An extra cautionary tale to be sure of what you're carrying came up this weekend when a co-worker's son, a U.S. soldier, checked in (with a cat) for a trip to see his wife and son in Germany. He forgot that he had a knife for cutting fishing line in his wallet. He was ready to have it confiscated, but they wouldn't let him board the plane and they wouldn't book him on another flight, even with his military ID. The ticket could be refunded but only to his wife who bought the ticket in Germany. His mother found the travel agent she knows closed, Internet sites she knows from my advice in the past didn't allow short-notice booking (maybe I could have helped if she'd contacted me this time), so she called the airlines and got him a flight the next day for $1600. When he checked in this time, they were ready to deny boarding to the cat for not having its vaccination certificate translated into German; people behind him in line said they could translate it and it was deemed o.k.

Andrew Missouri