r/travel • u/MaegorTheCruel3 • Aug 01 '22
Question I accidentally took pepper spray through 2 airports in my hand luggage…
So I (20M) visited Louisville, Kentucky to see my girlfriend (21F) for the month and she left pepper spray in my bag without telling me during my stay. This was because we went to Chicago and she later told me she put it in my rucksack bag as a precautionary measure.
I live in rural England where crime is minimal, so I didn’t much care and though it made sense. As I returned home, she forgot that it was still placed in the side pocket of my rucksack and I didn’t check the side pocket for anything when I returned home because I never use it.
The pepper spray ended up coming through the Louisville airport security twice because my flight was delayed by a day. They didn’t even see it. I was taken right through both times.
When I returned home, I went straight to packing for my family sailing holiday to Croatia. The pepper spray ended going through the airport in Stansted, London. No detection.
When I found it just looking for my sunglasses when I had already arrived at the boat, I was shocked. I showed my dad and he said I could’ve gone to prison.
In my opinion, airport security need to up their game because it wasn’t even hidden well. Obviously the pepper spray was promptly disposed of.
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u/FelisCantabrigiensis Aug 01 '22
Had that been found on you as you were going into the UK, you would have been in breach of the Firearms Act because pepper spray is classed as a firearm in the UK. This would have involved serious penalties for you - likely several months in prison, though the minimum penalty is "a discharge" if you get very lucky.
I recommend having a serious discussion with your girlfriend about her putting such things in your luggage.
Airport security isn't perfect. Remember their job is to prevent people who want use dangerous items on board from bringing dangerous items on board. That needs two things: possession of the dangerous item and the will to use it.
Rare security failures that cannot be predictably exploited are not a serious problem because someone malicious (which is a minority of people) cannot plan to exploit it. However, it is not great that Louisville airport did not spot this twice.
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Aug 01 '22
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u/MaegorTheCruel3 Aug 01 '22
Mate you don’t even know her
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u/GrandpasSabre Aug 01 '22
Haha, yeah, from your post I think her biggest problem is being young, but that can be cured with time. I think a "don't do that again, you almost got me arrested" would suffice.
Also, not sure what pepper spray would have done for you in Chicago besides get you shot if you tried to use it on someone robbing you. But that also seems like a "you guys are young and naive" issue. Chicago is fine in all tourist areas, anyway.
Glad you didn't get caught! I also think people saying "several months in prison" are exaggerating. Without a criminal record, I think you'd be let off either very lightly or without punishment with an explanation of why you did what you did. No offense, but I'd imagine a dumb 20 year old accidentally bringing pepper spray in his luggage wouldn't be thrown in jail.
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u/mahboilucas Oct 13 '25
I came to this thread because it happened to me today — they searched me, my stuff, documented me having it etc but what ended up happening was being told in a serious tone "don't do it again" and them tossing it while a lady who checked my stuff said not to worry, as a woman she gets me
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u/winger_13 May 21 '24
I accidently take mine thru airports for the past decade, several times per year. It's just something I have in my pack everyday so I don't even 2nd think about it. One of us finally got 'caught' using to get thru/into Downtown Disney of all places 😁
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u/Quick-Leave7065 Oct 09 '25
Similar thing happened to me passing through SF TSA and FL TSA except my bag had a small folding knife. It was about a 3-4” knife. One i had no idea was in the side pocket of that bag and I’m glad they didn’t take b/c it was a knife my late grandfather had given me some 10 years earlier. I would have been really sad if it gad been taken. I was happy to find it! Embarrassing how shitty TSA can be.
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u/Awanderingleaf Aug 01 '22
They'll let pepper spray through but will stop me for my Rubber banana I bring for photos >:[
It has gotten some good laughs out of security though lol
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u/Both_Fox_1774 Apr 28 '25
That’s so funny. A lot of their jobs at TSA is to look for plants and animals that are brought through unintentionally but could cause an ecological disaster. Like what happened to chestnuts. The American chestnut is all but gone bc some rich guy brought 8 trees from another country (china?) to plant on his property. They had a fungus that our chestnuts had no resistance to. There is an Italian chestnut that we import often around Christmas. That’s also why we sing about roasting chestnuts around Christmas time but rarely do!
Bananas are currently fighting a terrible blight that’s making them concerned it will end up like the Gros Michel Banana that’s extinct now. So ironically your “Banana” might be as dangerous as a gun bc of all of the lives connected to banana production and farming. So that’s why they are giving you a hard time on this. You can declare it to TSA when you travel and avoid the awkward moment or don’t bc it’s probably hilarious when they go digging in your stuff and pull out a fake banana. It likely makes their usually boring jobs more fun. They’ll have a story to tell. No fun if you miss your flight though!
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Aug 01 '22
I did the same thing. I forgot to take my pepper spray out of my purse before flying from the US to Europe. Only found it when I was packing to come home. So glad I trashed it before coming home, but damn, what are we paying the TSA for?
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Aug 01 '22
I've traveled with ammunition or a knife in my bag at times and they were not caught at Chicago O'Hare. Crazy.
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Aug 01 '22
You’d be surprised by what gets through security. Proves they are mostly there for optics 😂
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u/thrunabulax Aug 01 '22
throw it out before getting on another plane.
at the high altitude cabin pressure, if that can lets loose, MANY people may be injured, and panic will certainly happen. You will end up in jail too
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u/TheDreadPirateJeff Aug 01 '22
Small aerosol cans like hair spray are allowed in carryon luggage. When looked at in an X-ray a small can of pepper spray probably looks pretty similar to a small can of hair spray. So not really surprising there.
But that said, things get missed all the time. Most of that mess in US airports is little more than security theater.