In 2014, a passenger attempted to pass through Burlington International Airport in Vermont with a giant wooden mallet. TSA confiscated the item for obvious reasons. Maybe next time they’ll put their giant mallet in their carry-on.
Animal cruelty is frowned upon by the TSA. This bag of live eels was confiscated along with hundreds of other marine animals in a traveler's checked bag at the Miami International Airport. Gross.
These two poor birds were found during a patdown at the Los Angeles International Airport. The woman traveling with them was arrested for smuggling and exporting endangered species out of the United States.
Nearly a thousand people were affected by flight delays when security was shut down after finding a live grenade in someone's carry-on bag at Los Angeles International Airport.
One unfortunate passenger tried to bring an assault rifle with three loaded magazines onto his airplane at Dallas Love Field. Little did the person know that the trip to the airport that morning would end up costing a hefty fine. Among other penalties. Only in Texas.
This one doesn’t sound so bad until you realize that they were hidden inside a Scooby Doo birthday card. Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport quickly responded to the situation. And no, greeting cards are not x-ray proof.
In Milwaukee, this knife was found hidden inside the handle of a cane. The novelty item was not taken so lightly by the TSA. If you need the cane in order to walk, we doubt you could weild the knife effectively.
In Honolulu, someone tried to check this IED kit, complete with detonators and active C-4 explosives. The bag was immediately removed from the airport. How do you try to play dumb with THE example of what not to bring to the airport?
A woman in Detroit brought a stun gun disguised as a tube of lipstick through security. Surprisingly, after the item was seized, she was allowed to still board her flight.
Upon closer inspection, these shoes did not contain functioning firearms. They were, obviously, a little too suspicious when passing through security at LaGuardia and raised an alarm. The TSA confiscated the shoes anyway to ensure passenger safety.
You never know when a bear attack is going to happen, so one Phoenix passenger decided to arrive at the airport prepared. Even if the bear repellent didn’t contain toxic material, it exceeds the liquid volume limit.
A Chicago passenger had this in his carry-on bag during one anticipated air journey. I guess he thought he was going to run into some trouble with medieval knights.
No, not the Kingdom Hearts thing. Rather, a pocket knife concealed in what looks like a house key. By the way, this is a good reminder that knives of any size aren't allowed in carry-on luggage or on your person. You'll have to either put it in a checked bag or leave it at home.
Who has these and why? If you're a circus performer, that's one thing. Still, you'd probably know better than to try and get throwing knives into the cabin of a plane. If you buy throwing knives, stars, or giant swords at a mall booth or an anime convention, make arrangements to get them home that don't involve trying to sneak them through an airport x-ray!
The knife itself may be a little pedestrian, but the story behind it isn't. It was tucked inside the cushion of a man's wheelchair in such a way that the wheelchair had to be partially disassembled in order to remove it. He claims that it just fell down in the crevices somehow.
This smoke grenade was yanked out of a checked bag at Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport. Turns out you can't bring grenades on a plane, even in your checked luggage. Who knew? (Answer: Everyone with half a bit of common sense.)
When we first saw this six-bladed throwing star, our immediate thought was, "That's the Glaive, from Krull." But it turns out that the Glaive only has five blades, so we're not sure what this thing is. Needless to say, it shouldn't be on a plane.
We're more than willing to believe that this person is a legit Star Trek fan. This thing sure looks like a bat'leth, except it seems like the blades fold in. This could possibly make it even more useful than Worf's weapon of choice...until it gets confiscated. Then, it's no use to anybody.
So many Batarangs! The TSA has confiscated a ton of them, so many that they've become a running joke on TSA social media pages. It's almost like a museum exhibition about how many different ways a Batarang can look while still being recognizable. Leave the Batarangs in your checked luggage, please!
Someone seems to have put a throwing star into a saw blade. We're not sure why. It seems like it would be easier to just throw a saw blade at somebody, right? They just made it harder to throw. Maybe it's decorative; that would sort of make sense. In any case, what part of this made somebody think they could bring it onto a plane?
We're going to go ahead and hope that this bad boy is a custom job. You know what the crazy thing about this is (aside from the Sanrio paint job)? You can actually carry handguns in your checked luggage, and people feel compelled to keep them on their person anyway. There are certain precautions you need to follow. This person didn't do that.
So, in fairness, this one-shot weapon had already been fired, meaning that there was no longer a projectile in the launcher. But...still. Somebody tried to bring a rocket launcher onto a plane! Well, okay, they call it an "anti-tank weapon" because it can launch many things. But, those “things” are generally rockets.
At JFK in New York, a passenger’s bag was spotted for a random check, but the TSA agent was not prepared for what would be found inside. Two handguns, 350 rounds of ammunition, and 33 pounds of marijuana were found in cat litter and coffee containers.
At the Sonoma County Airport in California, TSA agents found an 8.5-inch knife hidden inside of an enchilada. The passenger claimed it was accidentally stored in there when she was saving her leftovers, but TSA agents still kept her weapon and food. Remember to double check your enchiladas before leaving home.
This may look like your average kindergarten project, but it's actually a lot more. Inside this colorful modeling clay within a desktop tower is a 9mm pistol which was confiscated from a checked bag at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in 2016. Guns are allowed in checked luggage, but it wasn’t declared, meaning the passenger could be arrested and face heavy fines.
Who would have thought there would be a knife hidden in a belt? It was a clever idea, but nothing gets past TSA agents at Detroit Metro Airport. This passenger tried to walk through a checkpoint with this hidden weapon in his carry-on bag. Guess he'll just have to deal with saggy pants from now on.
This is a great idea for anyone that wants to be safe and inconspicuous. That being said, it’s probably a little dumb to try and walk through TSA with one of these. This cellphone stun gun was discovered in some carry-on luggage at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. Naturally, it was promptly confiscated.
A powder horn is a device that holds black powder. It's easy to pour into an old-timey gun and simple to carry. Getting the horn itself across may have been possible, but the black powder? Not so much. It was confiscated at Boise Airport from a checked bag. Black powder is prohibited from checked and carry-on luggage due to its explosive properties.
A mountaineer had a bad time when he tried to carry a homemade avalanche charge through Anchorage International Airport. The FBI quickly responded and arrested the passenger. The item didn't have an actual way to detonate it, but it was still prohibited. To make matters even worse, it was in the passenger's carry-on bag. Yikes.
Flintlock pistols haven’t been used in a long, long, long time, but they’re apparently not extinct. A passenger in Atlanta attempted to walk through TSA with an old-timey flintlock pistol in his carry-on. TSA playfully responded that "blunderbusses, cutlasses, rapiers, pikes, cannons, or any other implements" weren't allowed.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t Jackie Chan who attempted to get these across at the airport. These glow-in-the-dark nunchucks were confiscated at San Antonio International Airport when a passenger had them in their carry-on bag. Not only are they prohibited on a flight, but nunchucks are also illegal in some parts of the country!
Out of all the places a knife can be hidden, a car seat for a child? Welp, we can’t say that TSA agents aren’t thorough. This car seat knife was discovered in at LaGuardia Airport. It’s terrifying to think that it was actually hidden in the cushion of the seat.
This bag of Moose “nuggets” was found in someone's carry-on bag at Juneau International Airport. If this Alaskan souvenir had been checked, there wouldn’t have been any problems. Although why would you want a bag of this anyway?
TSA has pretty strict rules about what you can bring. One thing you can't have is anything resembling a bomb, even if it's fake. The person carrying this thought it was a clever play on words; however, the item was seized for obvious reasons at the Salt Lake City International Airport.
Not only is this a horrible way to treat animals, but this type of seahorse is also on the endangered species list. The dead animals were found in a bottle of liquor—which is also not allowed—at the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. A double whammy of no-gos.
People really will try anything. This snake was discovered inside an external hard drive at the Miami International Airport. The woman responsible was cited by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
It shouldn’t surprise you that chainsaws aren’t allowed in carry-on bags. One traveler at the Albany International Airport was quite shocked when this weapon was seized. TSA was equally shocked that they had to encounter it.
You can’t bring scissors with a blade longer than four inches unless you get them checked. This huge set of ceremonial scissors was found at the Nashville International Airport in a carry-on bag.
No, you’re not dreaming. Someone tried to get Freddy’s hand past TSA in their carry-on bag. The razor glove was found when the passenger was going through the TSA checkpoint at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
You can’t bring explosives on a plane, even if they’re no longer active. This very real (but thankfully inactive) mortar round was found in a checked bag at the Evansville Regional Airport. Explosives like this have to be seized and inspected, incurring fines and even criminal charges on the travelers carrying them.
