In about 7 hours here, I'll be hopping on a flight to Santa Fe, NM for vacation. We're getting packed and going over all the headache-y considerations when packing for air travel in this day and time. Well, I carry a SAIK SA-9, which has pretty much become my EDC. I needed to know if this will be on a problem for airport security.
*** Yes, I know there are plenty of threads on this and flashlights are not listed as prohibited. I am posting this to get info on the specific question because of the light's design (and if it might be considered a weapon).
just put it in a checked bag , make sure batteries are not in it
Well, I’m not checking a bag. None of us are. That’s the problem.
If you have carry on, just put it in there, the X Ray machine will see right through it anyway, and they will know what it is. Keep the batteries out of it and in a case.
Sounds reasonable.
Hehehe.
"SAIKs On A Plane"
rofl. Good one!
The battery can explode.
I can think of three reasons:
1) Your EDC may turn on, draining the battery.
2) Your 'show' light might turn on, igniting something in the overhead compartment.
3) It may look like something far more nefarious than a torch, with the batteries and wiring in the same place.
Bingo!
Rusty Joe I would just carry on as usual but simply carry the batteries outside of the torch and put everything through the scanner. Different airport TSA handle and profile differently (tho the same agency).
HaVe a good flight :)
"Enough is enough! I have had it with these monkey fighting SAIKs on this Monday through Friday plane!"
I've traveled a lot in the past years, on many flight companies and on many routes, also in the Usa.
I always had an edc flashlight with me. Sometimes I also had both an edc in my belt and another one in the carry-on-board backpack, with spare batteries too.
I've always removed the edc from the pants belt and scanned through the xray machine, but I always left the batteries in (123 or 18650). No reasons to remove them. Sometimes I've been asked if I was carrying a flashlight, sometimes I've been asked to light it on to show that it really was a flashlight (this also happened back in 2001 a couple months after the 9-11).
The security guys have never posed me any problem for the small edc flashlight
But in all honesty none of my lights has a very pronounced crenellated bezel, so they are not considered weapons at all.
Carried the ’ol Sipik SK68 on a few flights recently, no dramas, just dumped it on the tray on the way in. But this is down under, ofcourse 
I just came back from the UK, and had my UF-T50 with me with a spare 18650 (samsung unprotected) in a case. Took it carry on and my pack was scanned 4 times in total and no-one said a thing about it.
I think carrying a flashlight or two on a plane is a non-issue. Having a dozen 26650 cells might cause you some issue though…
Prison purse.
Only safe option.
Probably best to take the batteries out.
( 9 times outta 10, it’s an electric razor…/Fight Club reference)
But also keep the batteries in the same bag, so if they want to test if it’s an actual flashlight they can. It’ll go much smoother if you can prove it works, rather than if your batteries are in your luggage while you carry your edc on you.