Passenger insists on taking priceless samurai sword as plane carry-on

Uma Thurman in the film Kill Bill V1 (2003): No weapons can travel in the cabin of a plane, regardless of value. Photo / Supplied, Miramax, Youtube

This man's request to board a plane with his 'priceless' samurai sword as carry-on was not going to fly with TSA agents.

Transport Security officers at Newark Airport were surprised by the passenger's unusual request on when trying to board a plane bound for Sao Paolo.

A spokesperson for the TSA Lisa Farberstein confirmed that they were first alerted to the unusual travel object when the box it was held in came up on X-ray.

"[The passenger] thought he could travel with it as a carry-on item because of its value," Farbstein told USA today.

"Of course, no weapons can travel in the cabin of a plane regardless of value. He ended up bringing it back to his airline counter to transport it as a checked bag/box so it would be placed in the belly of the plane where nobody would have access to it during the flight."

Eventually the man was allowed to travel on with his 'valuable sword' as hold luggage, which only raises more questions than it answers.

Where was he going with this sword? Exactly how valuable was it? Should we warn Bill?

Guy shows up at @EWRairport with this sword. Says he thought he could carry it on past the @TSA checkpoint because of its value. Doesn't matter to TSA how much the weapon is worth. No weapons should be brought in the cabin of a plane. pic.twitter.com/OwAtX5WPqA

— Lisa Farbstein, TSA Spokesperson (@TSA_Northeast) October 7, 2019

Among the stranger objects intercepted at Baltimore Washington International by the TSA over summer were a pair of rocket launchers, in two separate incidents.

On July 29, a demobilised soldier returning from Kuwait to Texas was discovered to be carrying a rocket launcher in his check-in luggage. Although the weapon was not live it was confiscated and destroyed by state fire officials.

Just days later another returning serviceman was found with another spent rocket launcher on a commercial plane. The men were told that military weapons are not allowed as either check-in or carry-on luggage on flights.

Rocket launchers and swords are only some of the strange and dangerous objects confiscated by TSA agents at US airports. According to the agency 390 guns were confiscated at security checkpoints just last month.

The agency's vibrant Instagram page is a record of some of the weirder objects that have caused a stir at security scanners.