Due to circumstances beyond my control, er, I did too much shopping, I ended up with bags checked on the way back from EWR on Tuesday. I'd rather not do it at all but I keep some of those wire and plastic numbered gizmos for such occasions, so I had one on my suitcase.

When I got my bags back, the tamper-proof tag on the suitcase was gone. When I use these things, I do as much as possible to protect it from snagging on other items, and it actually takes me a good bit of work to open. It falls off if you snip the wire, however.

It didn't appear to have been subject to unusually abusive handling that might have broken the tag (the zipper pulls were in the exact same location, no obvious new scrapes or scratches, the plastic accessory snap buckle was still tucked under the handle where I left it.) There was no notice or sticker that it had been opened, and didn't appear to have been inspected.

It looks exactly like somebody clipped the wire and pulled the tag off. I put these things on for a reason, now that I can't use a real lock I still want to avoid having my belongings strewn about when it comes unzipped in handling.

So what's the deal with this? It's not a lock, if the TSA wants to open my bag it is trivial to open the thing. So why cut the tag off if it isn't actually being inspected? Is this the practice at some airports but not others?