Reasonable people are very knife

The return flight from my recent trip to Kansas City was a bit of an adventure, made a bit more exciting by the fact that I'm an idiot. Explanation follows.

I have a plastic box that I keep in my pipe case. It has some of the accessories and tools I use most frequently when tinkering with my pipes and is a convenient size for traveling. The most essential tool in the box is a utility knife; a good sharp knife is a must for any pipe maintenance kit. There is a slight problem when traveling by air because a) pipes are ALWAYS carryon luggage and b) TSA people don't like sharp things.

The flight out to Kansas City was fine; I packed my plastic box in my suitcase and transferred it to my pipe case after arriving in KC. The excitement starts when genius me forgets to put the plastic box in my suitcase for the return trip.

During the inspection of my pipe case, they found the plastic box. This wouldn't have been a big issue if it had not contained the aforementioned knife, but it did so it was. The TSA guy had a great idea though, and told me this after he checked with his supervisor: go back out of security, open the handle and throw the blade away, then bring the empty handle back through security.

Brilliant! I get to keep the handle (replacement blades are cheap) and leave with greatly improved my opinion of the TSA. A good day for everyone.