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My baliyo got confiscated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin three or so hours ago. I had to leave it with the TSA agent because he claimed it was too suspicious to let me on the plane with. I am now very sad. I've traveled through 18 airports in the last year with it and had no problems until today.

Watch out for Milwaukee.

I would write the TSA. The dude just stole a 100% allowed item as far as I can tell.

The TSA thinks they're above the law. I doubt a letter will get it back, sorry to hear that you lost it to those crooks.

Tsujigiri wrote:The TSA thinks they're above the law. I doubt a letter will get it back, sorry to hear that you lost it to those crooks.

I doubt it would get it back, but at least it would be one more complaint for the statistics. Heck, they're a government agency, I'd CC my congressman too.

SolidState wrote:My baliyo got confiscated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin three or so hours ago.

Sorry to hear that and it is bad for you. On the other hand it's only one more case of US security paranoia.

Will you buy another Baliyo?

I'm sorry to hear the TSA confiscated your BaliYo. They said it was suspicious, but what was suspicious about it? Did you show the guy it is simply a pen?

Sorry to hear about your Bali-Yo...It does sound like a ridiculous confiscation....reminds me of the last time I was at the airport...I had a bic lighter and a propane fueled lighter...the propane fueled lighter was out of fuel...I decided to take it anyway and fill it at my final destination place with a new can of fuel. The TSA agent said it was suspicious as he kept clicking it over and over again...I said What's the problem?...He said this could be a bomb...I shook my head in disbelief, and told him it was just out of fuel....but If he really thought that maybe he should stop clicking it over and over again....he didn't appreciate my joking and confiscated the lighter, telling me I was only allowed one lighter anyway.....It wasn't worth fighting over....there is no reasoning with an idiot....Doc :D

Man and to think about a mo th ago I accidently flew with a box cutter in my carry on.

Makes those stories you hear and read about of CHL/CCW permit holders getting to their DESTINATIONS before remembering they forgot to take their pistol out of their pocket that much more interesting.

They are more concerned with stealing your pens and lighters than checking everyone throughly enough to catch a GUN.

A couple of years I remember a story where a Texas women with a permit forgot she had a ADC Derringer in .38 special in her purse when boarding the plane...about mid flight she went into her purse for something and saw the Derringer...so she took it out and walk into the open cockpit door to give it to the pilot...needless to say everyone had a fit! ....she was arrested when she got off the plane....but in the end charges were dropped and her gun returned to her....just makes you think.....somebody lost there job over that one!.....Doc :D

On a positive note, the skies over America are a much safer place without a bunch of BaliYo totin' airline passengers. I will sleep better tonight knowing the TSA is on the ball.

/sarcasm

I appreciate these threads because they remind me never to travel with anything of value.
It's like working at summer camp. With everyone living in close quarters for weeks on end, most pieces of property become shared among the staff.
Expect anything and everything to go missing.

Dr. Snubnose wrote:What's the problem?...He said this could be a bomb...I shook my head in disbelief, and told him it was just out of fuel....but If he really thought that maybe he should stop clicking it over and over again....he didn't appreciate my joking and confiscated the lighter, telling me I was only allowed one lighter anyway.....It wasn't worth fighting over....there is no reasoning with an idiot....Doc :D

This had me laughing out loud.


This is ridiculous. An ink pen. Really?

Sometimes I wonder if they don't just take **** to sell on Ebay. Sorry about your deadly... tactical... rocket launching... stealth bomber... pen being taken.

I gotta wonder though, why'd you give in to something so bogus? I watched my mom use an entire tube of hand lotion right there in the off-to-the-side area when the TSA guy said he would confiscate it, just to spite him.

Bluntrauma wrote:Sometimes I wonder if they don't just take **** to sell on Ebay. Sorry about your deadly... tactical... rocket launching... stealth bomber... pen being taken.

I don't know if it's still around, but I know there at least used to be a TSA agent who said write in his ebay auctions that his auctions were items he confiscated. I never bothered to confirm it, but based on what he was selling and the prices he was selling at, it made sense.

Jay_Ev wrote:On a positive note, the skies over America are a much safer place without a bunch of BaliYo totin' airline passengers. I will sleep better tonight knowing the TSA is on the ballPOINT.

/sarcasm

Fixed that for ya!

PS... I've wondered if they would confiscate those "tactical" pens that could double as a weapon. They're quite expensive. I don't own one, but I would hate to lose one of those.

Trust me...i can do just as much damage with a $.10 Bic pen as anyone can do with a Baliyo. I'd say this guy liked your pen and took it for himself.

your baliyo is on ebay probably

To be honest, beyond the very rare thief that crops up in all of Society, the TSA guys are probably just doing what they think is their job and they are honest folk - just like the Customs guys over here. Their bosses put them under immense pressure not to let anything through that might come back to haunt them and they know that your average Joe Public won't argue back and won't complain or take it up with their bosses ... so they are safe to confiscate even the very borderline things. They look good because their bosses are happy ... their bosses look good because the airport appears to have a good record and bucket loads of seizures to show Homeland Security.

Customs will go to inordinate lengths to seize whatever they can because they know that nobody has got the money to take them to Court and call their bluff. I am sure they, like the TSA, will have appeal procedures and if you appeal they will probably reject it and force you to take them to Court ... end of story.

It's a bit depressing but the only way to get it to change is to direct your attention higher up the food chain to the politicians that give these guys the powers they have.

Someday when i finally get old and crazy and snap and go on a killing spree, i'm going to do it with #2 pencils. When they catch me i'm going to tell them i used pencils to make a point about all these stupid laws they pass about knives and these lethal butterfly pens. I do understand and appreciate the lengths these people go to in the pursuit of keeping everyone safe, but c'mon the line has to be drawn somewhere. This pen isn't any more lethal than something like a metal bodied Cross pen that you're likely to find in 9 out of 10 suitcases that board planes everyday.




Before you know it, we'll all be forced to do paperwork with crayons :rolleyes: