That's a very offensive comment. Yes someone can always physically cut or break open my luggage, but they don't because eventually they will be caught. The idea is to be in and out of the bag with no evidence of tampering. And I use a combination lock which CANNOT be opened without breaking it. (someone tried once, leaving it obviously bent).

I will always lock my luggage, period. When you get a false positive 30% (!) of the time, go ahead and cut them off; my luggage will be safe the other 70% of the time.
I also plan on attaching a note, with my cell phone number, stating "TSA, if you have to open this bag, call me at my cell phone and I will come and open the bag for you"

My question to tsadude is:
- Will you make a genuine effort to contact and wait for the passenger to observe you searching the luggage? I am willing to come back out to the ticketing desk, you can search it, and then seal it or whatever and then take it back inside. I am willing to arrive at the airport as far in advance (2-3 hours) as I need to for this.

- When your screening machine sees something "suspicious", do you guys just open up and look at only that item, or do you feel you have carte blanche to fondle everything in my bag including my toothbrush?
(Some article actually said "put your toothbrush in a ziploc bag so it won't get dirty").

- There should always be at least one screening machine in the front for those passengers who want a pre-inspection in their presence, and a locked bag.

Right back at you! You do not have a choice, we will open it up anyway because inspection will be out of site before to long.

tsadude, give it up. These people would argue with a stop sign as it represents government power and interferes with their rights of free travel. They are in the vast minority and all their ranting will not change that. You will never get them to agree with you as you represent what is deplorable to them.

They decry anything that might be interpreted as a personal attack and are quick to point out the "rules" of this board. Yet when they attack someone it is always within their "right to voice their opinion."

My advice to you is to just let it go and take heart that one day you might be able to check their luggage and maybe get an alert. Now THAT is something that I would love to see. I can hear the b**ching now! LOL

Of course this is my last post on this board, I find the crowd to be too self-important for my taste.

ACES II, The number one ejection seat in service in the world today. "When all else fails, you can rely on ACES."

I don't see this as a personal freedoms issue, there are plenty of other threads discussing that -- the issue of locking/unlocking ones luggage (or personal property) has to do with the fact that while I'm rightly responsible for my luggage and its contents, I'm no longer allowed to secure it which therefore opens it and me to all kinds of issues, from something being stolen to something being illegally placed inside.

If I do secure it, I'm threatened with TSAs -"we're just going to cut the lock off" comments. I used twistie ties for one piece two weeks ago and watched TSA do the scan at Dulles, it passed without being opened. By the time the luggage arrived at my destination (connection in Denver), it was evident that the tie had been opened and redone - so someone had been in my luggage. Since I watched TSA, that is most likely to be baggage handler somewhere -- this is not news, its not a surprise, but it is a problem. The lock would've presented at least some deterrent, particularly since the connection was fairly tight. Right now, its a lose-lose situation for the passengers.

Perhaps this is the real reason the airlines were allowed to stop questioning the passengers, "Has your luggage been out of control since you packed it". The question has all kinds of new meaning with the current setup.

Are you saying that all bag inspection is going to be done out of view at all airports soon?

I have three very viable choices that do not open my belongings without probable cause to do so and that have accountability for my belongings.

USPS, UPS, and FedEx

Doubtless there are others. I will not check any luggage under these ascinine conditions imposed by the TSA.

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"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry

That is the plan, but maybe not for every airport. I heard that Fairbanks AK was not. You might want to move there.

You are a piece of work Spiff. Hey,maybe you can charter your own flight also. That would be great for us.

Is this the way you respond to serious questions from people passing through security at your airport?

Time to add another user to that ignore list.

He/She is just showing us the true attitude at the Thousands Standing Around power tripping head case club.

Would that I could afford to, though now your organization seems to be wanting to subject charter flights to the same nonsense.

Seriously, what kind of response do you expect when your organization 1)Opens bags on a whim (pre-screening machine has a 30% failure rate) 2)Breaks locks on locked bags and opens them without the owner present and 3)Refuses to accept any liability for damage or theft resulting from 2) above?

Did you think that the two word response was going to be "happy birthday"? If so, guess again...



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"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry

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[This message has been edited by tazi (edited 01-28-2003).]

Am I the only one who doubts whether tsadude really works for the TSA? His flippant remarks and hostile, arrogant tone are far from professional. I took the time to write a thoughtful, measured response to his posts. Did I get a response? No. (Actually, that does sound like the TSA...) Instead, he has chosen to make sarcastic posts that seem designed to anger us and bait us. tsadude's remarks are only making us think worse of the TSA and making us more and more suspicious of TSA policy. If this is truly how the TSA views us (with absolutely no respect), then I really don't want to support it or its policies.

You would never know it if you met me at the airport. Here at this board, I am free to view my personal feeling as a regular person off of the clock. The sad thing is that like I stated before, the ticket agents and skycaps truly dislike those of you who show how much of an a$$ some of you can be. You have no respect for others and demand to be treated like a god. Just yesterday I tried to do something nice. Someone left a locked golf container and I paged the person twice and the airlines tried twice also. After about an hour I started to break off the lock to check this back which had alarmed in the machine. The guy shows up and cannot understand that he was not supposed to not lock up his bags. I asked where he got his ticket and showed him the BIG sign that explained this. He still was clueless and wanted me to pay for a new bag. Isent him back to the ticket counter to talk with the manager who told him the same thing I did, do not lock your bags. I did not have to page this person at all. All of the screeners will probably not page anyone now that they witnessed this.

http://www.post-gazette.com/nation/2...gagenat3p3.asp

The government cannot indefinitely escape liability for luggage damaged by security, lawyers said. Airlines are now liable for up to $2,500 in damage per passenger on domestic flights. The regulations governing airlines may become the basis for rules that apply to the security administration.

"They are going to have to develop a system for reimbursing passengers for lost or stolen bags," said Barry Steinhardt, a lawyer who follows security issues for the American Civil Liberties Union. "Nothing has ever occurred on this scale before, where you have the government searching a billion bags. So, law is going to be made here."