Sabers on a Plane

[Cern]

Have any of you had any issues taking sabers on an airplane? Worried that the TSA will put me in a small room for several hours when they see metal pipes in my luggage.

Also worried because of the Lithium Ion batteries, I know they cant be shipped via air, but having one or two AA sized batteries shouldn't cause too much issue> right?

[ls-event]

Should be as acceptable as carrying on a phone; has similar parts but with far less functionality. It's a noisey flashlight.

[jbkuma]

I posted some notes based on my experiences here:
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showthread.php?20659-Traveling-with-your-saber

I strongly recommend smiling to the TSA agent and saying something like "I guess you found my lightsaber, it's really just a glorified flashlight" They are going to want to look at it anyway. Make it easy, be friendly, keep it in your carry-on and make it easy to get to. Do not make stupid jokes about potential threats or immigration. They aren't funny even when you don't have a suspicious object in your bag.

[Cern]

Ugh...the part about taking it apart makes me nauseated. My cram fu was not the best when i built this.

What about mailing the saber down?

[jbkuma]

You shouldn't have to take it apart. They might swab it, but they are probably not even going to let you touch it until they hand it back.

[rlobrecht]

What about mailing the saber down?

You can mail lithium ion batteries, but you need to tell the USPS agent when mailing it. You'll need a kill key, to prevent it from activating in the package. Full details available online (http://pe.usps.gov/text/pub52/pub52c3_027.htm#ep900090). They are generally not allowed in UPS or FedEx air shipments.