I had a non-approved lock attached to the zipper but without locking the suitcase (so I could have it along and use in a hotel, where I don't have to have an approved lock). In the US, I usually seal the zippers using a cable tie to avoid having the approved locks cut by the TSA baboon-du-jour (it happened). When I arrived, the cable tie had been cut, the luggage inspected (with a flyer to prove it), and the lock had been cut from the zipper as well, *even though it wasn't locking anything!* So now I had one more cut zipper puller and one less lock. (And it didn't get caught in the belt. I've had small locks hanging from my suitcases' zippers for years, and nothing ever happened to them until the TSA appeared on the scene).

Worse yet, on a later trip, I found all the remaining zippers destroyed: the TSA chimp had cut the zipper runners instead of the cable tie that was holding them together (they left that intact), and had taken the time to destroy the zipper of an external pocket as well... I guess that's what happens when some people get to play with scissors and bolt cutters

Seriously, I realize I'm probably asking this question in the wrong forum, but is it even worth considering a complaint to the TSA? You'd think anyone with opposable thumbs should be able to cut a plastic cable tie...