As we all know, the 'rules' are whatever a TSO says they are.

That said, a supervisor at PHX T2 told me that TSA has the right to inspect any bag, any time, and is under no obligation to inform the pax or allow the pax to witness the bag search. This was after I expressed surprise that my bag had been searched and my BP and ID removed and copied behind my back (literally) and without my knowledge while I was getting groped.

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An update...

It appears my reading / computer glasses have disappeared.

Retracing my steps I remember packing them in the same packing
cube as my cpap the morning I flew out.

I do remember TSA agent requesting I unlock the bag and taking
the bag out of my view to inspect the cpap. I remember checking
the bin after reassembling the bag for leftover items... none.

The bag was then relocked, stayed in my possession until
arrival at destination hotel and not reopened until then when
I first noticed the glasses missing.

I'm searching other places first before jumping to the conclusion
TSA is responsible. I will say I'm not in the habit if misplacing or
losing items during travel; however, my fault this time around was
taking a quick look and assuming everything was in the bag that
should be... the biggest concern was the cpap itself which is of
some value. Plus it was the wee hours of the morning and I was
in a sleep deprived state. <sigh>

I need to rethink my packing and process for getting through
security... separate bag for cpap ONLY seems like one option.


EDIT UPDATE:

I had spent a coupla days at my mom's place in Canada during
this trip... turns out my glasses are there.

TSA not to blame. Paul to blame. :-) Getting old.

On the other hand I was reviewing the complaint form for this
thing at the TSA site... why do they make it so difficult and want
my age, marital status, etc for a missing item?

I wonder if the TSA employees at the checkpoint don't have the keys to the TSA-approved locks? Maybe only the baggage screeners for the checked luggage have them?

Two possible reasons -

1. They simply don't know how to design a form. I get to see forms from a lo of countries and I have to say, US forms are usually the poorest in terms of function, layout, and ease of completion.

2. They want to discourage people from completing the form and making it longer and more demanding is a simple way to do that. It's the same way TSA has a (unspoken?) policy of using invasive pat-downs as a form of retaliation.

Personally, I'd put money on it being both.

That's the point. At the checkpoint, I am right there to unlock my bag for the search. There's no reason a TSO should be rifling through my bag without my knowledge. I know it's allowed, but if the bag is locked, they are more likely to ask the pax to unlock the bag.

On one occasion at ATL, IIRC, I got my bag pulled for a check - suspicious object. The 'suspicious' item was all alone in the end (shoe) pocket of my gym duffel. It was a TSA-approved lock.

The bag searcher said the x-ray tech had never seen one before. He told me he'd 'let me off this time', but such locks were only for checked bags. ??? So? Was he saying it is illegal to even carry them in one's carry-on? :rolleyes:

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Nah, the screener just made that up. So he could throw chollie a bone by giving him a pass "this one time." Makes the screener feel magnanimous (instead of a chowderhead) and may influence the occasional gullible passenger into thinking more kindly of screeners in the future. But we all know better.

Not to sidetrack the conversation but does the TSA ever ask before rifling through a carry-on bag? I've never had a bag checked in the US but in Canada when CATSA has wanted to look inside they have asked me first.

For the record
 

CPAP machines are ALWAYS supposed to be taken out of the bag they are in when you are going through a checkpoint with one in your carry on.
With that in mind, boots and other dirty items are put in those bins AND the CPAP forces air directly into the person that has to use it. The best thing I have ever seen is a very large zip lock bag that you can put the CPAP into so that nothing contaminates it.

US TSA is supposed to inform the owner of the carry on item, that there is a need for additional screening. They are supposed to wait for you to accompany them to the bag search table and they are supposed to ask you if you have anything sharp or dangerous to them in the bag and they are to inform you that you cannot touch your bag or anything that is removed from the bag.

This has been my experience in the U.S. It is a problem if one has locked the bag since it may be difficult to unlock the bag without touching it.

OTOH, in a recent departure from ZRH, where screening is run by the Kantonalpolizei, the screener asked me to open my own bag, find the object that she needed to examine (it was a corkscrew with a small knife blade), and then remove it from its retail package. The practice there is to rescreen any bag that has had to be opened; she carried it back to the x-ray and then brought it to me.

Another surprise: the next passenger had several bottles of liquids that weren't in his 3-1-1 bag. The screener sorted through everything, determined that some items that were in the 3-1-1 bag didn't need to be, and repacked it all so that the actual liquids were in the bag, all the while explaining politely (in Swiss German, which I understand only partly) why some of the things didn't need to be in the bag.

With all due respect, eyecue, two supervisors at PHX T2 have stated that TSA has the right to inspect any bag at any time without pax consent or knowledge. This was after TSOs opened my bag and removed my BP/ID for copying while my back was turned during my grope.

However...eyecue, is there any rule (I can't find anything on the website) that specifically prohibits the pax from securing his/her carry-on bag when going through the checkpoint?

(I assumed the TSO at ATL was making up nonsense when he told me he'd 'let me off this time' for having a lock inside my otherwise unlocked carry-on because, as he told me, they are only allowed for checked bags. You can buy them in the secure area, you can carry them for other reasons - to lock a locker at your destination when you haven't checked a bag, to lock a bag that you might check on the return trip, to lock your carry-on while on a longhaul if you intend to sleep).

And thereby they do it the exact opposite way that most real screening services operate and TSA can't escape a contamination claim.

What they are supposed to do and real life experience differs.

I had already passed through the machine. He brings the bag
over and gives me the spiel about no locks through security.
Then tells me I have cpap they need to inspect.

I unlock the bag then he carries it past the machine to another
area where two of them go through it where I cannot see what
is happening. This is why I wrongly jumped to the conclusion it
was them who snagged my reading glasses.

I had the cpap in a packing cube. Next time I may lock the bag
and packing cube. I can only imagine how upset they would be
to discover another lock there. :D

It would seem to raise suspicion when a bag is locked as though
we are guilty of attempting to put one over on them... when in
fact it is merely for the security of our items.

Want to search? No problem, got nothing to hide. Ask me to
unlock without the attitude claiming it should not be locked.

I cannot imagine how boring that job must get and they get
a little edgy after essentially repeating the same thing over
and over.

Next time I may also wrap the cpap in shrink wrap of multiple
layers of Saran Wrap to keep it sterile and clean.