- Joined
- Mar 25, 2008
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- 322
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I frequently fly with my ukulele as carry-on (soprano or tenor). Never a problem (other than being asked to play it by people who obviously don't know about my relatively non-existent skills).
But coming back from Hawaii in November, I was pulled to the side by TSA as we were leaving the Big Island. "Ma'am, we see something in this case that we're curious about; can you step over here?"
They'd run my case through the belt scanner and the Oasis humidifier, set between the strings in the soundhole, appeared suspicious. Okay, I get it--it *is* a gel-based item with liquid but I'd never had it questioned before.
I explained what it was and moved forward to show it to them but I'd forgotten the cardinal TSA inspection rule: the passenger is not permitted to touch the item(s) in question. While the TSA guy was really nice, I had to verbally walk him through carefully removing the Oasis humidifier from between the strings so he could release it from its position to inspect it more carefully.
All went well in this situation (they gave the Oasis humidifier back to me after inspection), but if you don't want to have your ukulele's strings messed with by strangers, my advice is to just remove the humidifier and leave it in checked luggage or in your ZipLoc baggie of under-three-ounce fluid items.
I knew to be alert for carry-on shampoo, toothpaste, etc. but had never thought about my ukulele humidifier before...
But coming back from Hawaii in November, I was pulled to the side by TSA as we were leaving the Big Island. "Ma'am, we see something in this case that we're curious about; can you step over here?"
They'd run my case through the belt scanner and the Oasis humidifier, set between the strings in the soundhole, appeared suspicious. Okay, I get it--it *is* a gel-based item with liquid but I'd never had it questioned before.
I explained what it was and moved forward to show it to them but I'd forgotten the cardinal TSA inspection rule: the passenger is not permitted to touch the item(s) in question. While the TSA guy was really nice, I had to verbally walk him through carefully removing the Oasis humidifier from between the strings so he could release it from its position to inspect it more carefully.
All went well in this situation (they gave the Oasis humidifier back to me after inspection), but if you don't want to have your ukulele's strings messed with by strangers, my advice is to just remove the humidifier and leave it in checked luggage or in your ZipLoc baggie of under-three-ounce fluid items.
I knew to be alert for carry-on shampoo, toothpaste, etc. but had never thought about my ukulele humidifier before...