titanium stakes in a carry-on bag on flight

[Joe O’Toole]

hey all – whats the consensus about being able to take a day pack with a tarp and titanium shepard hook stakes onto a flight for carry on. I'm trying to avoid having to check my bag so I'm keeping it small and the only thing I'm questioning is the stakes.

thanks a bunch!

[Konrad .]

I believe the answer is No, they will not allow it. But there's also conflicting info. I personally believe it's luck of the draw, and how educated that particular TSA agent is on the day of your flight.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=13539

Yet, at the same time, they allow one to carry aboard knitting needles, which in my mind are more or less the same as stakes. Who knows.

Do you have a location you could mail the stakes to? It would be pretty cheap, and the risk of loss is smaller.

[Sumi Wada]

Even if someone else was able to carry them on, I wouldn't assume that you could. My experience is that TSA carry-on screening and decisions are inconsistent from airport to airport. You could very well carry them on without problem on the way out but be denied on the way home. We've had this happen with things we didn't even think about — fishing line spooled on reels, for instance.

I always end up checking one bag and check any stakes, knives, hiking poles, stoves and liquor.

[Dale Wambaugh]

What they don't understand, they freak out over. I would mail them ahead or just buy some aluminum ones on arrival and live with the weight.

We like to travel with carry-on only luggage, but stuff like stoves, trekking poles, knives— and tent stakes— make it difficult.

[Aaron Robson]

Carried on my backpack which contained 8 Ti needle stakes and two Easton Al stakes, along with tent poles and a homemade alcohol stove without any issue on a flight to Colorado last week. Your experience may vary of course, but I think you'd be OK.

[tommy d]

I can't believe that nobody else has made this connection yet…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amYzBQMT4VI
[WARNING: Rated R for adult language]

In order words, don't carry your stakes on a plane.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Sure people get away with it.

That is because the frikking TSA agent was too most likely busy harassing a parent over SEALED and LEGAL baby formula most likely and you get through the line. (Dulles airport has the biggest morons EVER). Spent nearly 30 minutes arguing with a lady and her supervisor and was threatened "with further searches" if my freaking bottles were not open (rendering them garbage in an hour on an 10 hour day of flights).

I am sure in the time I dealt with those jackwagons 3 or 4 people walked through with contraband.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

And BTW, my husband lost a legal carabiner to an agent in France last year. He has had them on his pack for years – never an issue, domestic and foreign. IMO it was because the agent liked it – it was an expensive newer one. The man behind him even pleaded in French for my husband's case (he was bouncing through France from India).

So please, your stakes are weapons. You know it!! A carabiner ain't.

[Sumi Wada]

Our favorite TSA story was on a flight home from La Guardia. My husband was carrying on a daypack that he'd carried all over the city and forgotten that he had a jack knife in one of the pockets. When we went through screening, they found some fastfood ketchup and mustard packets which prompted a hand search. They found and confiscated all the condiments but never noticed the jack knife…

[Joseph Reeves]

The 10 year old war on terror won't permit you to carry on stakes. Another ten years we won't be able to carry on potatoes to go along with the stakes.

[Bob Gross]

Yeah, those terrorists try to upset the free world with ketchup and mustard all the time. The TSA is our first line of defense. They are looking for C4 plastique packaged up as condiment packets.

Not.

Seriously, though. They mean well, but they just seem to show so little common sense.

–B.G.–

[Joseph Reeves]

"Seriously, though. They mean well, but they just seem to show so little common sense."

I fly about 75,000 miles a year. I really don't think they mean well, but do agree they have little common sense.

[Michael Ray]

I flew in/out of DEN last year with no trouble. TSA regs specifically say you can carry on a tent. I was concerned the sheer number of stakes I had would cause concern but they didn't blink (I had to empty out my pack). I plan to do the same in a week. They did take my tiny knife though. This time I'm only taking scissors. Don't really see how 4" scissor blades or 1.5" pocket knife is more dangerous than a 10" knitting needle.

[Dirk Rabdau]

I have to agree with the general consensus – it's the luck of the draw. I've had stuff confiscated that was marginal at best, and been allowed to carry a pretty heavy duty tripod that would have made a nice club. What I ended up doing is checking the stuff, but probably an easier option (and in my opinion, at times more dependable) is to either FedEx/UPS to a store that will hold your gear at your destination or USPS as General Delivery to a post office where you can pick it up.

In either case, I'd make sure i knew the store hours.

Best of luck.

[Pepe LP]

Hey, just wrap the stakes in some yarn and claim they are knitting needles. :)

[Joe O’Toole]

I'll just buy some cheapos when I get there. thanks everybody!

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Dale, "…live with the weight." of aluminum stakes? Aluminum is lighter than titanium last time I checked. And the sturdy MSR Groundhog stakes aren't that much more weight than weaker, thin ti stakes that you can't beat on.

Ti "shepherd's hook" stakes are nearly useless except in perfect soil conditions.

I think ID has some angle slotted ti stakes that are pretty good and light but again, not as sturdy as Groundhogs.

[Bob Gross]

"Ti "shepherd's hook" stakes are nearly useless except in perfect soil conditions."

That's one opinion.

I've been using titanium shepherd's hook stakes for some years now, and I find that they are just about perfect for any soil that I've found in the Sierra Nevada or Alaska.

Yes, aluminum is lighter than titanium for a given volume. However, titanium is much stronger than aluminum, so when we are talking about something that must resist bending, I give the edge to titanium. I admit to pounding on all of them with various rocks, and they don't bend.

I also have v-shaped titanium stakes, Groundhogs, Easton stakes, and other kinds.

–B.G.–

[L. T.]

Can you ask about checking your bags at the gate? I have done that with baby strollers and other bags. They will check the bags into cargo when you are boarding and you pick the bags up as you get off the plane. My .02…

[James Marco]

Yeah, I agree with Bob. For light weight cook wear it doesn't really matter. A few dings and dents are OK. But for stakes, strength vs weight comes into play. Ti hook stakes weigh in at about 6-7grams apiece. I have never found a lighter stake for the strength. Once planted with the shepherd hook in the ground, they have fair holding power…more than enough for small (42" or less) tarps and tents.

[Michael Davis]

One could always use knitting needles as stakes! LOL

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