Taking fire poi on planes ? please help...

hi all,

i live in luxemburg but studied in britain for the last 4 years and going to study in britain next year too. just got some fire poi a few weeks ago and i was wondering if anyone has taken theirs on a plane before and whether there were any problems ?
i know that a mate was not allowed to take his oil lamp on a plane before because it had been used...

gonna be in britain for the first 2 weeks of august with my girlfriend and i really wanna come to falmouth. It would be pretty annoying if i had to leave my fire poi here or get them taken away trying to bring them...

otherwise, if there is any chance of getting some cathedral wicks from someone in falmouth (would pay off course!) that would be even better as i only have a pair of 2.5inch tube core heads.

any help is appreciated and i hope to meet some of you soon in Falmouth

Tom

I took my staff to tazzie and back. First time they let me do it just with a material cover, on the way back they put it in a special plastic bag and let me take it back. Just wrap them up GOOD AND PROPER with material, plastic bags, duct tape the thing up so its nice and air tight and impenetrable :P. And don't put it in your on-plane luggage if you have another suitcase.

- Klaymen

ok thanks a lot for the info, will try and pack it to the point that noone should even realise they are there

I've flown with fire poi at least 20 or 30 times. the last time was the only time they confiscated them out of my luggage after check in. of course it was the only time I didn't remove the chains and handles too, since I was in big hurry when I packed and was getting a bit complacent about flying with my wicks).

I've traveled to and from England/Europe three times this year, and each time, I placed my poi in a zip lock bag, and placed them in my checked baggage. I had no trouble.

I've never had trouble flying in/out of the states with mine.
I usually put a photo in with them, and a description of what they are. Just so if my baggage gets searched when I'm not there, there shouldn't be too much confusion over what they are.

On behalf of my dumbass self.

Triple check that you're not carrying anything on that you don't want to be. Check everything in question in your checked luggage.

Turns out they get cranky in New York City when you try on the plane with a knife in your bag. I can't imagine why?

I've flown nationally and internationally and never had any trouble with any fire toys as long as they were checked in my luggage. I took everything apart (poi wicks and such) so that it looked less like a weapon and more like random hardware... plus if they'd have issue with my wicks or something I'd still have my chains and straps.

But like I said, as long as you check them in your luggage I've never had a problem.

A while ago a friend of mine was flying with fire poi, practice poi, fire staff, fire clubs, juggling knives, juggling balls, and fire juggling balls.

They took his ordinary juggling balls off him (incase anything was packed inside them). He was gutted.
They didn't even question any of the other stuff though...

thanks for all the feedback =) will try to pack em nicely and hope for the best

hmmm,
I let my poi dry outside for 3 weeks to remove any lampoil (-smell), then packed them in plastic and stuffed them in my big rucksack before flying from europe to mexico. and I took a newly made, unburned firestaff with me, because i was trying it to be carry-on. (didn't work).
both got shipped alright in the cargo bay though.

eric.

I've flown with my burnt fire poi a few times now with no problems, I got a plastic box that seals well enough to keep food in, they went into the box and the box went into my hold luggage.
I haven't even bothered drying them out before packing them and I've had no problems whatsoever so far.

Well timed question and advice thanks, I am about to take mine on a plane in a few weeks and I had not even considered that it could be a problem, so thanks for bringing that up. I'm rubbish with planes most of my travelling gets done by way of boat which has the advantage of not having to get your luggage checked. Last time I went on a plane (shortly after 9/11) they nabbed my umbrella.... no great loss there, but i might cry if i lose my fire poi...

Don't think mine come apart all that easily though so I might go with Mand's idea of including a description

Yeh when I went to Italy I put them in my hold luggage. First I burnt the parafin off and didn't re-dip them (it's not good for the wicks but otherwise they'd smell like fuel) and then I took them apart and wrapped them up in various ways. I put a label on the box saying something like "Maori performance toy, please handle with care" in both English and Italian. Everything was fine :-D I'm taking them around Europe with me nxt week! Good luck!

Caz x

Never had problems flying with poi.

If asked I have simply explained purpose and shown that they, of course, were safely wrapped in a non-flammable blanket.

Chr

Super timing!!! Im off to south africa tomorrow evening and was worried i would have to reluctantly leave my fire poi behind! Woo Hoo!!!! I'm so excited!!!!



xx tatty xx

I flew with my staff a few days after a burn and it reaked of kerosene but i just threw it in an old tent bag zipper it up and checked it in the baggage claim no questions asked

I took my fire poi to barcelona from Birmingham and it went through the scanner in my hand lugggage just fine

lol why yoo so funny maan!

I can't believe you guys have had so much luck in getting stuff from country to country, Flying from Alice springs to Canberra one of my friends had EVERYTHING taken off him, fire sticks, fire poi, the lot. he hadn't used them for a month to get rid of the smell and then he had wrapped them WELL but no luck. Maybe they were just cranky stupid airport people.
best of luck anyway!

Eveish