Originally Posted by
13901
Pilferage from bags is very much still a thing, and some US airports are a bit more 'rustic', in their setup, than those in Europe. A big factor in the decline of theft at LHR and other EU airports is that those reviewing the bag imaging are physically separate from those handling the bags, making the contact between one and the other rather hard (bag pilferers target specific bags they'll know will contain goods of a certain value). ICTS bag screeners are located away from all bag handlers in LHR, whereas the TSA screeners often sit in the same place as the baggage handlers. It's not unusual to have a TSA screening machine on the belt loop fed straight from the check-in area, which is a setup that I have only seen at small airports in the Greek islands but which, in America, is visible in many large terminals (including JFK).
Also TSA when they open your bags for a secondary inspection as they pretty much always do when you are travelling with skis, do so under full CCTV. We found this out when my husband stupidly put his sunglasses in his suitcase at SFO and BA managed to lose the bag for a few days, and when returned the sunglasses were gone, and they were the only things missing. BA blamed the TSA naturally, so somehow I managed to get hold of someone in the TSA at SFO to speak to and they advised me of the full process. The card that they used to leave in your luggage identified who did the secondary inspection and it was all traceable. Anyway, BA accepted liability for the pilfered item and paid up in full once I told them that TSA had the entire inspection of the bag on cctv.