I travel with a magnetic chess set just about every week. Never had an issue but then I am PreCheck.
I do not carry an Ultimate but if they search your bag they would easily be able to tell it is a chess set. I seriously would not worry about it.
Oh, and as for the fees, I call BS on the airlines. If a 747 can carry the space shuttle from the left coast to the east then it can carry our overweight bags ... just sayin'.
I have gone through security and they pulled me aside because of my weighted plastic set. I got serached because of it but they let me proceed with the set coming back though no one said a thing about it
Always travel with a chess set. Never had an issue packing it on my carry on which also holds my laptop. I fly Southwest, the only choice I have but has been a great airline and no extra hidden fees. 2 free bags up to 50 #s checked and a carry on which they do not weight. I believe Frontier charges for an extra carry on and for luggage and more money for a larger seat with more leg room. The 737-800 Series that Southwest is using more and more has very good leg room, any seat. A sweet ship.
Thank you gentlemen all good responses and tips. I will check in with the TSA to confirm my belongings and hope they are cleared for the trip. I just hope I don't run into one of these agents that is experiencing an awful day decide to take it out on me with their anger and give me a hard time about the weights in the pieces.. Just saying...
Am I the only one who is shocked that in the "land of the free" you have to worry about whether a chess set will bring government agents down on you? I hope this doesn't get your thread locked for making it political, but this kind of thing scares and angers me. Your concern is legitimate, but it's not something you would have to worry about if you were actually in a "sweet land of liberty".
Thank you gentlemen all good responses and tips. I will check in with the TSA to confirm my belongings and hope they are cleared for the trip. I just hope I don't run into one of these agents that is experiencing an awful day decide to take it out on me with their anger and give me a hard time about the weights in the pieces.. Just saying...
Jorge, I travel for work. There are times when I am gone 5 out of the 4 weeks in a month if you get my drift. In fact, I have been at an airport the last 3 weeks and I am flying/traveling the next 4 straight weeks. I have traveled like that since 1999.
I may have run into 1 - maybe 2 - TSA agents like that. Not saying they do not exist but they are very, very rare.
I've travelled w/ chess set, board and chess clock in my carry on luggage many times and never had a problem in North America or internationally.
Again I thank you all, collectively, for the insightful responses and just hope I don't encounter bad luck with "that one" TSA agent that is rare in his commando style of checkpoint execution and take it to a higher phase of investigation just to get his/her jollies fulfilled. I will counter with saying "the proof is in the X ray" if needed. It may cause my flight to be missed and I'd have to take a later flight but so be it. I'm not letting the agent get the upper hand here and confiscate my set. Hopefully it will not come to this scenario. Thank you kindly I feel better about the process and I have spoken with the TSA and it seems to be fine but as stated there may be one lone agent trying to make a name for themselves as duly noted by a TSA supervisor I spoke to over the phone. My chances for flight clearance are excellent with extremely minimal checkpoint issues or hassles as per the TSA supervisor's response. This is good to know and have peace of mind.
No TSA problems with weighted pieces when I traveled with them. I also carried a chess clock in the chess bag as well. Also never any problems with folding/magnetic chess set in the carry on.
Again I thank you all, collectively, for the insightful responses and just hope I don't encounter bad luck with "that one" TSA agent that is rare in his commando style of checkpoint execution and take it to a higher phase of investigation just to get his/her jollies fulfilled. I will counter with saying "the proof is in the X ray" if needed. It may cause my fight to be missed and I'd have to take a later flight but so be it. I'm not letting the agent get the upper hand here and confiscate my set. Hopefully it will not come to this scenario. Thank you kindly I feel better about the process and I have spoken with the TSA and it seems to be fine but as stated there may be one lone agent trying to make a name for themselves as duly noted by a TSA supervisor I spoke to over the phone. My chances for flight clearance are excellent with extremely minimal checkpoint issues or hassles as per the TSA supervisor's response. This is good to know and have peace of mind.
Don't worry, you'll be fine with TSA. What I'd be more concerned about is "luggage is right at the 50 lb. limit". Airline overweight charges are something to be avoided if at all possible; and unpacking/repacking the checked bags at the ticketing counter is something to be even more avoided if at all possible.
Am I the only one who is shocked that in the "land of the free" you have to worry about whether a chess set will bring government agents down on you? I hope this doesn't get your thread locked for making it political, but this kind of thing scares and angers me. Your concern is legitimate, but it's not something you would have to worry about if you were actually in a "sweet land of liberty".
TSA has made traveling a real pain. I remember the days when I can show up at a small/mid-sized airport just 10 minutes or 30 minutes for a large airport before my flight and board on time. I used to always use a large belt buckle that all I had to do was hold it horizontal to pass thru the metal detector. The first thing I had to get rid of in the era of TSA was that belt buckle! Ticketing and security was so much smoother and faster back then (the only bit of pain is some airports won't let non-ticketed people pass security); ah, our kids will never know how simple and easy air travel used to be.
Ticketing used to be a proverbial pain in the butt. I guess you have to be as old as I am to remember. There were two ways to buy a ticket. You either had to go through a travel agent or go down to the airport to purchase your ticket. Now I go online and buy my ticket in a matter of minutes getting the lowest price available at the time.
Due to the way precautionary safety measures are currently enforced by the TSA I was wondering if anyone had any problems traveling with weighted plastic chess sets? In particular I'm planning to travel with an Ultimate chess set in my personal bag in October for a trip and didn't want to alarm any particular TSA agent from flipping out seeing the steel weights on the bottom on each chess piece thinking this may be a deviant terrorist plot when my bag is screened through the X-Ray machine. I know it's a bit of stretch in thinking but one never knows how the TSA is thinking nowadays. Has anyone ever had a bump in the road of such an instance as this occurring to them in their travels? Please feel free to comment, I really don't want to lose my set in a confiscation move. Thanks for the replies.
P.S. My one and only bag of checked luggage is right at the 50 lb. limit and it wouldn't make sense to put the chess set in there and go over the limit and pay a ridiculous amount for the overweight bag even if it tips over to 51 lbs. because it gets charged with overweight fees (under 50lbs-$25 / 51 to 70lbs.- $100 /71 to 100 lbs.- $200 these are the actual charges for 1 bag with under and overweight charges). You can see why I'd rather carry the chess set with me.