<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by sansbury:
...He shares the room with two strangers, getting up at 5am for a 7am flight without showering.</font>
That would be the nightmare for the passengers sitting next to him.
As far as the suitcase nightmare. The TSA and the airlines are at odds regarding compensation for damage done. In your case, I doudt very much that anyone would look your suitcase. They have better things to do. Having a lock might on the suitcase may have made the TSA agent think that the contents were locked, so an attempt was made to open it and maybe damage it in the process.
If you did not see damage in MSP going through custom, then the blame should go to TSA. Try the TSA website, fill out a
claim and see what happens.
Now, I could tell you about my nightmare in PHL...