TSA warns Super Bowl fans to leave mining tools, air horns at home

Football fans flying to New Orleans for Super Bowl XLVII will be packing a lot of enthusiasm, but they’d better not haul pickaxes, air horns or flasks of booze.

And if you’re bringing a live raven, check with out your airline’s pet policy before getting to the airport.

That is the warning issued Friday by the Transportation Security Administration to fans of the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens flying to the big game.

Air horns are prohibited in carry-on bags and in checked bags because of a TSA ban on compressed-air canisters on planes. The same goes for propane tanks used to cook at tailgate parties.

Because sharp objects are prohibited, gold-mining tools such as picks and shovels also are not allowed on planes, the TSA warned. (The 49ers, of course, were named for the gold prospectors who flocked to Northern California during the Gold Rush around 1849.)

Flasks of booze will not get through carry-on screening, either, the TSA said. Libations should go into your checked bag.

The TSA predicts the busiest day at Louis Armstrong International Airport will be Monday when football fans begin their journey home.

The agency will be operating around the clock at the New Orleans airport, with additional agents, to open twice as many screening gates as usual, the TSA said.

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Follow Hugo Martin on Twitter at @hugomartin