In praise of SFO TSA baggage check

There are a lot of legitimate complaints, but I would like to post a cheers when a job is well done.

My big bag was weighed in at exactly 50 pounds, containing various clothes, books, shoes, bottles of wines and foodies from Trader Joe's.

When I got back home to Dallas, there was a printed TSA note inside. Of course, I was a little suspicious at first, but everything was in good shape. All the items were packed in the same way I had them. All the wine bottles were intact. They even fastened the inside straps, which I am usually too lazy to do.

Since my bag is a hardside, I've been leaving the combination locks at the unlocked postion. However, I noticed the locks were locked when I retrieved the bag. Perhaps they deliberately did this after inspecting the bag? I don't know. What I do know is that this bag was inspected and all items remained well packed. Good job!

Remember, you can get TSA- combination approved locks that the TSA has a key to. Best of both worlds, IMO.

And yes, there are decent TSA stories in several places - SFO has been right up there in my estimation as well - and a few ugly ones (my MIA experiences are not pretty.)

Please remember that SFO is one of five airports that do not have regular TSA screeners. SFO has private screeners who operate under TSA supervision and rules.

Bruce

No wonder the luggage was carefully re-packed. The TSA didn't touch the suitcase.

Yes, but SFO is one of the worst when it comes to shoe removal. It cuts both ways.

Great, but we're losing track of the basic issue that the US government is searching our possessions OUTSIDE OF OUR CONTROL!

Geez! How quickly we forget! All we can talk about is which cable ties and locks to buy! We're such sheep!

ChaseTheMiles,

Thanks for the good words!

Most people just don't understand and comprehend that private or Federal, there is good and bad in both... They just want to bash TSA who for the most part are good people trying to make a living to support their family...

Thanks again!

FliesWayTooMuch,

How? How can we avoid being sheep? Each time I pass a checkpoint I feel ashamed to be an American; I feel angry and violated beyond belief; I want to vomit on the T-SS-A agents who have somehow been deputized to touch all of my belongings and all of my body. We are treated like criminals when we fly, but how can we avoid being sheep? [True, we could take a bus from San Francisco to Boston, but I doubt our jobs would be waiting for us two or three weeks later when we arrived.]

I send my public comment to the appropriate Congressional and governmental forums when that opportunity is available, once every six months or so. The TSA hasn't even responded to or made available online, as it promised, the public comment it received on its CAPPS-II Privacy Act notice months and months ago. That Privacy Act notice got the largest response in history by a large margin, and nearly all of the public sentiment was negative. We have been given no opportunity at all to comment on the shoe police, the inappropriate touching, or the brutalization of our right to travel freely within the country. The regulations permitting this atrocity are secret. FOIA requests have been ignored or answered with almost completely redacted documents. The only hope we have is to keep up the public pressure and the legal pressure until the TSA is beaten.

Here's where to join the fight:
http://www.eff.org/
http://www.dontspyonus.com/
http://www.hasbrouck.org/blog/

Write letters to your Congressional delegations. Enter the public record at every opportunity and make your opposition known. You're right, FliesWayTooMuch. We shouldn't be sheep any longer.

You expressed my views very well. Thank you!

I've contacted my Congress-people several times about specific issues, such as CAPPS II and the new TSA-imposed fines. I have never gotten any reply. The United States is clearly becoming a totalitarian regime.

Bruce

Dupe

[This message has been edited by HeHateY (edited Mar 17, 2004).]

SFO also has a slew of surly and stroppy moat dragons (maze minders) who will impose thier will on you without reason. Apparently these low-bid minimum-wage flunkies (wasn't that how we got September 11th?) have the right to send you to secondary as punishment if you do not do exactly as they say.

This is especially true at SFO Terminal 1.

Shame, that BART makes it an easy place to get to, but between the rent-a-cops and the contracted out "Team SFO" TSA, I'll be using SJC and/or OAK thanks!

[This message has been edited by HeHateY (edited Mar 17, 2004).]

Nope, the screeners on 9/11 and the many days before 9/11 did their jobs. 9/11 was caused by terrorists who studied a system and took advantage of it's flews.

Why such strong reaction? I would agree that current security measures probably won't trap the real criminals or terrorists; however, as a regular traveler, what we submit to inside the U.S. is still nothing much compared to what foreign airport security checks. Sure, I know I'm not a terrorist, but I don't know if someone else on my flight is; so it's better safe than sorry.

Aside from not locking the bags due to potential theft, I travel with easy-off shoes which are more comfortable for the flights anyway. I also think we need to have tighter security around train stations even if it's difficult to implement.