#48. Bilgeman:
Similar thing happened to a former co-worker of mine, except instead of a lighter, it was live lobsters.
We was flying from New England to somewhere out west and bringing a pair of Maine lobsters for friends who used to live in the east and missed the delicacy. The seafood place packed them up for shipping in a container specifically made for carry-on. First flight out of BOS went fine. Trouble occurred when they went to transfer in the midwest. TSA agent insisted the box be opened before they could board the connecting flight. My co-worker explained they were live lobs specially packed for flight and to open the box would ruin the packing. TSA insisted. Once the box was open and the contents were confirmed to be live lobsters, the TSA agent claimed they could not be brought aboard the plane and had to be abandoned at the airport. My co-worker told him they would be abandoned over his dead body, then insisted on seeing the highest TSA supervisor in the airport. The agent tried to insist my co-worker had to do as told or he would be arrested. Co-worker said, “Arrest me, then take me to your supervisor. You aren’t getting free $50 lobsters.”
Long story short, though he ALMOST missed his connection, a few minutes he was cleared to board his flight WITH his lobsters.
Sorry, a little off topic, but still a common sense thing considering the packaging was specifically for carry-on to flights.
