WASHINGTON, D.C. — Newark Liberty International Airport and LaGuardia Airport each made it into the Transportation Security Administration’s list of Top 10 List of most unusual items found at checkpoints in 2018. TSA released the list in an on-line video it posted on Twitter.
What were the two items from the New York area that made the list? Read on . . .
A traveler who was passing through a TSA security checkpoint at LaGuardia Airport on July 6, 2018, was traveling with a child in a baby carrier. The carrier went through the checkpoint X-ray scanner where TSA officers discovered a sharp kitchen carving knife artfully concealed in the lining of the baby carrier. It could be that the baby took it from the kitchen drawer and folded it up into the bottom of the baby carrier. Or it could be that an adult did it. Your guess is as good as ours. All that TSA knows is that sharp kitchen carving knives have no place in the cabin of an airplane. That’s quite a no-no.
A month later at Newark Liberty International Airport, TSA officers detected two hand grenades in a checked bag on August 20, 2018. The grenades were “dressed” for a formal event, in tuxedos and were accompanied by a large set of instructions to not pack them for a flight. But alas, this traveler ignored the instructions provided by the manufacturer and it resulted in the grenades being confiscated. They were actually inert grenade-like novelty bottle openers. 
You may think that it doesn’t matter if novelty grenades are brought onto an airplane in a checked bag, but for starters, bringing them with you will trigger an alarm in the checked baggage room, resulting in the bag being opened. If brought to a checkpoint, it will delay not only you, but the others in line and your traveling companions. Even more important is that if someone displays them on an aircraft, the crew and other passengers could think that they are live grenades and cause a panic on a plane. Or, in an another scenario, someone could pretend they are real in an attempt to make a threat aboard an aircraft. Don’t be that guy. Ship these sorts of items to your destination, don’t pack them in a checked or carry-on bag.
For more information on what you can and cannot bring on an airplane, visit www.tsa.gov.