How to avoid TSA search of luggage?
 

I've read a lot of threads about the love notes we receive when our luggage is searched. Some of you seem to never get yours searched, others, all the time. I've noticed for myself, my curling iron always seems to cause my luggage to be searched. I need to try to remember to roll the cord around it.

What tips do you have to avoid luggage being opened and pilfered by TSA? What types of items trigger a hand search?

Opaque, dense items. Bars of soap, large tubes of toothpaste, blocks of cheese (not kidding). Those are examples.

Some TSAers are "certified" to allow the things like toothpaste through when they see it, but they still sometimes get pulled aside.

Why do you think it is your curling iron?

Metamucil
 

Metamucil in the original plastic canister frequently would trigger a hand search because it looks like liquid on the X-ray. I now put what I need in a zip lock plastic bag. So far, that hasn't caused any hand searches.

Golf stuff
 

Golf clubs are always searched. Don't pack any Titleist Pro V1 with your golf bag!:eek:

That's because the traveling case for golf clubs does not feed properly into the CTX machine.

It's usually the only thing in my check in luggage besides clothing when going home from trips.

You might try packing the curling iron in your carry-on for a few trips and see if your checked bag still gets searched.

I never check bags. Why expose them to potential theft from people I don't trust at all?

Sometimes checking bags is unavoidable. We spend two months at a time in the South Pacific, and inevitably have some kind of food substance or toiletry supplies in checked luggage that cause a hand inspection every single time. We now know, from long experience, which items cause suspicion (canned tuna and peanut butter, for example), and try to pack those items as close to the top as possible (and protected in zip-loc bags), to avoid everything in the luggage being pawed through and arriving topsy-turvy.

Also, if we are traveling with multiple pieces of checked luggage, we try to keep all the "suspicious" items in one bag, to avoid multiple searches of the other bags.

Avoiding flying to or from US airports works quite well for me.

Ten bottles of wine.

It's pretty much a given they will open the bag, though I have been lucky and nothing has ever been taken.

The last time I flew WN out of BWI, a TSO there sarcastically advised me that I was not permitted my bar of Ivory soap, since, when sitting next to my shoes in my carry-on, she thought the combination of shoelaces and the soap looked like a bomb (her words, not mine)...I have also had a three-pack of Ivory (one of only two soaps I have found that I don't react to) removed on two separate occasions when I have checked my luggage (only if I have tools that I cannot get in the destination).

Your curling iron is never the reason your checked luggage is searched. Various shampoos, various lotions, could be the reason why. As far as checked luggage goes, the machine "decided" your luggage needs tk be searched, not a TSO.

What else do you always have in your luggage? Books, magazines, foods?

Some wine alarms, some do not. I have noticed a trend which kinds alarm...

Depends, as there are different size ctx machines. Some can handle them, some can not.

My experience is every checked bag with any electric wire of any kind packed inside will be searched.