[quote]<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Jana:
However, nobody should ever pack anything they can't afford to lose in checked baggage. Accidents and mistakes happen and nobody is liable for your lost "anything" unless it is clothing or shoes or toiletries- or the bag itself.
I am sure I will be royally flamed for this, but it does not change the exposure I feel on this subject. Jana, you are basically saying that clothing only should be packed and that valuables should be transported on your person, etc. I basically agree in principal with the statement. For example, anyone who packs jewelry in their checked luggage is just an idiot.
The program is (here is the flame bait) that when Mrs. B Watson is traveling, the clothing has high value. Price a bag with 2 Hermes purses (12K in croc) a couple of Channel suits and God forbid we forget the Manolo Blahniks – well, very quickly you end up with 35 or 40K in clothing – and who is responsible when those purses don’t get repacked in a way that will protect them?? This has always been the substance of my fear in the TSA repacking my luggage – I could care less if they want to inspect, but the repacking it was I worry about.
[quote]<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Jana:
I don't understand your statement that you "have no dealings with the TSA". Yes. You do. The moment your ticket was purchased, you entered into an agreement with the airline. The moment you check-in yourself and your baggage- you enter into an agreement with the TSA. None of us are able to travel without the TSA's involvement.
I am not sure I agree with the enter an agreement component of your argument – When I buy a share of stock, my agreement is with my broker, not the exchange, the NASD or the SEC. The TSA is not a contra party in any contracts I have signed and I don’t see the airlines or the TSA being willing to enter into any kind of agency agreements with each other in the contract of carriage. While I agree TOTALLY with your point that the airlines are as much at the mercy of the TSA as the PAX, I am still dealing with the airline.
My final piece of flame bait – Why are we so crazed about hating the TSA? Sure, there are a fair number of rather silly policies and it is a bit of a moving target, but this will resolve over time. I think the TSA has done a fairly remarkable job with what has been accomplished in a short period of time. I would rather have the TSA on the job any day over a bunch of drunk convicts from Argenbright.