Kilt wearer in Scotland, and airport security

[Liam]

My experience is to pack your sgian dubh in your luggage, put your belt and sporran in your bucket for scanning, wear garters with Velcro fastening, wear a grouse foot kilt pin and turn your kilk 90 deg. and you will cruise through security.
I agree with Jock's comment.... work with airport security for the safety of all... or stay home!
Slainte

[48HofC]

Regardless of national dress, its security that has to be applied across the board. It seems like the gentleman just wants to open a can of worms that really isn't necessary.

[WillowEstate]

Now come on chaps I don't want to overplay this, but the world is not as safe as perhaps it might be. Europe, the UK has recently been a target for terrorists too often, other parts of the rest of the world have been and might be, almost certainly will be, again. That is how it is. So when I or my loved ones are flying at 15000 ft I am comforted by the fact that someone in security is doing their job. One hopes they are anyway and lets face it, their intelligence information is more up to date than ours. Inconvenient it is, but its the price, a small price, we have to pay in the reality of the threat of today. Its no good ignoring it, or, bleating about it.

I agree completely withJock, security is paramount. I used to fly regularly to the USA from London Heathrow; anything metal went into checked luggage and personal metal, such as coins, etc, into the check-in security scanner. I didn't wear a kilt flying but had I done so, the minor inconvenience of adding the sporran an belt to the scanner would have been insignificant and if the buckles had set off the walk through scanner, that's what hand held scanner wands are for. Anything that makes my journey safer is fine by me.

[John_Carrick]

The worst exoerience I had was in Leeds Bradford airport where I was poked where the sun don't shine with a detector. All good tips so far. Don't make an argument with the security guys, forget SG in hand luggage and your kilt pin can go in your spectacle case. 90 degrees does work

[Taskr]

I'm not able to read all of the article content, but the impression is that ol' Jimmy isn't happy he has to remove some items of national dress to get through security? Must have been a slow blog day.
I've flown kilted "often" and haven't been inconvenienced any more than the empty-the-pockets and bin the belt, shoes and any other metal bits of other dress. Indeed, I find removing the sporran easier because everything is in it (don't have a pocketed kilt, Steve ). Velcro garters, which I'm leaning to prefer anyway. I don't wear a SD. The kilt pin (both sword type) has gone into the sporran before the security line and except to answering a question once with "jewelry" its never been flagged otherwise. One foot forward for the wand pass, and a quick pat-down on the buckles is no big deal.

[DyerStraits]

I definitely recommend wearing a kilt for airline travel, or for that matter, rail, automobile, etc., because it is so much more comfortable than trews if one is mostly seated for extended periods, especially in slightly cramped quarters. As with travel wear in general, I like to also keep it simple, versatile and practical, and so my kilt of choice for travel is the utility-type with cargo pockets (and a belt with non-metallic hardware), which, along with a multi-pocketed waist-length travel jacket or vest, eliminates the need for a sporran. Even if you do choose to wear more traditional kilted attire for travel (consider how well the cropped length of a kilt jacket also lends itself to the purpose) the few security-conscious modifications required nowadays are in my opinion small concessions. Improvise, Adapt, Overcome.

[Father Bill]

The fellow in the online article isn't getting a lot of XMarks sympathy now, is he!

[John_Carrick]

The fellow in the online article isn't getting a lot of XMarks sympathy now, is he!

Moaning Minnie would be a popular expression here!

[lschwartz]

The fellow in the online article isn't getting a lot of XMarks sympathy now, is he!

Nope, and he doesn't warrant any either. What he would have to do is nothing more than what any other airline traveler would have to do. And a little forethought on his part, like those of us who do travel know to do, would solve most of the inconvenience.

[tpa]

I've flown kilted many times, sometimes with a pat down others no problem. I have several magnetic kilt pins I've made up which are easy to take off and put in my sporran. Obviously no SG, that would be "plane" stupid, it goes in checked bagage, if at all. I remove belt, sporran, garters and turn kilt 90°. the only delay I've had was when someone nicked my garters out of my sporran at Manchester airport this year on a flight out. The culprit was not found - so much for "security". I was trying to keep my eyes on the box with the laptop, not the one with the sporran. On a previous occasion, my sporran got transferred into another traveller's box, but fortunately was recovered on that occasion.
There is always a risk when delayed by a pat down for whatever reason, that your box and its contents are wide open for anyone to help themselves from with little chance of detection. I've never heard of it happening, but then airports are not likely to be in a hurry to publicise such occurrences.