Flying with steel cap boots

May 20, 2007 5:03 AM

Are steel cap boots allowed on airplanes nowadays?

I'm flying internationally from Australia tomorrow and just realized the boots I wear everywhere have steel toes. Should I wear thongs or sandals on the plane and pack the boots (I'd prefer not to, as it's winter here and since the boots will count a lot in my weight allowance)?

If it's just a matter of removing the boots at the security gate and taking a little more time at checkin, no worries, but if they might possibly be confiscated that's an entirely different matter.

And yes, on the other end I want to have them with me, for work safety reasons.

posted by barnacles to clothing, beauty, & fashion (17 comments total)

I fly with steel toed blundies all the time, with no problems apart from having to take them off at the x-ray machine. Admittedly that's flying around Europe, mostly, but I doubt there's a problem.
posted by DangerIsMyMiddleName at 5:22 AM on May 20, 2007

Mine aren't steel-cap, but have a solid metal shank that always sets off the alarms. You just take off your shoes at security and put them in a tray to be x-rayed. My flights have included Australia and the USA.
posted by -harlequin- at 5:27 AM on May 20, 2007

Confirmed: After contacting TSA (1-866-289-9673) I got the scoop. You are allowed to wear your steel toed shoes. Like DangerIsMyMiddleName says, you will have to take them off at the security check point to have them x-rayed.

More information about the TSA Shoe Screening Policy

More information about Permitted and Prohibited Items
posted by dnthomps at 5:31 AM on May 20, 2007

My husband flies in his steel-toe Docs from Australia to the US all the time. You're pretty much required to take your shoes off everywhere now anyway, so he's never had trouble.
posted by web-goddess at 5:46 AM on May 20, 2007

You all rock, thank you very much!
posted by barnacles at 5:56 AM on May 20, 2007

Strange, I just flew with mine yesterday. They did make me take them off and put them through the scanner.
posted by piper4 at 6:12 AM on May 20, 2007

In the US, everyone has to take their shoes off and put them through x-ray, steel toe or not.

I hate it.

Hate. It.

Hate hate hate it.
posted by The Deej at 7:49 AM on May 20, 2007

Every time I've flown since that idiot shoe-bomb thing, I've been required, along with everyone else in line, to take off my shoes and put them on the X-Ray machine. I've even asked if I can just keep them on, too, since they contain no metal.
posted by odinsdream at 8:02 AM on May 20, 2007

In the US, everyone has to take their shoes off and put them through x-ray, steel toe or not.

Well, that's what happens when someone puts a bomb in their shoe and gets it on the plane.
posted by smackfu at 8:13 AM on May 20, 2007

In the US, everyone has to take their shoes off and put them through x-ray, steel toe or not.

Well, that's what happens when someone puts a bomb in their shoe and gets it on the plane.

And I feel SOOOO much safer!

I flew on Friday and with all the belt and watch removing, and take the laptop out of the case, and put your shoes on the table, I remarked to the lady in front of me that this was turning us all into quick-change artists. Maybe we can get jobs in the circus.
posted by The Deej at 8:39 AM on May 20, 2007

I know this is not what you're asking, but have you given an honest thought to comfort? You're going to be on an n-hour long flight and you are wearing steeltoe workboots? I'm sure you find them comfortable but speaking, as a regular ORD-HKG flyer, wear sneakers and check/carry-on the boots.

Same goes for you the urban cowboys moseying through security in Denver with their cowboy boots and pimped out rode buckles.
posted by nathan_teske at 11:52 AM on May 20, 2007

Well, that's what happens when someone puts a bomb in their shoe and gets it on the plane.

...and someone in a position of authority overr-reacts to the threat and comes up with a purely CYA security non-solution.

Rare Risks Breed Irrational Responses
posted by odinsdream at 12:44 PM on May 20, 2007

its not that rare if its ALREADY been done. We're not talking about some random idea to protect us, we are talking about a proven security leak. I'll take my shoes off everytime.
posted by crewshell at 2:33 PM on May 20, 2007

All passengers are required to show up at the airport 2 hours ahead of time, nude, and with no luggage. Please FedEx your luggage ahead of time to your destination.

Thank you.

-Your Department of Bureaus
posted by The Deej at 2:57 PM on May 20, 2007

While this is not the place for this discussion, I'll shit on the thread anyway. The shoe removal requirement was not in response to Richard Reid's "attempted" shoe bombing. Prior to the supposed London plot (the one that was hardly a plot at all), you just had to tell them that no, you would not be removing your shoes, unless the soles of your shoes were thicker than whatever arbitrary amount they allowed (one inch, two inches, something along those lines). They weren't supposed to give you a secondary screening due to your refusal, but they almost always did anyway, as retaliation for "being difficult." Of course, if they thought that was being difficult, they found out that wasn't the tip of the iceberg.

Of course, now, they have you remove your shoes even when going through the bomb sniffer, which is probably the most retarded thing ever to come out of the TSA.

I don't fly anymore, because I think the TSA has long since jumped the shark, and I'm not going to be subjected to their idiocy. If it was effective idiocy, I probably would just deal with it, but they've gone into never never land and won't come back, because that would require admitting they were being morons in the first place.

Unless the asker is actually flying into the US, he can ignore all this and only consider the idiocy his own country and the country of his destination impose. (and perhaps any intermediate countries in which he will be stopping on the way)
posted by wierdo at 6:29 AM on May 21, 2007

crewshell, you would benefit from actually reading what I linked to, rather than responding only to the title of the article. The definition of rare and its application to this particular situation are addressed therein.
posted by odinsdream at 2:08 PM on May 21, 2007

Well, that's what happens when someone puts a bomb in their shoe and gets it on the plane.

Can't wait until someone brings a good size Semtex suppository on to a plane.

You're going to be on an n-hour long flight and you are wearing steeltoe workboots? I'm sure you find them comfortable but speaking, as a regular ORD-HKG flyer, wear sneakers and check/carry-on the boots.

Personally I find boots of most any sort much more comfortable than any shoe, runner or otherwise, because they provide essential ankle support.
posted by Mitheral at 2:23 PM on May 21, 2007