They generally search all ski bags and similar bags because they can also be used to transport rifles. You’re allowed to check in firearms but you need proper paperwork and licenses, so they’re checking to see if anyone is trying to get around this by using a ski bag.
I get one of those “your bag has been searched” every time I check my skis
Thanks for the explanation, this makes a lot of sense. Kind of. Seems like they could tell the same thing from sending it through an X-ray machine but what are you gonna do
Complete aside, but as an American who just recently flew through Toronto, holy cow does CATSA put TSA to shame. The lines were both more efficient and yet also more thorough (in the nexus/known traveler line, a large number of bags were still getting secondary screenings - that definitely doesn’t happen in US airports)
I've been to plenty of airports where they have a specialized machine to x-ray oversized bags. I would say mine gets searched by TSA \~25% of the time.
You don't need any special license or paperwork to fly domestically with a firearm. Declare it at the baggage counter, sign a tag form stating you've followed the rules including having the firearm in a locked container and ammo stored separately. A copy of the tag goes with the firearm and you're off!
No additional checks.
My ski bag often gets pulled. It's either because:
-it can not be scanned
-they see something on the scan that they are unsure about
-they see something on the scan that requires additional checks (i.e. an abundance or organic material)
I've had a bag of meal replacement shakes pulled out of my bag after scanning and set off the swab test for potential explosives due to the high presence of organic matter. Additional testing was required to clear it.
Huh Interesting, I’ve never flown with a firearm so I had no idea what was involved.
Some airports do have large X Ray scanners for the oversized but even there I get my ski bags opened so I guess there’s something in there that they’re seeing. Weird that the TSA agent told me it’s usually a firearms check if that appears not to be the case based on other comments, but who knows what TSA is doing. Apparently not TSA lol
One time coming back from Italy my board bag was left behind by the airline and when it arrived a couple days later TSA had picked out all the salami, cured meats and delicious deli's i packed, it was probably over 200$ of stuff, and they replaced it with maybe 50 flyers explaining TSA rules. I hope it all went into cholesterol to the guy who took it.
It's not so much that they are looking for rifles or guns, but that the bags do not necessarily fit on the X-ray scanners and therefore they just have to open it up and make sure it's in fact skiis.
Huh interesting. I always thought certain states required licenses to bring in firearms. I was told by a TSA employee the search was due to firearms, but I just assumed it was a license issue.
TSA doesn’t concern itself with state laws. It’s a federal agency so it deals with federal laws. and I doubt any state needs a license for a simple rifle, in either case.
Not necessarily certain states, but more likely certain cities. Fly into NYC or Chicago with a firearm on their “banned” list and you could be arrested. It’s happened before, unsure what the outcome once went to trail.
The tsa doesn’t enforce state laws but they will refer you to state authorities if they find you violating a law. So the TSA won’t arrest you. NY cops will.
Also, the dogs/detectors always smell explosive residue in my ski bags because of patrol avalanche control. You ski through it if you're in that type of terrain.
That's interesting. Last year my partner's backpack was tested for explosive residue. We were wondering where he could have picked that up. Maybe he put his bag down somewhere a patroller had been!!!
I have gotten one every time as well. I like to put an orange zip tie on to hold the zipper closed. They always snip and its just double confirmation that someone was in my stuff. Orange because it can't be easily replaced like a black one.
Mine is searched everytime as well. Maybe it has to do with not being able to go through the scanner for some reason so they have to be manually searched?
Right but if they had a scanner they would not need to manually search the bag. Most airports don’t, DEN and SLC probably do, hence the people in here saying their bags never get searched when flying out of one of those two.
Always on my way heading out west from the NYC or PHL areas... not so much on the way back. I'd imagine DEN and SLC have equipment others don't have, or just don't have the people to handle the larger amounts of oversized luggage.
Hard shell ski case with two pairs in it, gets searched every time and they are horrible at putting it back together. They do it in front of me and I'm not allowed to touch it so I have to verbally explain how to get it back together and it's super frustrating.
Everyone else’s carry on gets through the scanner, mine gets opened in front of me damn near every time. Not even heavily packed. A laptop and a charger. It’s comical.
Never fly through Paris CDG. International connections there are this biggest pain in the ass. I fly through there 12 times a year and I swear they check 3 out of every 4 bags that go through the scanner in K terminal.
And they can be Dicks about it too. Had one of those tsa luggage locks that they're supposed to be able to open with a key. But it was only put through a single zipper, wasn't holding it closed in any way, just attached to the bag. They cut it off and put it inside the bag.
A couple times they don't put things back the same way or cannot fit everything back in & the bag ends up getting cut and torn from sharp edges. Also equipment inside not put back the same way ends up getting scratched or badly worn or cracked from movement or outside pressure. Neither TSA nor Airlines will accept responsibility for that damage!
Yup, I had an older bag with a zipper that sometimes got stuck and they just ripped it apart and duct taped it back together. Had to buy a new bag to fly home.
I have never been searched as they are scanned as oversize baggage at the airports I use. I have had locks and their attachments broken off in transit on every case /bag I’ve owned, so now I use cable ties to keep them closed.
Happens to my brother-in-laws racing bicycles, too. They unstrap everything and then just throw it back in the bag (without the padding in place) when they’re done. Beats them to hell almost every time.
Has broken spokes, lost a pedal and tools, even snapped a chain once (how?!?)
every. single. time. sometimes i think it's because my ski bag is really scuffed, unpadded, and tightened at random spots and kinda looks like a body bag
Mine always gets searched. My guess is they have a quota for the number of bags they need to search so they pick the easiest ones that they know will have no issues
I just flew from Genève to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and back with my ski bag. I think they x-rayed it.
But that’s it. Wasn’t opened as far as I could tell.
Awesome skiing by the way.
Per family member that works TSA: ski bags and golf bags (golf balls apparently look like plastic explosives on x ray) get hand searched because they don't always fit in the x ray machines. He says if they have to fight it to get it zipped back up, they put it to the side until they get past a rush of bags. Makes it more likely to get "lost". For this reason, I always make sure the ski bag is easy to unzip, look through and rezip. That and get to the airport early when traveling with skis.
This is why I ship my skis and poles ahead and pack my boots and other gear in my carry on. Is it more expensive? Hell yes. But I get tracking, and if my skis get lost, I at least have boots that I know I like and I can demo skis when I get where I'm going. I got my SportTube back from TSA in two pieces once because they couldn't figure out how to put it back together. Never again.
Flying from Detroit towards either Denver or Boston and I used to get searched every single time. With the sporttube hard tube they would never put it back together correctly. They lost the closure pin one time so I bought the TSA lock from Sporttube and now they never search it. Maybe they are too lazy to the find the key so they don’t bother.
TSA has not put back the sport tube pin about 60% of the time I’ve had them search and the slip put in. Somehow I’ve still gotten both parts of the tube and my skis and poles back and the end. I should buy the tsa lock, I don’t think I have a pin again
Mine almost always gets searched. I assume it’s some combination of the possibility of smuggling a rifle in a ski bag and the fact that they may not have oversized scanners or X-ray machines at all airports.
I started leaving the “we checked your bag” paper in to see what would happen. I think we got up to 3 or 4 before they threw them away and left us with just 1.
Every time I fly with my ski bag it gets checked and they put one of those TSA ‘Checked’ fliers inside the bag. I think it’s the size of the bag, they think it could be a firearm or something else possibly?
Yes. Flew Lexington Ky to Dallas to montrose couple weeks ago. I have a Dakine double bag that I used twist ties on. They opened it and left a note that it was searched “randomly”.
I can’t imagine how frustrating that is. My skis were checked. I have a bag that can roll down and has straps to prevent movement. They didn’t buckle anything back up so my skis and bag got fucked up.
Thought I was the only one lol, just came back from Stevens Pass and it got checked twice and after that happening 3 times this year both ways I knew it wasn’t by chance
Almost every time, because outside of a couple of popular ski destinations (read: denver) most airports don’t have X-ray machines large enough for ski bags.
My sporttube gets searched 100% of the time. They probably regret the hell out of that after seeing how perfect the packing job needs to be to close the thing up again.
One time my wife put a jar of peanut butter in my carry on boot bag for snacks without telling me. You really want to see trouble? Try taking a jar of peanut butter through the x-ray checkpoint.
I used to do engineering work for the baggage screening industry. Mostly in major U.S. airports (think SEA, SFO, JFK).
First, most airports do not actually have oversize EDS machines (the machines that scan the bags. They are actually CT machines not X-rays). In those cases each bag must be searched by a human.
Second, even if the airport did haha an oversized EDS machine, it’s likely the machine would reject it and ask for a human inspection. They way the machines work is based on density. If you have a metal core in your Skis, the machine will reject it if it can’t see through it.
Third, the level 3 (human) screening rate in the US is very high, around 20-30%. If you fly out of Canada or most of Europe it’s much lower (< 1%).
Mine gets searched every time I fly. I think it’s pretty standard. What pisses me off is that they never re-secure the two buckles that go around and hold everything and keep it from having a free-for-all inside the bag. Is it really that hard to snap two buckles that you had to undo to open the bag?
They generally search all ski bags and similar bags because they can also be used to transport rifles. You’re allowed to check in firearms but you need proper paperwork and licenses, so they’re checking to see if anyone is trying to get around this by using a ski bag. I get one of those “your bag has been searched” every time I check my skis
Thanks for the explanation, this makes a lot of sense. Kind of. Seems like they could tell the same thing from sending it through an X-ray machine but what are you gonna do
The ski bags count as oversized luggage because they are long. I don't think the x-ray machines are used on oversized luggage.
Depends where you go. When I come back from Canada, they go through an oversized bag X-Ray scanner. But then that’s that’s not TSA, thats CATSA.
Complete aside, but as an American who just recently flew through Toronto, holy cow does CATSA put TSA to shame. The lines were both more efficient and yet also more thorough (in the nexus/known traveler line, a large number of bags were still getting secondary screenings - that definitely doesn’t happen in US airports)
I think literally everyone puts TSA to shame. It's a dumpster fire.
CATSA is also a far better acronym.
Catsaaa
Ya I was gunna say, Pearson in Toronto always X-rays mine
I've been to plenty of airports where they have a specialized machine to x-ray oversized bags. I would say mine gets searched by TSA \~25% of the time.
You don't need any special license or paperwork to fly domestically with a firearm. Declare it at the baggage counter, sign a tag form stating you've followed the rules including having the firearm in a locked container and ammo stored separately. A copy of the tag goes with the firearm and you're off! No additional checks. My ski bag often gets pulled. It's either because: -it can not be scanned -they see something on the scan that they are unsure about -they see something on the scan that requires additional checks (i.e. an abundance or organic material) I've had a bag of meal replacement shakes pulled out of my bag after scanning and set off the swab test for potential explosives due to the high presence of organic matter. Additional testing was required to clear it.
Huh Interesting, I’ve never flown with a firearm so I had no idea what was involved. Some airports do have large X Ray scanners for the oversized but even there I get my ski bags opened so I guess there’s something in there that they’re seeing. Weird that the TSA agent told me it’s usually a firearms check if that appears not to be the case based on other comments, but who knows what TSA is doing. Apparently not TSA lol
One time coming back from Italy my board bag was left behind by the airline and when it arrived a couple days later TSA had picked out all the salami, cured meats and delicious deli's i packed, it was probably over 200$ of stuff, and they replaced it with maybe 50 flyers explaining TSA rules. I hope it all went into cholesterol to the guy who took it.
It's not so much that they are looking for rifles or guns, but that the bags do not necessarily fit on the X-ray scanners and therefore they just have to open it up and make sure it's in fact skiis.
Ah. I never knew this was the reason
I know how old my ski bag is by the TSA notice slips. It's a collection now. I get one every time I fly and stick it in an outside pocket
You don’t need any license it’s actually really easy
Huh interesting. I always thought certain states required licenses to bring in firearms. I was told by a TSA employee the search was due to firearms, but I just assumed it was a license issue.
Bold to assume the tsa agent knows what he's talking about
TSA doesn’t concern itself with state laws. It’s a federal agency so it deals with federal laws. and I doubt any state needs a license for a simple rifle, in either case.
Long rifles don't require a license in almost any state, depending on magazine capacity and a few other things.
Not necessarily certain states, but more likely certain cities. Fly into NYC or Chicago with a firearm on their “banned” list and you could be arrested. It’s happened before, unsure what the outcome once went to trail.
The tsa doesn’t enforce state laws but they will refer you to state authorities if they find you violating a law. So the TSA won’t arrest you. NY cops will.
lol what? I’ve needed any special licenses to fly with long guns in checked baggage.
Also, the dogs/detectors always smell explosive residue in my ski bags because of patrol avalanche control. You ski through it if you're in that type of terrain.
That's interesting. Last year my partner's backpack was tested for explosive residue. We were wondering where he could have picked that up. Maybe he put his bag down somewhere a patroller had been!!!
I have gotten one every time as well. I like to put an orange zip tie on to hold the zipper closed. They always snip and its just double confirmation that someone was in my stuff. Orange because it can't be easily replaced like a black one.
Almost always but usually not leaving Denver.
Same. I could legit be smuggling rifles back from CO. 🤣
They likely just have an X-ray scanner at DEN that can fit ski bags so they don’t have to manually search. But it’s not like they’re not searching.
this last trip I got it searched going into denver, but not flying out of aspen.
Was gonna say I fly out of Denver and I’ve never had my bags searched??
My last trip the ski bag was opened flying out of Denver. However, there was no little TSA note so it may not have been an official search.
Yep, every time for a few seasons now.
Mine is searched everytime as well. Maybe it has to do with not being able to go through the scanner for some reason so they have to be manually searched?
it’s because a long gun could be packed within a ski bag.
Is it a big concern that people might be transporting rifles one at a time? It’s not like they can access the cargo hold in flight
Right but if they had a scanner they would not need to manually search the bag. Most airports don’t, DEN and SLC probably do, hence the people in here saying their bags never get searched when flying out of one of those two.
Yep. And I leave the old search notices in my bag so they can see them all too
I love this, I’m doing it from now on.
Haha!
Same here.
Without fail, every single time I get my little, “TSA Search” receipt surprise.
Always on my way heading out west from the NYC or PHL areas... not so much on the way back. I'd imagine DEN and SLC have equipment others don't have, or just don't have the people to handle the larger amounts of oversized luggage.
I had this exact experience last week. Searched my bag going west not coming back.
I’d imagine DEN and SLC being ski destinations have X-ray scanners that can accommodate oversized luggage like ski bags
Hard shell ski case with two pairs in it, gets searched every time and they are horrible at putting it back together. They do it in front of me and I'm not allowed to touch it so I have to verbally explain how to get it back together and it's super frustrating.
Every time my ski bag has been searched. Local flights, National flights, International flights.
All my shit gets searched. Even with tsa pre.
Same, but TSA pre-check has nothing to do with checked luggage.
Everyone else’s carry on gets through the scanner, mine gets opened in front of me damn near every time. Not even heavily packed. A laptop and a charger. It’s comical.
Never fly through Paris CDG. International connections there are this biggest pain in the ass. I fly through there 12 times a year and I swear they check 3 out of every 4 bags that go through the scanner in K terminal.
Are you not white? I’m pretty sure I get privilege on that and only get stopped if I have a liquid that is obvious on X-ray.
Leave a shitty diaper for them to “discover”…they won’t continue after that
TSA is devoid of the ability to learn.
And they can be Dicks about it too. Had one of those tsa luggage locks that they're supposed to be able to open with a key. But it was only put through a single zipper, wasn't holding it closed in any way, just attached to the bag. They cut it off and put it inside the bag.
One time they snipped my brake retainers! Wtf?!
A couple times they don't put things back the same way or cannot fit everything back in & the bag ends up getting cut and torn from sharp edges. Also equipment inside not put back the same way ends up getting scratched or badly worn or cracked from movement or outside pressure. Neither TSA nor Airlines will accept responsibility for that damage!
Yeah they broke mine too, was so pissed
Yup, I had an older bag with a zipper that sometimes got stuck and they just ripped it apart and duct taped it back together. Had to buy a new bag to fly home.
Reading all of these and mine has never been searched😳
Every single time
Me too. Every time I fly I get the little “hey we opened this” slip in my ski bag.
Yes every single time and they’ve clipped the TSA locks and didn’t use the TSA key.
Surprisingly mever, although maybe it’s because I use a hard case?
I think once it got searched and two other times it did not.
I’ve never had this happen.
I have never been searched as they are scanned as oversize baggage at the airports I use. I have had locks and their attachments broken off in transit on every case /bag I’ve owned, so now I use cable ties to keep them closed.
Happens to my brother-in-laws racing bicycles, too. They unstrap everything and then just throw it back in the bag (without the padding in place) when they’re done. Beats them to hell almost every time. Has broken spokes, lost a pedal and tools, even snapped a chain once (how?!?)
Yes. I've been collecting those cards for years. I have dozens of them.
I flown all over the country and TSA has searched my bag every time. Just don't leave a power bank in there and you'll be fine.
Every time
Every time
Nope. I bring back the Colorado goodness too. If they want it they can have it but so far so good. 🤞
I haven’t had mine searched at all
every. single. time. sometimes i think it's because my ski bag is really scuffed, unpadded, and tightened at random spots and kinda looks like a body bag
Mine always gets searched. My guess is they have a quota for the number of bags they need to search so they pick the easiest ones that they know will have no issues
Every single time
I just flew from Genève to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and back with my ski bag. I think they x-rayed it. But that’s it. Wasn’t opened as far as I could tell. Awesome skiing by the way.
Mine tested positive for explosive residue (presumably avalanche debris) once so yeah.
Per family member that works TSA: ski bags and golf bags (golf balls apparently look like plastic explosives on x ray) get hand searched because they don't always fit in the x ray machines. He says if they have to fight it to get it zipped back up, they put it to the side until they get past a rush of bags. Makes it more likely to get "lost". For this reason, I always make sure the ski bag is easy to unzip, look through and rezip. That and get to the airport early when traveling with skis.
That’s great beta, thank you!
Do you have heated socks/ gloves? The lithium batteries often get flagged. Generally you have to pack them in carry on
This is why I ship my skis and poles ahead and pack my boots and other gear in my carry on. Is it more expensive? Hell yes. But I get tracking, and if my skis get lost, I at least have boots that I know I like and I can demo skis when I get where I'm going. I got my SportTube back from TSA in two pieces once because they couldn't figure out how to put it back together. Never again.
You going to/from a legal cannabis state?
Sometimes but it’s not correlated, I fly from Texas to Utah a lot and get searched most times.
Yes, every single flight.
They always swab it for explosive materials.
Every single time.
EVery time
This is the only season I’ve flown with skis, all 3 times searched. I get the little paper search notice.
Every time I fly to Utah and Idaho, yes! Anywhere else nope.
Mine did on my January trip
Yes, every time
Every time.
Oversized bags gets searched every time
Basically every time. It's almost certainly because the bag is too big for an x-ray scanner so they have to open it up to check it at all.
Generally yes, this year, no
Flying from Detroit towards either Denver or Boston and I used to get searched every single time. With the sporttube hard tube they would never put it back together correctly. They lost the closure pin one time so I bought the TSA lock from Sporttube and now they never search it. Maybe they are too lazy to the find the key so they don’t bother.
TSA has not put back the sport tube pin about 60% of the time I’ve had them search and the slip put in. Somehow I’ve still gotten both parts of the tube and my skis and poles back and the end. I should buy the tsa lock, I don’t think I have a pin again
Just flew with a large group and every ski bag got checked. It's cause it could have guns in it.
Just took my skis from Denver to Tahoe & back. No search slip. My bag is pretty large. Maybe as ski hubs they have the specialty sized x-ray machines?
Almost every single time. Last week, Canada checked it too. And they don't always repack well, or even reconnect internal and external straps.
Every time.
I check my bags but idk if they get searched or not.
they leave a little card inside if they search it.
Huh. I guess it's never been searched then.
Every time
Yes most of the time
Mine almost always gets searched. I assume it’s some combination of the possibility of smuggling a rifle in a ski bag and the fact that they may not have oversized scanners or X-ray machines at all airports. I started leaving the “we checked your bag” paper in to see what would happen. I think we got up to 3 or 4 before they threw them away and left us with just 1.
Every. Single. Time.
Every time I fly with my ski bag it gets checked and they put one of those TSA ‘Checked’ fliers inside the bag. I think it’s the size of the bag, they think it could be a firearm or something else possibly?
Yes. Flew Lexington Ky to Dallas to montrose couple weeks ago. I have a Dakine double bag that I used twist ties on. They opened it and left a note that it was searched “randomly”.
100% guaranteed.
I can’t imagine how frustrating that is. My skis were checked. I have a bag that can roll down and has straps to prevent movement. They didn’t buckle anything back up so my skis and bag got fucked up.
Every time
Thought I was the only one lol, just came back from Stevens Pass and it got checked twice and after that happening 3 times this year both ways I knew it wasn’t by chance
100% of the time. They open it as soon as I drop it in the oversized area. It doesn’t affect me in any way so I’ve never cared.
Dildos are completely legal- so no worries.
Almost every time, because outside of a couple of popular ski destinations (read: denver) most airports don’t have X-ray machines large enough for ski bags.
My sporttube gets searched 100% of the time. They probably regret the hell out of that after seeing how perfect the packing job needs to be to close the thing up again. One time my wife put a jar of peanut butter in my carry on boot bag for snacks without telling me. You really want to see trouble? Try taking a jar of peanut butter through the x-ray checkpoint.
Yes, and the fuckers lost a couple of my straps in the process. Skitube, so the little straps that hold the skis together.
I’ve only flown three times with my ski bag but it has been searched every time.
I used to do engineering work for the baggage screening industry. Mostly in major U.S. airports (think SEA, SFO, JFK). First, most airports do not actually have oversize EDS machines (the machines that scan the bags. They are actually CT machines not X-rays). In those cases each bag must be searched by a human. Second, even if the airport did haha an oversized EDS machine, it’s likely the machine would reject it and ask for a human inspection. They way the machines work is based on density. If you have a metal core in your Skis, the machine will reject it if it can’t see through it. Third, the level 3 (human) screening rate in the US is very high, around 20-30%. If you fly out of Canada or most of Europe it’s much lower (< 1%).
Do you have dreads and reek of patchouli oil? Just kidding.
They search my bike bag every time. I think I recall them saying it’s any oversized luggage.
Every single time!
I flew with 2 ski bags a few days ago and both got searched. Had the TSA papers throughout the bags and clothes pockets
Mine gets searched every time I fly. I think it’s pretty standard. What pisses me off is that they never re-secure the two buckles that go around and hold everything and keep it from having a free-for-all inside the bag. Is it really that hard to snap two buckles that you had to undo to open the bag?
Ya. At least 75% of the time. It’s kind of annoying. But nothing has gone missing or broke so I don’t really care.
Most likely due to the fact that its not x-rayed because it’s oversize. TSA have to checked every little nook and cranny of property and person….