Travel

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No Joke: What You Can and Can’t Take On a Plane May Surprise You

Just in time for April Fools’ Day…. TSA’s fine print of what you can take and not onboard an airplane may give you a chuckle.

MrConsumer was planning a trip to Washington, DC and intended to take a jar of peanut butter in his carry-on luggage as a snack at the hotel. Since he had not flown in a while, he decided to check the TSA website to see what was allowed and not allowed onboard.

Looking at TSA’s list of hundreds of items that people may have questions about bringing on airplanes, revealed a surprise:

*MOUSE PRINT:

peanut butter

Apparently, peanut butter comes under TSA’s “liquid rule” that bans liquids, gels, pastes, creams, and aerosols greater than 3.4 ounces. So my jar of peanut butter is out as a carry-on item.

Even if I packed an 18-ounce jar that had only three ounces of peanut butter on the bottom, I would be out of luck because of the TSA’s liquids rule says that even if there is less than 3.4 ounces of liquid, if the container is larger than that, it is a forbidden item in carry-ons.

Perusing TSA’s list has some unexpected surprises of what is allowed and not allowed in your carry-on bag.

*MOUSE PRINT:

ALLOWED:

Antlers
Bread machines
Camp stoves
Cowboy spurs
Duct tape and rope
Espresso makers
Knitting needles
Light Saber
Safety matches
Scissors (less than 4″)
Screwdrivers (less than 7″)
Shock collars

DISALLOWED:

Bowling pins
Cast iron cookware
Cream cheese (over 3.4 oz)
Pam cooking spray
Drill bits
English Christmas crackers
Foam toy swords
Magic 8 Ball
Rocket launchers (duh)
Safety razor with blades
Samsung Galaxy Note 7
Spray deodorant (over 3.4 oz)
Toothpaste (over 3.4 oz)

And to prove the TSA has a sense of humor, here is how they describe one particular banned item:

Magic 8 ball

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Thanks for Nothing – Spring 2024

A few times a year we spotlight offers from companies that are real head-scratchers, are actually less generous than they appear, are just plain outrageous, or may simply elicit a chuckle. Here’s the new crop.

JetBlue Adopts Surge Pricing for Baggage

Jumping on the surge pricing bandwagon, JetBlue just began charging more for checked baggage during peak travel times. This is on top of a higher price for checked bags paid for within 24 hours of your flight. And it is also just after the airline implemented another baggage fee increase only a couple of months ago.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Jet Blue luggage fees

Thanks for nothing, JetBlue.

Rakuten’s 15% Cash Back Offer

On April first, Rakuten sent an email promising 15-percent cash back seemingly at a whole bunch of stores.

Rakuten 15% cash back

But, when visiting the website, the offer all of a sudden changed to only 12-percent back.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Rakuten 12% back at stores

Only about half a dozen stores were offering 15-percent back among the dozens offering 12-percent cash back.

Thanks for nothing, Rakuten, except that this week (May 6 – 13) Rakuten is offering a real 15% back at about 500 stores, and on May 6th only, 20% back at several dozen stores. New members get an extra 10% back for purchases the first week. [Consumer World may earn a commission on certain purchases from this link.]

Russell Stover Valentine’s Heart

Last year before Valentine’s Day, we featured two heart-shaped boxes of candy from Russell Stover and Whitman’s that were about 10-inches high by 9-inches wide, but they only contained between nine and eleven pieces of chocolate inside. This year, we found what looked like the same size box, but for this variety of chocolate, it only had five pieces of candy inside.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Russell Stover heart

Talk about over-packaging to make you think there is more candy inside than there really is. Thanks for nothing, Russell Stover.

90% Off Everything at Temu?

Temu.com has captured bargain hunters’ attention with its incredible low prices. And when they recently sent an email promising that everything was 90-percent off shoppers couldn’t wait to clickthrough. Of course, the old adage, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is” applies here.

*MOUSE PRINT:

temu up to 90% off

“Up to 90% off” is far different, so thanks for nothing, Temu.

Malk – $7.99 a Quart?

Grocery prices have just gotten out of hand. For example, a quart of Malk brand almond milk is $7.99.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Malk - 32 oz.

Eight bucks for a quart of fake milk? MrConsumer paid it but only because he was going to get a full price rebate. What excuse does everyone else have for paying such an outrageous price?

Thanks for nothing, Malk Organics.

Pizza Hut – Any Pizza $12?

Pizza Hut says the word “any” a lot in this emailed advertisement for $12 pizzas. ANY pizza… ANY toppings… ANY recipe.

Pizza Hut $12

But Greg L. complained about the smaller print which excluded extra cheese and also their stuffed crust pizza variety. We guess “any” really doesn’t mean “every” in Pizza Hut-lingo.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Pizza Hut exclusions

If you find an advertisement appropriate for this section, please pass it along to Edgar(at)ConsumerWorld.org .

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Target and TripAdvisor Botch Free Membership Offer

Last week, Target offered Target Circle members a free one-year membership to TripAdvisor Plus (regularly $99) — a plan that provides special travel deals, discounts, and other perks. Consumer World even made it part of our “Bargain of the Week.”

TripAdvisor+ offer

Mindful of how many memberships work, we were concerned that the plan should not automatically self-renew after a year and stick readers with an unexpected $99 charge. Target explicitly allayed our concerns in the details of the promotion:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Target/TripAdvisor terms

Despite these assurances, the way TripAdvisor implemented the offer was the exact opposite of this. On the sign-up page, TripAdvisor not only explicitly said that the membership would auto-renew after the first year, but they also required you to provide your credit card number.

*MOUSE PRINT:

auto-renew and credit card

When advised by a reader what TripAdvisor was doing, we immediately contacted Target executives and PR folks. Later that day, a day-and-a-half into the promotion, Target called to say that TripAdvisor had changed their fine print to say that the membership would NOT self-renew. But looking at the revised sign-up page, they still were requiring a credit card in order to receive the free travel club membership. So, we asked TripAdvisor’s PR folks multiple times to justify why the company was still requiring a credit card to sign up. They did not respond, but their fine print explained it this way:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Your credit card information provided at checkout will be saved to enable more seamless hotel booking.

In our view it is totally inappropriate for a company to require a credit card when they are giving away a totally free service. If and when a member makes a reservation and buys a travel service, that is the time a card needs to be provided and not before.

So what do you think? Is it appropriate for TripAdvisor to require you to provide a credit card to get a year of their free service?