Kilt wearer in Scotland, and airport security

[John_Carrick]

Hi John,

I've not had the experience of going through Int'l but Belfast City has been good to me in the past. Lovely wee airport, if that can be said about airports.

Jonathan

City Airport is Ok. It has busy times but not so you have to arrive unusually early.

[Iowish]

Urban myth, I suspect. Sad that you would further it on this forum, Iowish.

ThistleDown

Sad to say, the subject of what goes on under the kilt was brought up earlier by another poster. The David Duchovney posting exhibit was visual, while my posting was not accompanied by any visuals at all. You could have chosen to go on with out reading the post

Sad to say, it is NOT an urban myth. I knew the certain Scottish lord. He was a man of a certain repute. He liked telling the story himself. Had he not had an artificial leg, he could have gone through the security scanner like anyone else. However, going through the scanner would require him to remove the artificial leg. Taking it off and reattaching it would take quite a bit of time, so he went through manual scan. (I wear braces on both legs and I know how long it takes to get them one compared to putting on a normal pair of shoes and leg braces are nothing compared to an entire prosthetic leg!)

That certain Scottish lord died a few years ago while attending a highland games in Florida. He was to have been the honored guest while ours was the honored clan. I was unable to attend those games, but I'm quite certain that the mood was a bit somber in the clan booth.

[FossilHunter]

ThistleDown

Sad to say, the subject of what goes on under the kilt was brought up earlier by another poster. The David Duchovney posting exhibit was visual, while my posting was not accompanied by any visuals at all. You could have chosen to go on with out reading the post

Sad to say, it is NOT an urban myth. I knew the certain Scottish lord. He was a man of a certain repute. He liked telling the story himself. Had he not had an artificial leg, he could have gone through the security scanner like anyone else. However, going through the scanner would require him to remove the artificial leg. Taking it off and reattaching it would take quite a bit of time, so he went through manual scan. (I wear braces on both legs and I know how long it takes to get them one compared to putting on a normal pair of shoes and leg braces are nothing compared to an entire prosthetic leg!)

That certain Scottish lord died a few years ago while attending a highland games in Florida. He was to have been the honored guest while ours was the honored clan. I was unable to attend those games, but I'm quite certain that the mood was a bit somber in the clan booth.

I looked him up. He seems to have been a pretty cool guy and quite the character.

[Iowish]

I looked him up. He seems to have been a pretty cool guy and quite the character.

Yes, very much a character! A very unique character!

[OC Richard]

I just read over this thread again because I will be faced with this issue this June.

I will be attending the Ohio (Wellington) Highland Games. I want to be kilted. The cheap flight I purchased doesn't allow carryon luggage. I don't want to be without my Highland outfit if my checked suitcase is misplaced or delayed.

Therefore for the first time in my 40 years of kiltwearing I'll wear my Highland outfit on the flight.

Nor do I want to check my pipes. I'm only allowed a 9x10x17 inch "personal item" and my pipes will have to be in it. Happily my pipes aren't ornate silver-mounted heirlooms worth thousands of dollars, but a beat-up plain-Jane set from the 1940s. No worries if they get knocked about some.

In reading over this thread the things that come up over and over are kilt pins, belts, and sginean none of which I wear anyway.

I'm going to see if I can find plastic buckles the right size for my kilt straps. If so I'll swap them out. Thus there will be no metal on my outfit except the sporran and the shoe eyelets.

[jthk]

Honestly, I wouldn't bother. I've travelled through American and European airports kilted without a bother. Sure, the detector picks up the straps but most detectors will pick up any movement of the rear pleats anyway and they'll have to "wand" you regardless. A couple of extra seconds of special TSA attention but I've never had a problem.

Guluck,
Jonathan

I'm going to see if I can find plastic buckles the right size for my kilt straps. If so I'll swap them out. Thus there will be no metal on my outfit except the sporran and the shoe eyelets.

[Iowish]

As much as airlines charge for luggage these days, some people ship their luggage UPS to the motel, hotel, resort where they will be staying. It has been known to happen that when they check in, their luggage is waiting for them in their room. My son and DIL did that with their luggage when they went on their last vacation. They said that it saved them a lot of money. In addition, their hands were free and they had nothing to look after.

[kingandrew]

I have yet to fly kilted, but I did recently have an interesting experience traveling between Hong Kong and mainland China in my kilt. My situation was not unlike C Richard's upcoming flight, since it was easier to wear the kilt than to pack and carry it

I had worn the kilt to school in honor of Robert Burns's birthday and would be wearing it on Saturday night in HK for a Burns Supper event. Since we went straight from school to the train station, I had no time to change.

Of course, I received a large number of curious looks and comments (not to mention compliments) in Huizhou South Railway Station. The border security and inspections for HK-Mainland travel are just as rigorous as you're likely to experience at any airport. This is even more true of the new high-speed rail service that was recently introduced (which I was traveling on. But I passed through the security, customs, and passport checks with no problem.

On the way back from Hong Kong, there was one moment where a woman security officer wanted me to take off my sporran and run it through the X-ray machine. I did not object and was about to remove my sporran strap, when a male officer waved me through with just a visual check of the bag's contents (wallet, keys, hanky, passport, tickets).

Generally, the Hong Kong staff seemed to be pretty familiar with kilts, while the mainland side are much less familiar.

I did not wear a belt, kilt pin, or sgian dubh on the trip.

Andrew

[Geoff Withnell]

By and large, I have found that flying kilted is not significantly more of an issue than flying bifurcated. It's not as if the TSA is unfamiliar with skirts and other non-bifurcated clothing. I would of course avoid sgians in your carry on stuff, and kilt pins, especially sword shaped ones. Minimizing the amount of metal on your person is always a good idea no matter how dressed. I have an artificial hip, so I am not going to make it through the metal detector in any case, but I have found that a quiet, polite and cooperative attitude will get you through fairly easily, 99% of the time.

[tripleblessed]

By and large, I have found that flying kilted is not significantly more of an issue than flying bifurcated. It's not as if the TSA is unfamiliar with skirts and other non-bifurcated clothing. I would of course avoid sgians in your carry on stuff, and kilt pins, especially sword shaped ones. Minimizing the amount of metal on your person is always a good idea no matter how dressed. I have an artificial hip, so I am not going to make it through the metal detector in any case, but I have found that a quiet, polite and cooperative attitude will get you through fairly easily, 99% of the time.

I have three bolts in my left hip. I'm usually OK, but every once in a while I set off an alarm. Always minimize metal,
always be polite. I often mention the pins as I'm approaching the detector, and apologize if I set it off. It's calmer.