KentownFlorida,

I am sorry to hear of your loss. I understand you being upset -- however, as others have said, I encourage you to call your airline, the airport lost and found, and even try the airport police at your departing airport. Politely ask the airport police if they have anything in their lost and found and then politely ask if they can search the screening area where your bag was opened; if you explain the circumstances I am sure they will do what they can to assist. Hopefully you will be able to recover it.

Because of its importance, I would even go as far and file a claim for it. While traveling from the US to London falls under the "warsaw convention", if the item was stolen (and yes, this argument can be made), this tosses the Warsaw Convention limits of liability out of the window for the stolen property.

In this case it was an A4 photo of great importace to you - esentially priceless. Because of the nature of the photo, it would be difficult to put a price on it, and even if you were properly compensated, it will never get you the photo back.

Does anyone else, another family member of friend, have a copy of this photo - either on paper or best yet, saved on their computer from the digital camera? Or any chance it is still saved on the memory card in the digital camera?

If you started in Orlando (MCO), I would make the inquiry there. I assume you flew Orlando - Dallas - London Gatwick? (likely on American Airlines)? This is speculation since you listed Orlando and Dallas.

If Orlando is where you started, call the Orlando Airport lost and found, their police, your air carrier, and I would even try to reach the station manager of your airline at Orlando if that is where the journey started. Sometimes it can be difficult to get local numbers for airlines at specific airports, but if you make a few phone calls, they can usually be found.

One trick at getting a local telephone number for the airline at the actual airport is calling the airline directly on the toll-free line and asking for the number to the local baggage office. If you can reach someone with the airline at the local baggage office, they can in turn put you in touch with someone such as the station manager. You can also try directory assistance. In the United States it is +1 + (area code) + 555 + 1212. Orlando's airport I believe falls under the 407 area code, so you may want to try 1-407-555-1212 and try asking for "Orlando Airport, American Airlines Baggage Office" -- try to get a human operator with directory assistance which will take a minute to look through the number listings and attempt to find the correct one. If you get a computer for directory assistance or someone in a rush, they might just give you the reservations # to get rid of you. If you get someone in a rush or a computer, ask for a supervisor.

I hope this helps and I sincerely wish you the best of luck. FWIW, be sure you bring this to the attention to someone higher up within the airline, let them know what was lost and it's value to you. The more pressure there is to search for it, the better. At the very least, they can probably make some noise with the local TSA if all else fails.

While this won't help now -- and I'm sure it's difficult for you, be sure anything of value is in your carry-on. At the same time this does not excuse the screeners actions of not properly re-packing your suitcase with all contents in-tact. Nor does it excuse the TSA for their reckless policies which do not allow passengers to lock their suitcases, nor does it excuse the TSA because of their reckless policies of opening way too many suitcases which is a direct result of poor management responsible for poor equipment choices and poor methods of screening.

In closing, I am sorry to hear of your loss, especially the loss of your son.

With Best Regards,

SDF_Traveler