I disagree. If I have to go toe-to-toe with someone in a fight to the death, and he’s wielding a steak knife, I’d beat the hell out of him with the butt of my sneaky Pete.
 
easy-e said:
I disagree. If I have to go toe-to-toe with someone in a fight to the death, and he’s wielding a steak knife, I’d beat the hell out of him with the butt of my sneaky Pete.
Click to expand...

Not in close quarters, you wouldnt.

But the drunk guy with the steak knife fighting the drunk guy with the cue would get a mess of blood on himself, that is for sure.
 
Never gonna happen.....pool cues will always get checked for pretty obvious reasons
in terms of it potentially being used as a conceivable weapon on a plane flight.....Nuf Ced!
 
One of the problems is the TSA folks are not consistent in how they interpret the rules. In an earlier thread, a member stated he was able to carry on his cues on a trip to Vegas, but he had to check them for the trip home - same airline. It's obvious the FAA, TSA, or the Airports could care less about our cues or any other like items. They have more pressing issues.

I have yet to take cues on a flight; but will either ship them ahead or take an older cue.
 
I was able to carry my cue case on a flight to Oakland once.
On the way back, I was made to check it in.
 
Rules don't have to be logical to exist. I have a friend who recently retired from "driving bus" for American. He, former F-111 pilot who was licensed to carry nukes, was one of the pilots allowed to have a firearm in the cockpit. But he couldn't carry a little 3 bladed pocket knife I gifted him. Rules are rules...
 
tucson9ball said:
It really doesn't matter what we think about this subject. FAA looks at them as a possible risk, so check-in is what they want.
Just make sure you pack them well for protection.
Click to expand...
It does matter what we think, that's how change happens. Rules that don't make sense should be challenged.

FAA only exists in the United States. The United States are only a small part of the world. Really, really small. Don't think small, man !

Julian
 
Just check it. Why even attempt something like and potentially cause an issue at an airport of all places...
 
I recently donated a nice Swiss Army knife to the TSA. Of course they could have offered me a shipping envelope for $10 but the (deleted) didn't, so they took it and put it in the "trash".

From the opinion page of the LA Times back when the pitiful QA report first came out....

TSA's 95% failure rate shows airport security is a charade
By DAVID HORSEY
JUN 09, 2015 | 5:00 AM

A couple of years ago my wife — who may be the least likely person on the planet to commit an act of terrorism — was randomly pulled aside at airport security for a thorough screening. Seeing that the process was going to take awhile, I took a seat on a nearby bench where a TSA officer was taking a break.
I told the officer why I was waiting. He smirked and told me he had been in the military and knew a little bit about security. Then he waved his arm at the ranks of screening apparatus and long lines of haggard airline passengers and said something like: "This is all a joke. I can think of a hundred ways to sneak a weapon through all of this."

Something tells me that young man is not still employed by the TSA. Either he would have tired of the empty exercise and found more fulfilling employment or his supervisors would have punished him for his honesty. However things have turned out for him, his analysis has proved to be disturbingly accurate.

A report leaked out of the Transportation Security Administration reveals that a team of investigators from the Department of Homeland Security managed to sneak weapons and fake bombs past airport screeners in 95% of their attempts to beat the system. That means what many of us suspected all along has now been confirmed. All those expensive body and baggage scanning machines, all that intrusive rummaging through luggage, all those intimate pat-downs of little kids and grannies, all those nail clippers confiscated, all those bottles of liquids seized, all those shoes and belts taken off, all those laptops pulled out and all those thousands of frustrating hours wasted in line have been mostly for show.
​
(For the full column, Google is your friend.)
 
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Most of the traveler related issues that FAA gets blamed for should be laid at the feet of TSA & NTSB. Starting with FAA is pointless. To your point, though, lobby groups such as AOPA & EAA have reshaped a number of important FAA regulations in recent years when they got Congress on board. Not saying i agree with you on this issue, but again per your comment, to change a rule or culture and then the rule, you need heavy lobbying, congress, and a groundswell of support for your program. Even should many Congress people turn out to be pool players, it is doubtful the pool lobby scares anyone enough to step on toes in major regulatory fiefs.


Here's a solution. :grin:
No lines, they wait for you if you're late, take your pets, carry on just about anything that can be "secured" in the cabin.


https://www.netjets.com/en-us/?gcli...kjlMKac6O5U6U2cG4okaAl3GEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
 
To think they'd give a half a fart about pool cues is silly.

Food, water, toiletries...of actual concern for a far greater number of travelers.

And it isnt like ones cues isnt allowed on the plane. You just cant access it while a passenger.

Cue too valuable to check, in you opinion? Too bad. Get one that is in your comfort zone.
 
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