Flying with knives

Just wondering if anyone here has experience flying with their knives. I will be doing a stage in Portland at Le Pigeon next month and am curious what people have found to be the safest and most convenient way to travel on an airline and still bring their tools. Thanks in advance.

Lane

They should be fine in your checked luggage, but I would contact the airline and find out if any special notices/preparations need to be made. People have guns in their checked bags all the time.
I've also known some people ship their knives in advance of their trip.

I fly with knives all the time around the world. Pack them safely in your checked luggage and you should have no problems with the airline or TSA. Thieves are harder to predict but that goes for anything you put in your checked luggage. P.S. I normally start out of Portland.

I'm curious about the same thing. I have to travel for thanksgiving this year, and I plan to pack at least a short gyuto into checked luggage. Are you guys putting a whole knife roll into luggage? Or wrapping knives individually in boxes with bubble wrap?

I've use rolls but usually it is individual knives wrapped in cardboard with duct tape. Just make sure it is nothing they can cut their way out of during rough handling of your luggage.

Make sure any protective packing can be easily replaced by TSA if they unwrap them. I had my case searched and they failed to rewrap any of the knives separately, so they all clattered around in my case. Lost about 10mm from the tip of a Carter and a fair few chips in others. I wasn't best pleased.
I'd get edge protectors/ sayas for each knife, and label them as Sharp and fragile.

I suppose the polite thing to do would also be to ask when you will be the chef at "the pigeon"? It has been a year or so since I was there but it was with Ethan Becker of the Joy of Cooking. We didn't tell anyone there at the time but he gave it a good recommendation.

It sucks.

The TSA will inspect your luggage. I've never had my knives stolen but you do hear horror stories. I'd recommend buying one of the TSA-approved locks at the airport just so less hands will have access to your knives. Otherwise, pack them with sayas or magnetic guards & wrap them well with clothes.

Airlines claim to have insurance on checked luggage (to a certain amount), but when I asked, I was told that I needed receipts.

Good luck, have fun with the stage.

Tsa always inspects my knives in my checked luggage. It does suck

I always fly with knives but only rarely does TSA check them. Not sure what triggers their attention. I've flown out of Thailand, Viet Nam and China with entire suitcases dedicated to kitchen knives and never had a problem. And this was after having to put my luggage through the x-ray in China in front of army troops before they would even let me in the terminal.

Have flown with knives 2 or 3 times internationally (Tokyo to Shanghai 2x, Shanghai to SF 1x) and never had a problem as long as it's checked in and in protective cases. My last trip, I checked in my entire knife collection into one suite case with something like 6-7 knives and didn't have any issues at the China security checkpoints. TSA is totally another beast though.

I flew from San Francisco to Madrid via London (British Airways) this past June with half a dozen Japanese knives in the luggage and there were absolutely no issues in any airport domestic or international... Pack them well in your luggage and there should be no problems