I have been called for jury duty twice. Took hand work both times while waiting to be called into the courtroom, in my county you wait in a big room and wait and wait and wait!! So, there was no problem. Once taken to the court for quesitons by the attorneys (not the right term cannot remember), then it was put away. As far as on the airplanes, you can even take small scissor now, so having hand work is no problem. I would not take a king size quilt to work on since the seats are practically on top of each other LOL. Hope this helps you.