I like to bring nail clippers with me when I fly, because it drives me crazy when I get a hangnail and I don't have any way to clip it off. I usually end up ripping it off, which hurts.
On two occasions, TSA employees at the airport security screening area have taken my nail clippers away. They were ordinary nail clippers, no knives or scissors attached.
So I was surprised to see that nail clippers and nail files are not forbidden items, according to the TSA's own published list. You can also bring metal butter knives, knitting needles, blunt-tipped scissors, and toy weapons ("if not realistic replicas") in your unchecked baggage.
Maybe I'l bring a copy of this list with me the next time I travel. It might come in handy. Link
UPDATE:
Bill Ballantyne sez:
"1. Corkscrews are allowed?! I noticed this when I was checking the list for a trip last summer (wanted to make sure my 13 year old daughter didn't get mistaken as a terrorist!). I think a corkscrew could inflict way more damage than nail clippers or other prohibited items. It turned out she made it through the checkpoint with her folding embroidery scissors (which did not have rounded tips!)
"2. TSA employees can determine specific articles may be prohibited, even if allowed according to the list. Even though you and I and most intelligent people wouldn't waste the time or mental effort to determine the dangerous potential of nail clippers, most TSA employees probably consider (or have been told that) nail clippers (and hopefully corkscrews) are dangerous enough to prohibit them.
"3. Furthermore, you can be prosecuted for bringing prohibited items to a checkpoint, even accidentally. Horrific conclusion: Any passenger can be subject to prosecution for almost any reason, since the TSA employee can make call prohibiting any specific item."
