Some of these things, for me at least, start to get into a gray area of what I listed as the "push things a little" option. Regardless of what's listed as okay or not.

Because with TSA agents, we're dealing with individual human beings who, at least insofar as I have heard, aren't 100% consistent in enforcing the rules at all times and places. I think that it's possible to be "right" and still end up with a delay or even perhaps losing an item that should be acceptable.

So a multi-tool that doesn't have a knife blade nevertheless "looks" like a knife. And for that matter no doubt has hard steel and/or sharp bits. Similarly, I think that a plastic spork is pretty safe, but a metal one might --- *might* --- cause someone to look askance? The problem here is that unless you send out a small army of hikers across the country to do extensive testing and report back, we're left with personal impressions and occasional stories we read or hear about.

It all comes down to how much you want to just confidently sort of "fly underneath the radar" of possible security check options. Since I sometimes fly on a one-way ticket to some (longer distance) hiking trips, I'm inclined to do as little as possible to start to build a list of things that could make me seem worthy of extra attention!
Note also that if you're flying overseas to hike, you have to think about the rules in the country(s) you're flying to as well as those of the U.S.

All that said, a while back, I bought one of these and might fly with it on an upcoming hiking trip (Portuguese Camino). Because a scissors is generally more useful than a knife blade when backpacking anyway, at least for me.
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Brian Lewis
http://postholer.com/brianle