An 83-year-old United Airlines passenger who earlier this month hid his 31⁄2-inch pocketknife in an empty toothbrush container said he was afraid it would be confiscated.

The 31⁄2-inch knife was discovered concealed in a toothbrush holder April 11 at Lihue Airport before the California resident boarded the Los Angeles-bound flight, the Transportation Security Administration reported.

The passenger told TSA officers he had hoped to "hide" the knife from the TSA because he didn’t want to lose it. TSA workers operating X-ray equipment identified the knife and requested a physical inspection of the passenger’s bag with the toothbrush container.

Law enforcement officers cleared the passenger for travel.

The confiscated knife could have been placed in a checked bag, the TSA said.

The knife was mentioned among confiscated items in a TSA report for the week ending April 18. The same report said 26 of 35 firearms confiscated were loaded.

In January, another airline passenger flying to Hilo tried to smuggle three knives in a thermos past security at Honolulu Airport.

The man was stopped at 6 p.m. Jan. 20 trying to board a Hawaiian Airlines flight. At the initial checkpoint, the passenger was permitted to leave the checkpoint area with the knives to put them into his checked baggage. Instead, the man attempted to sneak them through in the thermos, the TSA reported.

The knives were confiscated and the passenger was allowed to book a later flight to Hilo.

On Tuesday, the TSA postponed its plan to allow passengers to carry small knives with blades under 2.36 inches long and less than half an inch wide onboard aircraft.