cross stitching on the airplane

[nettie]

Tattyted I was going to say the same about the cutters secured in plastic they exploded onto the market after the bans on taking scissors onto planes so that we can still stitch on planes. And as for confiscating a whole project I'd be inclined to make a serious complaint and request the cost of the project back if they refused to return it to me!

[Karirae]

I flew on Virgin Atlantic To England from USA and had no problems. It made a long flight that much more bearable! And I brought a thread cutter not scissors.


Kari

[lacemaker2004]

I've flown lots of times in the us and several years ago to England and always take stitching. I've very upfront, have used the circular cutter, removed any other "tool" that could be suspect from my kit and haven't had any problem. Needles were never an issue for me but I also only take a few.

[frankattleborough]

My experience is that the airport security differs from one to another. We flew from Norwich to Manchester without any problems, although our stitching was in the main luggage. But flying onward from Manchester we found they were very picky, taking items from Sylvia's hand luggage which had travelled with her in her handbag to many destinations over a period of several years. None of the items they took could possibly have been used adversely, and as Sylvia was in a wheelchair she was obviously a terrorist!!!!!

[Pengwenn]

I'm going to be flying US domestic at the end of August and I will be taking some stitching with me. I haven't decided about taking it in my carry on or packing it. The flight will be 3 hours. The flight there will leave at 7:30 in the morning so I will probably sleep through most of that flight. The flight home will be in the afternoon so I might do some then.

[frankattleborough]

I am going to be flying from London Stansted in October to Greece. I have just spoken to the airport who say that whilst I may be able to take a circular cutter with me I will NOT be able to take a needle even though it will obviously be used for stitching.

Still confused, so am I!!

[wendywombat]

better take up macramé then. Don't need a needle for that!!!

[Lessa54]

That's odd about the different flying regimes. I've taken my cross stitch on flights many times and never had a problem. I always take a pair of nail-clippers instead of scissors, but no-one has ever suggested the needle is a problem. I've stitched on BA, Luxair, Air France, Gulf Air and SpiceJet with no difficulties.

It might be airports being very cautious on queries where they don't know the size of needle we're talking about. I know for example that knitting needles aren't permitted on planes, but then they're quite large

[Red]

I just flew to the US from the Netherlands in April and June and on both flights, I stitched.

I've never had a problem with stitching on an airline and I've flown Delta, Northwest, United and US Airways for US ones. I've also flown KLM quite often and never had anyone say anything. I flew to Mumbia, India on KLM and stitched most of the way...

I had my scissors taken away by security but I'd forgotten that I had them in my purse at the time (I'm used to having a small kit in my purse for unexpected waits)...

I've taken a DMC thread cutter plus a thread cutter on a highlighter (from a mag) and never had any problems with these and securities.

Good luck! The worst that they would do is take your needle away. They would never confiscate your kit or materia. I'd just put it in my carry-on and see how it goes. You can also just take a plastic blunt needle if you want. They make those now as well.

[kimkat_tkl]

They would never confiscate your kit or material.

I've actually had the whole kit confiscated off me when flying domestically in Australia. It wasn't a problem with the airport security just the company I was flying with - I got it back at the end of the flight but I was rather annoyed as I didn't have anything else to do on the 2 hour flight.