TSA removed my laptop w/ out telling me...and I walked away...What to do?
 

At PHX early this morning. I ran my backpack through the scanner, TSA looked on the screen, I saw one of them pick it up and re-run the bag, it came through, I picked it up and left. When I got home I grabbed it to do some work and the laptop was gone.

I called and left a vmail, and they called to tell me they have it. My options are to pick it up, have a friend pick it up, or pay to have it shipped.

I'm obviously thrilled to get the laptop back (hopefully in one piece) but not thrilled that they opened my bag w/ out telling me, removed something, and then f'ed up by not putting it back.

What would you do?

Whichever option is more convenient.

TSA has your implied consent to search your bags and certainly to open them. Would have been nice if someone had told you. If you want, you could send a note to TSA on the website and make the point that it would be a simple courtesy for the Officer to have told you that he pulled your laptop so that you would know to watch for it coming through after your bag.

Moving thread to TS/S Forum
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

Thanks Often1. I've always been asked prior to having them open and go through the bag so I assumed that procedures were to advise the pax and seek consent. <deleted by moderator>.

I'm aware of the thefts, assaults, etc. Lesson learned.

Their mistake and they want you to pay to ship it?!?!

Am I mistaken in remembering that every time I have EVER gone through security I have been told to "take my laptop out of my bag?" If I am not mistaken about this, then I have no sympathy for the OP... They simply did what they asked HIM to do (and he did not)

TSA Pre-check you leave laptop in your bag.

I would contact the FSD at PHX, tell them that your bag was opened without your knowledge and that items were taken out without your knowledge, and that you want them returned ASAP at their expense.

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Folks,

When posting in this thread, please keep in mind that per the forum's sticky thread the Practical Travel Safety and Security Issues forum is informational.

Please limit your responses here to practical advice. Save your opinion, commentary and rants about what TSO's should be called for the Checkpoints and Borders Policy Debate forum.

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TWA884
Travel Safety/Security co-moderator

My opinion is, this is not really a matter of opinion, it's a matter of practicality.

If you're anywhere near PHX in the next few days, pick it up.

If you're nowhere near PHX in the next few days, attempt to have a friend pick it up.

If you're nowhere near PHX in the next few days and have no friends in the area who are able to pick it up for you, pay to have it shipped.

Yes, it sucks that you have to go out of your way to retrieve your laptop, but lesson learned - in future, be more careful about checking that you have all of your belongings with you before leaving the checkpoint. In particular, make sure that the two most expensive items you're likely to be carrying, your laptop and phone, are with you, as well as your wallet and ID, and any other items that are either completely indispensable to you or cost a mint to replace.

Sorry to be so harsh, but honestly, it's just not reasonable to fail to check your most important/expensive items after going through a TSA screening, whether regular or PreCheck. At any time, for any reason, without warning, TSA can open your bags and rifle through your belongings. Anyone transiting a checkpoint should always be prepared for this and check their belongings on the way out of the c/p, while getting re-dressed. That's just common sense.

Unless you or someone you know has other business at PHX and the time to waste, just have it shipped. You can supply a FedEx or UPS account number and TSA will use that (permitting you to take advantage of a corporate rate). By the time you pay for parking, you won't have saved much. A friend will still have to ship the thing.

Look, I don't want to spiral this into a flame session, but the sentiment that it is "just common sense" to expect the TSA to open, remove, and zip up bags with zero notice or heads up is silly. And taking an inventory at the checkpoint is equally silly. I've got about 50 things in that backpack. If it is common sense for me to inventory them before I go to the airport and then stand there and do so again, well, that's f'ed up. And to follow the advice of picking my one, two or maybe even five most prized possessions and simply check for those is equally silly. I think the advice is better presented as 'watch your crap.' If I'd done that and assumed that the folks on the other side are at best incompetent and at worst crooked and kept my eye on them, I'd likely have seen them remove my bag, unzip it, remove the laptop, zip the bag, run the bag, stop the belt when the bag came out but not the laptop. That's the advice. Watch them. Observe them. Mistrust them to either be honest or competent.

I sent an email requesting reimbursement for my shipping costs. This is, in part, the canned response I got from the TSA:
"We seek to provide the highest level of security and customer service and we regret that you had a negative experience at our screening checkpoint. Our policies and procedures focus on ensuring that all passengers, regardless of their personal situations and needs, are treated with dignity, respect, and courtesy. Every person and item must be screened before entering a secured area, and the manner in which the screening is conducted is important. Transportation Security Officers are required to be courteous and respectful and are trained to explain what they are doing and what will happen next in the process."

So is it a requirement that they advise the citizen what the professionally trained government professional is doing with the private property or is it just that this particular professional forgot his training?

I get it. It was my fault. That's the TSA line so it is true.

I'd just expect a little more reasonableness here than 'expecting them to take your stuff is common sense' and 'pick a few important items and make sure you have them when you leave.'

:)

1. Pre-check I am, says Yoda. Sorry, forgot to include that perhaps.
2. There was no indication at all. No notice. No one shouting 'who's bag is this'? No unzipped zippers. No nothing. Zippo. Zilch.

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TWA884
Travel Safety/Security co-moderator