Airtravel with Shinaii & Bokken

[Sinta]

Just wondering, does anyone here have experience travelling on the plane and taking their shinaii&bokken with them? I'm travelling to England this Easter and would like to take my own equipment with me. My luggage doesn't have space for the 2 shinaiis and a bokken, so I'll be placing them in their own bags and checking them in, if I can't take them on board with me.

Do you think there'll be problems with this? Will anyone stop me at customs when I get out? Do i have to declare what i've got?

Thanks for any advice :)

[Paburo]

if your stay in england is temporary i suggest you carry only the necessary.

i would carry only keikogi+hakama, men, kote and zekken. at the dojo you'll train at they'll probably supply you with the rest as a guest.
ask the sensei of the dojo where you'll be training if they can lend you the rest of the bogu+weapons for a while.

if you are planning to stay for long, then i suggest you pack well your bag of weapons and tag it visibly.
i'm almost sure they won't let you take that stuff as hand lugagge on board.

but if you send it with the rest of your bags i don't think they'll charge you extra either as long as you don't exceed the max total lugagge weight.

[smith]

I travel a lot with dogu and don't have any problems. They definitely won't let you take shinai/bokken on board, but in a secure shinai bag checked in with other baggage is fine. They can even put a nice fragile tag on them. Usually they will ask at check-in what they are, and I just say bamboo swords for martial arts, which goes over fine. You get in more trouble if you accidentally have shinai scraping tools or pocket knives in your carry-on luggage.

[JSchmidt]

Travelling with shinai bag is fine, although often you have to check it in as 'outsized' luggage.
Only time where I've had to declare it, was when arriving in New Zealand, as you have to declare any plant products, including bamboo. (They just took a look at my shinais and waved me through)

Jakob

[aru-ma]

hey batman, I mean JSchmidt, do you declare your shinai & bokken as weapon or plant product? last time I got confused and declared it as both , the immigration officer was giving me weird looks about it.

[mingshi]

Old thread on Transporting Bogu (http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=497)

Recent air travel experience told me that shinai bag has to be checked in as "oversized luggage". Reason being those long items can get stuck in the normal conveyor belt.

Bogu bag is also fine. Last time I had it with 18kg of books, and it was transported safely as checked-in lugguage. Just secure it with some luggage belts.

When you pretend you know nothing about luggage weight limit, the kind officer at the check-in counter will just let you through. Even with 3 pieces of lugguage.

It also depends on individual airport, so you gotta check. Incidentally 3 months ago I had a brief stopover at the Zurich airport. I covered my shinai with some bubble-wraps/clothes and tucked them in my shinai bag. It was snowing, so when I picked up that canvas shinai bag in London, mud was on it and everything was soooooooo wet!!!

When I pass through the custom (probably those were odd hours), the officers weren't even there! I just walked straight out. That's what they called airport security huh?

Note: this is based on personal experience only. If you get caught bringing dangerous items... don't blame me!!!

[JSchmidt]

"the immigration officer was giving me weird looks about it."

I think they recieve special training in giving weird looks.:D

(No, just as plant product.)

Jakob

[KhawMengLee]

Yeah, the First Class check in at Singapore Airport is ace! They took my shinai bag and wrapped it in bubble wrap(you know the wrapping you loved to pop as a kid).

Usually I carry my carbon shinai or none at all if I go to Australia on a short trip...usually I just get waved through as soon as the officer see's the shinai but I have to wait about 15 minutes in line to get there...waste of time.

[Sinta]

Thanks for the all the tips guys ^_^ They're very helpful. I'll try and check it in as "oversized" luggage. I just hope I don't get into trouble when I arrive in Manchester airport.

I doubt I'll bring my bogu along -_- too heavy to carry and I'll just be there for around two weeks.

Again, thanks ^_^ Great to have a forum with experienced Kendokas to fall back onto when you're just a beginner :)

[GMason]

Sinta,

I have had no problems at Manchester. I just wrapped it in Bubble wrap told the lady when I checked in what they where and she just sent me to another counter to check the shinai in.

Coming into Manchester I had a a couple more Shinai and a Naginata. Which as you could probably guess got me a couple of funny looks but that was it. No one stopped me and I just walked straight through.

It must have been my honest face :D

[Sinta]

Originally posted by GMason
...It must have been my honest face :D

LOL, well if its judged by that I'll have trouble ^_^ I can't keep a straight face and if you wanna talk about suspicious looks, I got a face with guilty written all over it.

So if you're ever at Manchester Airport on the first Saturday of April and see someone doing a runner, dragging what looks like a shinaii behind, you know that's me ^_^ (j/k)

[Hyaku]

No problems I through customs at least ten times a year.

Hyaku

[Raiza]

Here's a link to the US Transportation Security Administration in case you're curious about what can go on a plane, at least in the US.

http://www.tsa.dot.gov/public/display?theme=12&content=13

No, you may not bring your sword as carry on luggage. :p

In Canada I've actually been stopped and had a small manicure set confiscated, and it ain't on the list, so there's a bit of inconsistency out there. The important thing for travel through the US is inadvertent bringing of prohibited items is prosecutable, so be careful.

[J. Schitt]

Originally posted by KhawMengLee
Yeah, the First Class check in at Singapore Airport is ace! They took my shinai bag and wrapped it in bubble wrap(you know the wrapping you loved to pop as a kid).

Usually I carry my carbon shinai or none at all if I go to Australia on a short trip...usually I just get waved through as soon as the officer see's the shinai but I have to wait about 15 minutes in line to get there...waste of time.

Do us all a favor and stay in KL, big noter - first class!

[nollaig]

every time I travel thru a UK airport I'm stopped and my bags are taken apart.

But this time I got them back!!

Usual array of questions
Did you pack your bag etc etc etc
when they opened my rucksack (its massive 120litrejob)
a female customs office stuck her head into the bag to see what was in there. Only to be greeted by a still soaking wet and stinking kendogi!!!!!
they ordered me to get out of there as fast as they could!!!!!