Does the TSA freak out about individual serving size gels or cliff shot blocks? I’d hate to lose my stash of food going down to Florida but given that I’m going via O’Hare to get there I could put an M16 in my bag and have a 60% chance of getting it on the plane.
I’ve never had a problem with the bloks, I don’t know that I’ve carried on and gels recently. The packs of bloks just look like candy, and the TSA guys are probably ordered to never try to separate an american from his or her candy.
I’m leaving for the airport to head to Florida in about 10 minutes!
-C
Put them in your checked bag. Shouldn’t be a problem.
Yeah, I know that but I was hoping to avoid checking a bag if I could. If not, I’ll suck it up and check a bag. Probably better to spend a little extra time in the airport then have to scramble around finding new stuff.
I didn’t have problems with gels, but I did with sunscreen and my chamois butt’r. Fine on the way out to LA this summer (from DSM) but the folks at LAX did not like it on my way home.
Seems like the smart thing to do would be just pack a bag to check.
As an attorney with TSA, I’d suggest you put your gels and blocks in a checked a bag. In practice, I understand that there is some inconsistency among airorts and screeners about whether some items should be considered liquids or gels. It is possible that you could luck out with the blocks, but I wouldn’t risk it.
I can’t tell you how many bottles of water I’ve had to leave at the checkpoint. I even had to abandon my bike tool last March b/c I packed in a hurry and accidently left it in my carry-on. That was really embarassing.
Rand - not to hijack the thread, but a question about tools in your carryon. I was coming home from IMC and had three small individual Allen wrenches confiscated at security.
I did not read anything in the banned items list about Allen wrenches. Did TSA think I was going to take apart the plane, one Allen bolt at a time?
*** Did TSA think…***
They’re not paid to think.
Good thing, they’re not very good at it. 
No problem with gels. Put them in your quart bag. If they have problems with it…have a copy of this with you.
http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/prohibited/permitted-prohibited-items.shtm
Gel based sports supplements Yes - 3 oz. or smaller container Yes
Now…I shipped my Infinit via UPS because it may have been hard to explain baggies filled with white powder!
I hope I don’t get into trouble for this. When were you travelling? From shortly after 9/11 to December 2005 all tools were prohibited. I can’t speak to this policy as it was implemented before I started working for TSA. However, we changed it in Dec 2005 to allow small tools (7" or less) and scissors.
http://www.tsa.dhs.gov/travelers/airtravel/prohibited/permitted-prohibited-items.shtm#6
Unless your allen wrenches were longer than 7", which I highly doubt, I don’t believe they should have been prohibited. I’m sorry if they took your allen wrenches mistakenly. You might want to consider filing a claim - http://www.tsa.dhs.gov/travelers/customer/claims/index.shtm
I know the security proceedures can be frustrating and sometimes seem even silly in their application. The fact is, making changes that seem to be obvious good ideas from a security and a customer service perspective can often be very difficult thing to do with the current climate.
If he’s taking toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner or any other toiletries he might not be able to fit all of his gels and blocks in a 1 qt bag.
It was IMC 2005 so August 2005. Thanks for the feedback.
I maybe over thinking this a bit, but now that someone else brought up shipping powder, can I expect any trouble if I have a container full of Carbo-Pro in checked luggage?