For those of you who don't know me, I'm an airline pilot, and I will tell you now trying to figure out the ways of the TSA is a waste of your time. They have rules yes, but ultimately it just comes down to where you are, who you get, and what kind of mood they're in that day. Some airports have reputations for being more or less strict. And even then, you'll find you get very different experiences depending upon who you happen to get. I've had some let things slide that are clearly against their rules, and others try to take things from me that are explicitly allowed.