I fly a lot for work, typically one to two trips internationally and around 50+ domestic flights a year. Plenty of people fly more, of course, but for me that’s a lot.
One of my preps is a Leatherman Style PS (
https://www.leatherman.com/retired-products.html, scroll down) which is TSA-safe and highly valuable. It’s rare that I go anywhere on a plane and don’t use it.
The TSA at some airports seem to not care about it, and others care very deeply. I clip it to a carabiner on my laptop backpack at the checkpoint — this enables TSA to examine it if they wish without digging around in my bag. I think the worst delay I’ve had for it in the USA was five minutes. Once, a Mexican airport security guard put it in his pocket with glee — I figured it was worth the $40 to get out of Mexico without further hassle and didn’t worry about it.
It’s imperfect — it’s prone to corrosion in my pocket and the scissors spring seems to break easily. But it’s WAY better than not having it.
Leatherman has discontinued it. It’s still available for twice or more the original price, but it’s hard for me to want to spend that much on a spare.
What I want more than anything is a small pair of pliers that folds up onto a keyring. The small scissors, bottle opener, and other tools are nice to haves. The competing Gerber Dime Travel also seems to have been discontinued.
Is there anything in that size class that’s TSA safe and has at least a pair of pliers that I should look at?
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