Travel with bike parts... Do as I say not as i did
Aug 11, 2022 3:37:12 GMT 1
nick68, buck1963, and 3 more like this
Post by JonW on Aug 11, 2022 3:37:12 GMT 1
Ahh the humble 1UA cylinder... Recognisable to all of us on this forum I would think.
A great piece of kit that could get you in trouble with the law when you were 18... Er... and also in your 50s. But perhaps not how you might think...
Ok, silly prose aside this is a cautionary tale for those who travel the world and use their holidays to further their bike hobby by buying parts abroad.
So what am I on about?
Short version:
That humble 1UA cylinder has allowed me to gain first hand experience on two continents about how potential security threats are detected and dealt with by customs and boarder security.
Longer version:
On Sunday I flew back home from holiday. I came home with parts I’d bought over the last 4 years. I didn’t quite have the 67kgs Steve estimated in another thread, but I had a fair few parts that I needed for my projects and unobtainium here. Many of which were supplied by folks on this forum, including a 1UA cylinder. Nothing that you hear here has anything to do with the seller, my trials and tribulations were purely of my own doing.
This nub of this tale all starts before I set of home of course. When packing my bag I decided for two reasons to put the 1UA cylinder in my carry on.
1, its heavy and compact so Id make use of some of the 7kgs allowed in the small hand luggage size
2, its pretty delicate and if you snap something off a cylinder its useless.
In the same bag I had a bunch of my valuables and stuff you don’t want to be parted from... and 2 pumps from Gary – actually, those pumps come under both of those other categories lol My wife had an F2 loom in her bag as I wanted to help avoid a checked bag being opened when x-rayed as I know customs don’t like wiring looms, Ive carried them before and they often get a mention. Ive carried a lot of things in the hold and by hand on planes and mostly its the TSA in the USA who are the worst and tend to damage your bags and not relock them or repack with any care of attention and things get damaged. They are very very slap dash with other peoples property and IME lack respect. Anyway no TSA involved in this story...
I rocked up to the airport's security screening just before 6am after a delightful 3 hours sleep and a very early morning taxi ride. Stepped through the metal detector with no beeps and saw my bag was being pushed to the side after x ray, but that’s no biggie as im used to that as I tend to have all sorts of weird things in my carry on. Im motioned to stand at a window and the guy next to me who was also waiting to speak to security smiled the all knowing smile of those who tend to have to have these discussions and told me he had a set of mini bagpipes in his bag and they always fox the machines. We laugh... The resigned laugh of those who’ve been here before and know it’ll be ok, just got to have ‘the chat’ etc.
My security guy motions me over and shows me the x ray picture. There is a red line around a large black lump at the bottom of my bag. He asks me to unlock the bag and proceeds to take all my stuff out. Finds the cylinder and pulls it out of the bag and bubble wrap and looks at it very quizzically, holding it like its from mars.
He’s no idea what he's looking at (a recurring theme im going to find, does no one rebuild engines anymore? lol). Obviously that item was his target. He swabs the bag and the cylinder and wanders off. Comes back and tells me to wait as his supervisor needs to talk to me. I wait - Spoiler: I'll do a lot of this in this story. That guy eventually comes over and says I need to answer a bunch of questions but first I need a full pat down from a huge guy who looks very fierce. They take my passport and boarding card off me.
The pat down is the most intense pat down you’ve ever had, it went everywhere. Im told to take shoes off and they go in an Xray. My feet and legs are patted down while I sit with the shoes off. Im swabbed on hands and waistband and the guy takes it to the machine. The supervisor asks me a lot of questions that seem unrelated but I can sense the cross checking and him looking for real or fake stories.
Ive obviously no rehearsed answers and don’t know some of the info or its complicated to answer. Things like: Where did you stay on holiday? Where do you live? What taxi co did you use to get to the airport? How old is this bag? Where do you keep it normally? When do you use it and what for? What is this thing we found in your bag? What is your job? How long? Who are your family? Where do they live? Do you need anything? Do you feel ok? Are you on anything? Why are you carrying this item? What is it again? Etc etc etc
I am told to wait. Another more senior guy wants to talk to me. Next to me a young girl’s bag is swabbed and shes in tears as it has traces of drugs on it. She tearfully calls family while her travelling companions shout at the customs people that its unfair. Shes <16. Shes crying that shes not going on holiday and cant understand why this is happening. I sit calmly. Im not going to shout at anyone. Why would I? These people are doing their job and keeping us safe and have a crap time doing it. No one needs that. Keep it light, being an arse will just get you into trouble.
The girl is let go, its considered that the drugs could have just been transferred onto her bag at some time in the past. The supervisor checks im ok and I ask for some water. An hour+ has passed, I cant leave the area. I had hoped to grab breakfast and a drink when I got through customs. When he brings me a cup of water I apologise and say im sorry for the hassle and ask if this will be ok? He smiles and says he thinks so but the boss needs to decide.
The boss comes. They look through my bag and stuff and read the answers and talk. Do another set of swabs. I’ve seen a lot of swabs done on my bag and the cylinder at this point. The bag im not worried about but I didn’t clean the cylinder and I remember that airlines don’t like grease, oil or fuel residue and can refuse the item to fly. Why didn’t I remember that when I was packing. It is pretty clean tho, its not oily when handled etc. Parts have to be clean so I made sure it was ok etc.
I also recall when sitting there that stuff put in a checked bag is more leniently graded and this in the checked bag probably wouldn’t have batted anyone’s eye. Why on earth did I bring this cylinder hand luggage I ask myself. My wife it appears has been asking herself that for over an hour. Hmm...
The boss man looks at me across the room. A lot. They talk. A lot. People come and go, they all pick up the cylinder and look at me and the other stuff and the bag. They do more swabs. I realise that I can hear the beeps the machine makes from where I am... Its the bad kind every time my swabs are done.
After a lot of discussion the supervisor comes and tells me I can collect my stuff and go. I ask him what was this all about? His answer floors me. Apparently very few people who don’t make bombs get reads on the swabs for more than one bomb making chemical. They got two hits off my bag and one of the cylinder!
It would appear they liked my answers and the fact no hits were found on the swabs of me. He also tells me some cleaning chemicals can give reads that look to the machine like these chemicals. He suggests its best to be safe than sorry and we part on good terms with a smile. I pack my bag and we make it to the gate in time. Lucky we arrived early. No breakfast, but on our way...
Just over 6 hours later I arrive in my stop off/transfer country. I have to go through 2 x-rays here, one as you go through Transfer and one at the gate itself. I know this as I was here a month back. But maybe the machines wont notice the cylinder? Maybe...
I step though metal detector and while I await my bag coming through I watch the screen... No surprise when there is a red outline on the screen freeze on the system around the cylinder and my bag is hauled off the conveyor. It all starts again...
This time im in a country where I don’t speak the language and around me is chaos. I wont bore you with the blow by blow but the short story is that in the next hour I speak to close on 25 different staff and show my passport and boarding pass to a lot of people and its eventually removed from me, returned and removed again a few times. I don’t get a pat down or have to answer the special bunch of random questions, but every single person asks ‘what is this?’. Apparently none of them have ever seen a 1UA cylinder... Meh.
I’m swabbed a few times, as is the bag and the cylinder. The results are.... {drumroll} Negative! Eh? Yep... No hits. Weird. Im not complaining tho. This is why there are no formal interview questions or paperwork this time I guess.
There are a lot of calls made and an airline representative arrives to ‘help’.
In the end they agree the cylinder can travel but they say there are two problems:
1, There is another X-ray to go through at the gate. I’ll have to have this discussion all over again and it may not go as well or be quick and I could miss the flight. They cant help me with that at all. Cant/wont write a note or let them know im coming etc.
2, Its said that where I’m travelling to is very restrictive on what can enter so this causes a problem.
They suggest to fix these I check in the cylinder and it ride in the hold.
I agree with them that the first one is a huge issue, but the 2nd one is weird. I know this cylinder can go into where I live, I know our rules. What can come in is also surely not the responsibility of security in another country, that’s about travelling on a plane and being in an airport... ok it covers my arrival airport but these should all be the same as its all the same international land and well, if its safe for a plane... Local security is the domain of the guys in country on entry and if this item can travel in the hold then it seems its ok to be on a plane physically, then why cant I hand carry it? Shrugs all round lol.
The security guys tell me to pack it in my carry on bag and remove the things I wont put in a hold. They tell me the airline will provide a Tote bag for those things. They say they will put fragile stickers on the bag ‘no problem’.
I have no real protective wrapping with me and not much I want to send with the cylinder into the hold. I settle for wrapping the cylinder in its simple jiffy bag with my hoodie around the outside before stuffing it in the bag with a quiet prayer for good measure.
The airline guys come and provide a massive thick clear plastic bag with an RFID tag and a checked baggage label. I have to sign that if they break it then its not their fault. Great.
There is no tote bag available, one of them goes to a duty free shop and gets me a normal plastic bag. There is no Fragile sticker, just blank looks.
At this point I assume that the bag will be taken off me and I’ll be set free into the airport. Nope.
They call another security guy who gets his orders. He picks up the bag and walks me and my wife to the gate. Its a long way and he must be some kind of athlete as he moves at a vast pace. We struggle along behind him and I try to make idle chat. He seems like a nice guy. In fact all the (many) people in security and the airline were super nice and just wanted to be helpful and make sure we got the flight. They even went off to find flight info at various times to keep us appraised.
We reach the gate and there is a huge queue to get to X ray. Our guy doesn’t have time for that. He walks right up, jams our stuff on the belt and forces it through as quickly as possible. I can see/hear the seething of the long line of my fellow travellers. An A380 carries a lot of people... 530 seats I just read online. The flight is full I was told later... I believe it.
The cylinder is flagged and he tells the guy on the machine its ok and grabs the bag off him. We gather the rest of our stuff and he goes straight to the front of the next queue which is to get into the gate area (they check passport and boarding passes) and he hands our documents to the staff there. More daggers hit my back as the queue wonders who or what we are (or have done!) and what is going on.
(not my bag obvs lol)
Of course the lady on the gate cant just make stuff happen, its out of process etc. I ask, without any real hope, if she has a Fragile label? She goes into a cupboard and hands me one small label. I assume they must come out of her wages.
After much discussion for her with our security who needs her name and info to complete his report we are let into the gate... With the bag!
We are told to hold onto it and someone will come and get it. I wont profess to know a lot about airport security but this seems weird. I have a bag and they have papers proclaiming I have a ‘prohibited item’ but am allowed to hold it lol. Obviously everyone concerned knows what i have not really an issue but ‘rules is rules’.
After about 30mins a lady comes and asks is the bag is meant to go in the hold? Er yes... She takes it. 5 mins later boarding is started. We shuffle on and ‘enjoy’ our final 14hr flight of almost 24hours of air side travel+transit.
On landing we zip through passport control as its a quiet time and hit the baggage reclaim area to find the cylinder is one of the first things off. No surprise there, its was one of the last things on. We wait for the rest of the luggage. There are >500 seats on an A380 and they are using 2 carousels. Bags collected, we head through customs without issue.
Finally home I check the bag which looks fine and giving it a once over the cylinder has survived. My hoodie less so... It has 5 holes where the head studs have worn through the material on the back. Its pretty central and looks like some kind of weird offset ventilation, maybe it’ll catch on and be the next thing in hoodie design... I could make a fortune. Copyright!
So...the lesson here is probably obvious, but don’t hand carry old bike parts in your hand luggage. Smaller stuff is ok, but not a cylinder. I should have known this... I’ll blame the lack of travelling recently... Ahh yes, I can blame Covid-19 like everyone else seems to do! Result!
Ok, jokes aside, I really don’t advise spending so much time with airport security. They get to decide your fate, not just if you make your flight but also where you spend the next years of your life. Plus, I can assure you that starring in an episode of Boarder Security yourself is a lot less fun than seeing it on the telly. Plus this is all a huge time soak, in all I wasted 3 hours on this and could have missed my flights as security comes before travel and they do not hurry for anyone.
Final thought: Don’t make life hard for yourself. Pack wisely!
Oh... One final-final thing, when looking for pics to illustrate all these words I came across this. Slightly different but its surprising how things escalate.
www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-15002766
Note: all pics from the web. I don’t think anyone would look kindly on you taking photos of airport security.
and worth it? 
Crankcases next trip........
