(Rant alert.)
So, I finally found a few minutes to call Alitalia to check whether I could bring my knitting with me on my flight to Italy next month. One guess what the answer is…
NO!
Can somebody tell me how 5-inch bamboo sticks on either end of a plastic cord can possibly be any more dangerous than a pencil? Please? Because I don’t get it.
18 hours of flight time, and probably at least 4-6 hours of waiting-in-the-airport time WITH NO KNITTING. This might very well kill me.
Yes, I know I could read a book, or do crossword puzzles, or watch the in-flight movies. But I want to knit. Maybe I’ll just bring a couple of pencils and a ball of yarn to knit a scarf…when you read about the crazy lady who held up an international flight because she was knitting with pencils, that’ll be me.
(Has anyone managed to bring knitting – bamboo or plastic needles, of course – on Alitalia? Are they just saying no to knitting needles because of those horrid 14-inch metal straight ones?)
I read about a lady who successfully disguised her knitting needles as hair ornaments. You could give it a try. Oh dear I wish I were going to Italy!!
just put them in your carry-on bag — make sure there is nothing metal in there!!! — and keep quiet about it. they won’t show up on the xray so unless they have to search you for some other reason you’ll be in like flynn. and obviously don’t pull them outuntil you’ve reached cruising altitude.
Isn’t that ridiculous!
I went to Italy by RyanAir, and they didn’t allow it either….. but my trip took only 3 hours.
I just can’t get into my head how something as sharp as a pencil is looked upon as a weapon!
I mean, you’re allowed to take pencils…..
Even plastic needles are out of the question, and I think they would probably break if you tried to use them as a weapon.
I can come up with dozens of things that can be used as a wepon if they REALLY want to make life hard for passengers……
Alitalia will let you take a crochet, though, so one solution would be to buy a teach yourself crochet book and take it on the plane along with a (plastic or wooden to be on the safe side) crochet and some yarn and learn during the trip.
Good luck!
Laurie