Originally Posted by
oneofthosepeopleyouloveto hate
I see a couple possibilities here.
First, how do you know the TSA lock wasn't opened? Is it a lock that shows whether it's been tampered with? If it is, and the bag wasn't unlocked, I'd guess the TSA officer had to inspect your bag, and either 1) didn't have, 2) couldn't find, or 3) was too lazy to fetch the TSA master keys, and opened your bag by breaching the zipper. It's a simple procedure easily done with a pointed object. Unfortunately, it may wreck the zipper!
Another possibility is that the TSO unlocked your bag with a key, but the zipper broke when he/she opened or (more likely) closed it. I've had this happen before ... usually the bag was seriously overstuffed!
So are you saying that SOP if the TSA officer doesn't have/can't find/is too lazy to look for keys is to breach the zipper? Yes, it is easily done, and yes, it can wreck a zipper, particularly if the zipper isn't new. Doesn't matter if the bag is overstuffed or not if the zipper has been broken.
Completely unacceptable. All too believable, but still completely unacceptable. What do they do with hard-sided luggage? Use a crowbar?