TSA - I hate your Inspectors
 

I arrived today in London to discover the regulation 'Notice of Baggage Inspection' leaflet inside. However one thing was missing from my packed luggage a magazine on Yatchs, not very important you may say, however I stupidly placed a recent A4 photograph of myself with my son between the pages for protection, the last one we had taken taken together, and the most recent for a number of years. I understand this was from his digital camera from an event early last year. This photograph is now of course missing!. Unfortunately my son comitted suicide on the 21st of November, so my last memory of him in now in the hands of a TSA guy either in Orlando or DFW.

TSA means Thieving Security Addicts to me.

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Sorry for your loss.

So sorry for your loss.
I had a lost item situation that was fixed by a few phone calls. Some TSA person took something out of my bag and forgot to put it back in.
Try calling your airline, UA was very helpful in my event.

Very unfortunate ordeal. Hope they bring the culprit to justice.

Too many bags are being unnecessarily opened. :td:

It's too easy to accuse TSA screeners of theft. Unfortunately, there are some among our ranks who do steal, and I hope they are soon caught, charged and terminated.

However, I think in many cases, screeners fail to notice the sock that falls out of the bag or if they do notice it, they assume it fell out of the bag they are currently inspecting. I try to encourage my screeners to be methodical, thorough and deliberate with each and every bag they screen. Pretty hard to do during rush periods when the pressure is on to quicken the pace.

One suggestion I might make (and I've made this suggestion numerous times when I used to contribute to this forum more frequently), if your checked baggage is being screened at a TSA pod located inside the lobby, in other words, you can see the EDS and ETD machines, ask if you can observe your luggage be screened. (We screen checked bags according to flight times with the next flight having priority over all others, so screeners may not be able to accomodate this request immediately.) That way, if screeners need to open your bag for any reason, then you can observe the process.

Many passengers drop off their bags and don't bother to stick around.

This suggestion does not apply to TSA baggage screening pods located behind the ticket counter and out of public view. Eventually, all TSA pods will be located out of public view as airports can afford the construction costs for renovation.

What about airports that screen in the lobby but that REFUSE to let customers watch? EWR is notorious for this. They hide behind screening partitions and actively shoo away anyone who tries to see what' is going on.

If the TSA had better screening machines they'd have to open fewer bags. They could then make sure that everything gets put back and put back properly. If they didn't try to make this a secret process things would be a LOT better.

As far as the original poster is concerned, my rule #1 of checked baggage is to never check anything you can't afford to never see again. Unfortunately, it seems you learned this the hard way. I'm very sorry to hear of your loss.

At PHX, pax drop off their bags and then are shooed away by TSA.

And I hope eventually it's in the TSA's plans to get better detection equipment such that fewer bags are opened and passengers are given the option to be paged to observe physical searches . . . just like Europe, Hong Kong, and Israel. :rolleyes:

- Pat

Of course, I can only speak for how we do things at my airport; however, in the baggage pods I described (located inside the public lobby), passengers have a right to observe their property being physically inspected. It should go without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that passengers can't stand behind the x-ray operator observing x-ray images; however, if a screener needs to physically inspect a bag, the owner has the right to observe the inspection.

I suggest notifying the TSA supervisor and/or airline representative for resolution at airports where passengers are shooed away. This, to me, doesn't sound right, but I'm not stationed at EWR, there may be other circumstances I'm not aware of.

True. However, contrary to public perception, there is no fail-safe technology yet that absolutely detects explosives with 100% accuracy. These machines detect characteristics associated with explosives; however, a jar of peanut butter, believe it or not, has some of the same characteristics. Our job is to make sure that the jar of peanut butter is, in fact, a jar of peanut butter as opposed to an explosive packed inside a jar with a peanut butter label on it.

I agree with you that TSA screeners should strive to put the bag back in the same manner they found it.

It's not a secret process. A lot of the procedures are explained to the public. However, not everything can be revealed nor should be. Does a banker explain the details of how money transfers are made? Of course not, but the banker gives you enough information for you to accomplish the transfer.

Paging passengers isn't always practical. Passengers don't always respond to pages whenever they leave their luggage locked. Given the choice between holding the bag and cutting the lock open so that the bag can be placed on the flight, I've had to cut the lock. I always note the circumstances, number of pages that went out and name of the airline representative I coordinated with. I'm very conscientious about having to cut open a lock and do so as a last resort.

But I am curious how they do it in the locations you mentioned.

Another sad story in an incompetent agency. Sorry to hear about your loss.

Makes sense to me; however, I think passengers who send their bags locked should be warned by TSA or airline personnel that: they will be paged to open their bags; and if they don't show up, the lock will be broken, or they simply won't be allowed to board. Or, their boarding passes could be held until TSA notifies that the bag has been cleared, and the pax can proceed to security checkpoint. Paging is not an airport-wide published option!!!

I'm extremely disturbed and disgusted that this concept can't be implemented throughout the country for AT LEAST internationally-bound passengers! TSA at least needs to understand that internationally-bound pax check in at least one hour prior to departure and should be considerate of the inherent fact that the bag and its owner are leaving US soil and into the jurisdiction of another government!!! (Bag theft is common in India and the Philippines. That's why many Indians and Filipinos lock their bags using bag locks or use hardshells. In Singapore and the Philippines, there's the death penalty for drug trafficking.)

May I ask what airport you work in? In DTW, airline agents ask if your bags are unlocked, even for internationally-bound flights. An agent told my father (bound for BKK!!!) to remove his lock because his bag was selected to be sent to the X-ray machine behind-the-scenes. Having checked in 3 hours in advance, he was rather pissed that he wasn't given the option to be paged or at least be given the opportunity to somehow get his lock back on his bag after TSA screening. However, a TSA screener behind the agent that does closed-bag ETD screening took sympathy on my father and placed one of those disposable TSA tie-seals (those are now a thing of the past) and explained to him that the seal won't be broken if the bag isn't searched, and a new TSA seal will be placed should the bag need to be inspected. He seemed less ticked but still annoyed at the fact that TSA could just ruffle through his stuff behind his back.

Next time I'm going to challenge DTW airline agents, and ask why I can't be paged, especially if I check in 2-3 hours in advance.

Israel/Bangkok/Manila/Singapore: In-your-face bag screening before you drop it off to the airline ticket agent.
Hong Kong: Behind-the-scenes screening. Passengers are paged for physical inspection.
UK: Pax paged even if the bag has no lock. If the pax doesn't show up, the bag is locked in a secure area and potentially blown up. :D

I'd like to see the following TSA signs in the future:
* Screening in lobby: "Baggage locked? Please wait until your baggage has been cleared. Failure to wait may result in broken locks should a physical inspection be required."
* Screening behind-the-scenes: "Baggage locked? Please notify your airline upon checking in. Failure to notify may result in broken locks should a physical inspection be required."
* "Don't mind having your bags physically searched without your presence? Please leave your bags unlocked or use a TSA-approved lock."

IMHO, TSA-approved locks should be for passengers who don't like to show up for bag searches. If given the option of paging or using TSA locks, I'd use TSA locks for domestic flights. For international flights, I'd use "strong" locks and demand to be paged.

For the most part, baggage inspection is my main issue with TSA: give at least internationally-bound pax the option to watch physical inspections and have their bags relocked and get rid of closed-bag ETD screenings.

Cheers, Bart. ^

- Pat

How thorough can a check be, when the screener doesn't notice items falling out of bags? Do items that may pose a threat have to be at least 1 ft long, heavy and screaming neon yellow so screeners will notice them? Am I wrong in thinking that you may easily miss small dangerous items if you don't even have an idea of what's in the bag and what might have fallen out of a bag that was screened earlier?

Sorry this is plain wrong, transparency is the key to everything. If the system works then transparency will NOT provide a loophole for terrorists.
And yes the banker will explain in detail how a wire transfer is done if you wish, you have a right to know and it is ofcourse also public knowledge.

Intransparent procedures create fraud, corruption and stealing, everybody knows this and no government agency can be excluded from that rule.