What do you mean I can’t take that on the plane? TSA displays prohibited items found in 2016 at Iowa airports

CEDAR RAPIDS - Aunt Beth is going to love the grenade-shaped lighter you got her for Christmas, but just remember you'll have to put it in your checked luggage at the airport.

Items made to look like grenades, guns - both real and pretend - knives, brass knuckles, box cutters, stun guns, large power tools and even a silver meat tenderizer (hand wash only) were among prohibited items Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials found in the carry-on luggage of people flying at Iowa airports in 2016.

'A big giant knife like this,” Rob Pailthorpe, a TSA security training officer, said as he unsheathed a 9-inch hunting knife. 'Is a prohibited item for carry-on, but it's O.K. for checked bags.”

The TSA highlighted some of the prohibited items at a news conference Tuesday morning at The Eastern Iowa Airport.

The holidays already are a busy time for travel, with about 500 extra passengers per day going through Iowa airports, but when the TSA finds a prohibited item in someone's carry-on it slows the screening process for everyone, said David Dailey, federal security director for Iowa.

Often people try to travel with prohibited items because they forget they have them, Pailthorpe said. It's easy to see how this might happen with pepper spray or a favorite pocket knife. It's a little tougher to imagine overlooking the loaded handgun in your medicine kit.

TSA found 2,800 firearms at security checkpoints in 2016 so far, with three of those seized at The Eastern Iowa Airport.

A .38 caliber Smith and Wesson handgun loaded with five bullets was spotted during an x-ray screening of a passenger's carry-on bag in May in Cedar Rapids. Police were called to the airport, which is standard protocol, and they determined the male passenger had a valid permit to carry the weapon and had no malicious intent.

Firearms are allowed in checked bags, but must be in hard-sided, locked cases and declared to the airline. Likewise, properly-packed ammo, firearm parts and replica guns, including toys, are allowed only in checked bags.

The TSA can issue a passenger who brings a firearm to a security checkpoint a civil penalty of up to $11,000. The average penalty for a loaded firearm is $3,000, and $1,500 if it is unloaded.

The 3.4-ounce liquid limit can thwart people trying to carry on large bottles of liquor or wine, Pailthorpe said. He sees a lot of Amana wine woefully left behind by travelers leaving Eastern Iowa. Wrapped gifts also are a problem because security officials can't see what's inside.

The Eastern Iowa Airport's contraband was tame compared to the TSA's Top 10 most unusual finds for 2016.

The list, posted Friday on the TSA blog, included a replica suicide vest at the Richmond International Airport; 'Negan's bat Lucille,” a barbed-wire wrapped baseball bat used by a villain on the TV show 'The Walking Dead,” at the Hartsfield - Jackson Atlanta International Airport; dead sea horses in brandy bottle at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport; and a movie prop corpse, again, at the Atlanta airport.

Perhaps in Atlanta the problem isn't so much carry ons, it's zombies.

If you have questions about what items are allowed in carry-on bags:

TSA's Twitter account, @AskTSA, is staffed real time and usually responds to tweets within 30 minutes.

The My TSA website, https://apps.tsa.dhs.gov/mytsa/index.aspx, has a 'Can I bring?” tab and also allows you to see security wait times at airports across the country.

l Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com