Something like this might work better than the bank markers.

The baggage handlers aren't the ones that are cutting locks off of bags, they also don't have the authority to rifle thru the bags. The TSA does both of these things.

While I have had some theft problems before TSA, my personal experience is that after the TSA became involved the problem got more than an order of magnitude worse. I went from having stuff occasionally stolen only at DTW and LAX to having stuff get stolen/rifled thru at more than 50% of the airports I visited. This stopped after I started flying with "firearms", thus locking out the TSA. While this anecdote isn't proof that the TSA is rife with thieves, it does lend credence to that theory.

I'm certain that there is lots more theft from baggage handlers and other non-TSA employees - it just isn't that well publicized.

Funny post of the day!!

Care to cite your reasoning? (Bolding mine.)

Yes, other actors besides TSA have access to baggage areas, including airline and airport employees. (As others have pointed out, TSA has far more knowledge of which bags might have items worth stealing inside, and has contributed to lapses in physical security with the "TSA-approved" lock farce, which bad apples are happy to exploit.) But the fact that TSA is just one of several entities with access to checked baggage doesn't mean that it is "far more likely" that someone other than TSA will rifle bags. It just means that it is at least as likely as the others.

I really would love for you to share your logic with us, and support this assertion you've made. Because I don't see how it follows at all.

Virtually all my theft problems were pre-TSA. The only item I've lost post TSA is a hairbrush on an international flight to VIE. The bag had a "we opened your bag" paper inside and stuff had been rifled through but the only thing missing was a ratty old hairbrush. The only unfortunate thing is that I didn't unpack until after the stores closed on Saturday and finding a hairbrush in Vienna on Sunday is impossible.

I'm glad I could make you laugh.

As posted above, I don't agree with the first part of this, but I do think that thefts from TSA are more well-publicized. TSA spokesholes have to be seen as doing something, after all, and announcing their zero-tolerance policies gives the bloggers things to write about and lets them ignore the mission-defeating holes in their security.

If all you lost while traveling is a hairbrush, then you were most likely not traveling much on business, and having to carry equipment with you. My guess is that you are leisure traveler, or at best a light business traveler.

I used to travel heavily on business, there were several years where I was traveling more than 80% of the year. Most of that travel required taking equipment and tools with me in checked bags. When I was able to lock hard sided cases, I had no losses (unless the whole case went missing). After the TSA came on the scene I began losing individual tools and pieces of equipment out of checked baggage. It got to the point where it was cheaper to use FedEx and UPS to ship the tools and equipment to the site rather than risk the pilfering at the airport.

cb1111 overlooks one point. The other workers at the airport have to be productive. They don't have the bottomless cash supply that TSA enjoys. I think any rational criminal investigator would look at the possibilities and start with TSA.

You're right, I never checked any gear (with the exception of my phone/laptop chargers) and actually avoid checking anything but clothing and personal items of no use to anyone, but I was a frequent business traveler both domestically and internationally. Now my business travel is primarily domestic.

I've never checked anything valuable and I never will - that's probably why (almost) nothing of mine goes missing.

That's an absurd statement and one that clearly typed while wearing your tin foil hat.

My understanding is that TSA as a theoretical matter, has the right to check luggage anywhere in the system. However, as a practical matter, they don't deal with any such bag once it's been scanned at the origin unless there's some highly unusual situation (e.g., a bomb threat and everything on the plane is searched again).

Yes, that would explain why you haven't had anything valuable stolen.

Correct, but contrary to the "tin foil crew" I don't trust anybody and don't just single out the TSA.

There are way too many places in an airport/train station/bus depot where checked bags are out of sight.

If it is valuable and I can't take in my carry-on (the one that goes under my seat) then I don't take it. If it is really valuable then it goes on my person.

If I can't take it but it needs to go somewhere then I use the USPS - they might lose it but there is a much lower likelihood of it get stolen over (wh)UPS or FedEx.

I've dealt with the legal folks at UPS and FedEx and the amount of pilferage is staggering - but then again they do move mountains of stuff every day.