lt56ny said:
I think you will never know especially because of the inconsistency that you encounter with the security people everywhere. I never check my pack because I fear it may be lost. I have put my poles in a box and checked them and if they are there when I arrive they are there. If not no worries.
Now I buy a cheap pocket knife and cheap poles when I arrive. I have bought 5 euro pocket knives and 25 euro poles and they have been more than adequate for my caminos.
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It's true that so much depends on the airport and the people on guard. Your mention of pocket knives reminds me of checking in at the Pamplona airport and realizing that I had forgotten that my small Swiss Army knife was in my pants pocket. In the past, I had forfeited one or two such knives in North American airports, and i wasn’t at all happy at the prospect of losing another, but it was too late to put it in my backpack, which was already checked through to Madrid and on to London. The gate agent advised me to speak with security officers and pointed me in their direction. I could see two officers in the security office, but couldn’t get their attention from the public area, so I walked past the “No entry beyond this point” sign and into their “Security personnel only” cubicle. I held out the knife and in my poor Spanish asked if it would okay to take it on board. To my surprise, one of them picked up the knife, opened the dinky blade and pretended to saw his partner’s head off! Uproarious laughter all around. Needless to say, I walked onto the plane with the handy little knife in my pocket, and I still have it today.
It's true that so much depends on the airport and the people on guard. Your mention of pocket knives reminds me of checking in at the Pamplona airport and realizing that I had forgotten that my small Swiss Army knife was in my pants pocket. In the past, I had forfeited one or two such knives in North American airports, and i wasn’t at all happy at the prospect of losing another, but it was too late to put it in my backpack, which was already checked through to Madrid and on to London. The gate agent advised me to speak with security officers and pointed me in their direction. I could see two officers in the security office, but couldn’t get their attention from the public area, so I walked past the “No entry beyond this point” sign and into their “Security personnel only” cubicle. I held out the knife and in my poor Spanish asked if it would okay to take it on board. To my surprise, one of them picked up the knife, opened the dinky blade and pretended to saw his partner’s head off! Uproarious laughter all around. Needless to say, I walked onto the plane with the handy little knife in my pocket, and I still have it today.