K&Cs in your carry-on (4 Viewers)

[Alex]

Hi all!

I'll go to California next week and I'm planning to visit one of the local dealers and buy some K&Cs. Now, I will carry those in my handbag in the plane on my trip back to Canada.. I was wondering if you ever had any problems in doing so or if I have to put those in my suitcase in the luggage room inside the plane ?

Thank you and have a good day !

Alex

 

[binder001]

An amusing note (well not so amusing to my wife!) - I went to Charleston, SC for a meeting and bought a set of K&C. The TSA kept re-Xray-ing my bag and finally talked to me and said there was something they couldn't identify. It turned out to be a lying machine gunner on a base. See from below in xray it was a strange outline. We opened he bag and I showed them the set. Ironically, it was SF04 - the Marines in the War on Terror!

Gary

 

[Capitolron]

I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you take your Toy Soldiers with you on the plane ! You have no idea what happens to bags in a AIRPORT LUGGAGE SECTION

 

[Molloy]

I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you take your Toy Soldiers with you on the plane ! You have no idea what happens to bags in a AIRPORT LUGGAGE SECTION

I'd definitely second that advice! I've only ever brought K&C purchases on a plane once, but I made sure to bring them as part of myself and my girlfriend's hand luggage - the thought of them being flung in and out of the baggage hold below was too much to bear!

The security guards at the airport did search through the hand luggage mind you - as with Gary, there were some predictably suspicious looking outlines showing up on the screen I suppose. No problems at all though once they opened up the boxes and had a quick squint!

Cheers,

Molloy.

 

[Spitfrnd]

I would think the hand luggage route is the best but you can expect to have it trigger a hand luggage search. It would be best to do what you can to make the packages easier and safer for inspection.

 

[Alex]

Thank you for your answers.. I'll definitively put them in my handbag... think I'm gonna put all my personal stuff in my wife's handbag and fill mine with as much K&C soldiers as I can buy ))


Cheers,


Alex

 

[Njja]

Don't worry about it, I always carry on all my treasures. I have seen a few confused agents but was only asked to open my bag once years ago, when I brought back a small fleet of Neptune waterline ships from Paris.

No problem!

Njja

 

[kilted vampire]

Hi all!

I'll go to California next week and I'm planning to visit one of the local dealers and buy some K&Cs. Now, I will carry those in my handbag in the plane on my trip back to Canada.. I was wondering if you ever had any problems in doing so or if I have to put those in my suitcase in the luggage room inside the plane ?

Thank you and have a good day !

Alex

Where in California will you be going?

 

[Alex]

Hi Kilted,

We'll visit San Francisco, the Napa Valley and of course we'll go to Sierra Toy Soldiers in Los Gatos !!

Alex

 

[kilted vampire]

Hi Kilted,

We'll visit San Francisco, the Napa Valley and of course we'll go to Sierra Toy Soldiers in Los Gatos !!

Alex

Let us know when you do! I love to meet Treefroggers! They taste like chicken

 

[Capitolron]

Better bring a cross and some wooden stakes !

 

[Saber]

That is funny, but not surprising. Every time I travel I get pulled out to go through the "special" security check. Never mind I come from a military family and am a veteren myself, I'm the guy you want on the plane. This last trip I made sure my K & C boxes were easily visible in my carry on bags.
Too many memories of those old samsonite commercials with the gorillas throwing luggage around to trust my toy soldier to the airlines.

 

[Harrytheheid]

Speaking for myself, I always cram as many TS into my carry-on luggage as I possibly can in an attempt to minimize the overweight charges on my hold luggage. So far, touch wood, I've never been stopped by security when catching my Hong Kong to Dalian flights and never onc by customs at the Dalian end.
You can be certain sure though that I'd be stopped and severely interogated for hours by the UK "Security Busybodies" if I had even one TS in my carry-on for a UK to Hong Kong flight. In December, I was "interviewed" by these Oxygen Thiefs for around an hour simply cos I had 6 zippo lighters (which I also collect) in my hold luggage. Brand new, still in the box, no flints installed and never had a sniff of lighter fluid near them.
And while I'm on my soapbox, what's with this, "Take your laptop out of it's bag before you put it through the x-ray machine Sir", nonesense..??

Cheers
H

 

[redhugh]

I purposeful avoid UK transfers when I can, the European airports are a lot more chilled , as well as the Asian airports, US airports are great except when you get tagged for extra security, but you can forgive that when you don't have to go through the 'carry-on weight checking feldgendarmes, Melbourne and Paris are in my experience the worst for that. Big coat is good for stuffing 10 or 20 KG's in extra on the long haul flights

 

[Beaufighter]

"H":

First off, in response to the original question & having worked in this industry for a long time-NEVER check Toy Soldiers in your baggage...NEVER...NEVER...NEVER! Carry on only. Besides, most TSA employees like looking at them anyway as that has been my experience.

That being said-and back to the Heid's story...imagine me in uniform in Philadelphia going through security to operate a flight. Thirty-five minutes later I am in a "special" area with five individuals, a supervisor & a super supervisor if you know what I mean. Apparently I was trying to smuggle a cork screw in my crew bag. Of course, when I was confronted with this dilemma I had visions of being on the cover of USA Today so I simply stated over & over: "Let me be perfectly clear-I do not have a cork screw in my possession. Please feel free to do your job as necessary." I had to repeat this four more times as the situation escalated to where they were screening every single item in my bag. Please remember that I was in uniform & working that morning-yes, the flight was delayed too! The end result-please visualize the spring coil in my company provided "crew" flashlight-the same flashlight that every crew member carries day & night at all times. That infamous coil was the "corkscrew." No apology was given of course but their heads were pointing South. Victory was theirs though as they did take my allen key hex tool that adjust the bolts on my bag though as it was a "tool." All I wanted to say was-"you guys are the tools!" That being said, there are cool TSA employees-the ones that like looking at the Toy Soldiers! By the way, corporate flying is much nicer. I do not miss the airlines at all.

Hang Tough,
Beaufighter

 

[Harrytheheid]

"H":

First off, in response to the original question & having worked in this industry for a long time-NEVER check Toy Soldiers in your baggage...NEVER...NEVER...NEVER! Carry on only.

Unfortunately my fine flying friend , I have no choice . I wasn't joking when I said on some other thread that I had to buy a new and expensive suitcase in order to get my latest acquisitions home to Dalian from Hong Kong recently.

(i) That included cramming as much into my carry-on as possible.

(ii) If I didn't have a TS order and one for a few DVD's "Go Missing In The Post", then I'd have been carrying even more - and in turn been hit even more for overweight luggage.

Obviously I have major professional and personal reasons, but these are some of the additional (minor) reasons why I can hardly wait for my reassignment to my company's operations in China to come through. I can have International TS orders sent straight to our office in Tanguu (The city where I intend relocating to), and then it'll be a simple taxi ride home when/if the parcels turn up.

Happy days shall be here again (hopefully)...

Cheers
H

 

[Beaufighter]

"H":

Agreed-your case is special. I hope you get the transfer you are looking for! I am sure you have become a packing professional by now. I used to carry an extra huge duffel bag in my hard shell suitcase when I went to the UK in search of aircraft items. For my return, most of the clothes, etc. went in the duffle and I then used the suitcase for the found treasure so to speak. I used some extra clothing as a buffer & bought a bunch of packing peanuts turning the suitcase into one large packing container. Fun times indeed!

All The Best,
Beaufighter

 

[Harrytheheid]

"H":

Agreed-your case is special. I hope you get the transfer you are looking for! I am sure you have become a packing professional by now. I used to carry an extra huge duffel bag in my hard shell suitcase when I went to the UK in search of aircraft items. For my return, most of the clothes, etc. went in the duffle and I then used the suitcase for the found treasure so to speak. I used some extra clothing as a buffer & bought a bunch of packing peanuts turning the suitcase into one large packing container. Fun times indeed!

All The Best,
Beaufighter

Thanks Mate.
Honestly, I've seen me throwing clothes away just to make room for boxes of TS's in my hold luggage..... Bob Neville stored a piece of my luggage for about 6 months in Hong Kong cos I couldn't afford the extra overweight luggage charges on it at the time. Trust me, the socks that were in there walked out on their own by the time I eventually got that bag home...., and Missus Heid then flatly refused to chase them all over our apartment and round them up for a much needed marathon session in the washing machine...!!!

I've been promised the transfer to our China operations will come through before the end of this year, just as soon as my boss finds a replacement for me in Thailand (can’t happen soon enough). I've been asking barmen, waitresses, receptionists, and even bathroom cleaners in this hotel if they fancy a job working offshore in Thailand....
No takers so far....!!!

Cheers
H

 

[Steven Chong]

At the West Coaster, I asked Peter Wang of Figarti (no relation to Rick) how he got a 1/30 scale Figarti E-boat with diorama base from Shanghai to Los Angeles since it was not shipped. It was packed in a coffin sized box that was 84" (that's 7 FEET) by 26" by 26". He told me he carried it onto the flight as CARRYON luggage , left it in the first class cabin storage area, then proceeded to his economy class seat. You have to love how accomodating Shanghai airport security and the Chinese Flag airlines are.

 

[Alex]

A little update :

My carry on was filled with many boxes (4 soldiers in each) of K&C. The TSA asked me "are these metal army soldiers ?" while looking at his screen for 30 seconds... Then I replied yes and he was just then trying to show one of the pose of one of the lying DDay figure I had bought ! The guy was just smilling at me and just said go ! hehehe no problem for me ! Was a wonderful trip and I must say thanks to Mike from Sierra Toy Soldiers. The guy is very fun to talk with and knows his stuff.. Very nice store indeed !

Have a good day

Alex