when you get the note from TSA in your checked bag...
 

It happened to me for the first time on my last flight leg - I unpacked my
suitcase (checked) and found the note that it had been "inspected".

I guess I have a few questions:

1. What do they do when they inspect a bag? Do they handle your stuff?
I had some plastic bags inside my suitcase with the clothes in them, and I
couldn't tell if those were opened/closed or never opened.
(All of the clothes went right into the laundry just in case.)

2. Do they select bags randomly? If not, what criteria do they use?

3. Is there some record of what bags are searched in case something turns
up missing from a bag? (This did not happen in my case.)

4. Does anyone know - when does this inspection happen? One would hope
that it is before loading, if they think they might find something bad.

5. Are all passenger-checked bags X-rayed also anyway? If so, what is
the purpose of the opening/searching process on top of that? (Or rather,
if it is necessary, why do it so sporadically?)

Thanks for any answers!!

--LG

Much like the x-ray, they are looking to resolve an alarm. Usually they have an idea what it might be (certain shape, for example). There is a possibility that they go thru your stuff if the alarm is at the bottom. They shouldn't be searching like customs though ... they just don't have the time.

As in answer 1, it's usually to resolve some sort of alarm on the CTX machine, or a screener might think something looks odd about your bag.

Not one that's given to pax, if there is one at all. You're always free to file a claim if something comes up missing or damaged though.

It happens before the bag is sent to the plane. TSA acts as an intermediary to airline counter and the plane. They screen all bags. Sometimes it's behind the scenes. Other times, you'll get the destination tags and then you have to take your bags to the TSA folks manning the CTX. It all depends on how the airport was designed. Some airports just don't have the room behind the scenes so the CTX machines are up front near the check in counters.

Super

5. Are all passenger-checked bags X-rayed also anyway? If so, what is
the purpose of the opening/searching process on top of that? (Or rather,
if it is necessary, why do it so sporadically?)

Thanks for any answers!!

--LG[/QUOTE]

(I wonder what looked "odd")
 

Thanks for the speedy answers! I have no idea what might have set off
an "alarm" though. It was almost entirely clothing; I don't think there were
even any shoes in there. Maybe a deodorant or something that I culled from
my carry-on. But actually, most of my cosmetics/toiletries/electronics were
in my *other* checked bag. How weird.

Of course, it could have looked suspicious because my kids had recently
decorated the suitcase with shiny star stickers all over it. :)

--LG

From what the TSA folks have said, toothpaste has set it off before.

Toothpaste, some bars of soap, chocolate. If it's opaque, the more likely it alarms.

Yeah, they don't like opaque, but once when I few with Christmas lights -- multiple sets -- LOTS of wires... nothing. I was shocked. And this was post- 9/11. Whatever.

I've seen such a love note from TSA only twice.

Once was when I checked a roll-aboard type of bag leaving DCA in 2002. They undid the bolts that held its foot in place, and left the foot, the bolts, the nuts and the washers inside the bag, with one of their notes. I have no clue why a hollow piece of plastic became the object of such curiousity. But to be safe, I replaced it with a solid piece of plastic, using a length of PVC brick mould and screws. Four years and so far so good. So there. It is one tough bag.

The other TSA love-note incident involved the type of heavy flying discs used for "frisbee golf." Returning, I carried them on. Let me tell you, they caused quite a stir at the x-ray station. They showed me the images - opaque discs. Even knowing what they were, they looked downright evil on the xray image.

A friend of mine did a six week assignment in Paris. From the last trip, the things he found he needed and couldn't find in Paris were telephone wire, Mountain Dew, and an alarm clock.

Consider what that looks like in an X-ray machine.

Deleted

Yeah, that was pretty silly having to open every bag that alarmed, but then again you can't do a crash course training on CTX. I pretty much guessed that. It's a good thing that TSA can use on-screen tools now to resolve alarms as a first step. ^ I don't see them open as many bags as before. However, I think it's absolutely absurd that there are rows of CTX machines behind-the-scenes with TSA physically lifting the bags on to the CTX machines and throwing them straight to the conveyor. That's a waste of $$$ and very inefficient. I think it would be a good idea to use airport staff.

I personally hate ETD exterior sampling. :td: Isn't the failure rate like 50%? And ETD full search is extremely painful and long for the TSA screener. I still swear that managing the locations of CTX machines, TSA staff and matching it with demand will do a better job.

Thanks for participating.

I recently got back from Honolulu and did not get a note, in my bag. However, I did not lock my suitcase, I used one of those plastic zip-lock ties, to secure my bag. My plastic tie was cut and my bag unsecured. I assume they inspected my bag.

i usually bring a lot of food from the us back to kosova. i get the love notes from tsa every trip and with every suitcase. i don't really mind except the one time they forgot to close the bottle of shampoo, what a mess! also i have had a couple of items go missing. in fairness i can't be 100 per cent sure it was tsa, but i am 90 %.

Many foods products trigger a search. I assume the machine looks at organic molecules as possible explosives. My daughter likes to travel with chocolate bars as gifts. Generally, the TSA helps themselves to a few bars and leaves their "thank you note" behind. It's seems a bit over the top when they open the bars, take a bite and put them back. (Yes, it has happened.)

The bigger problem though is when they rumage around, they don't bother repacking properly and anything the least bit fragile then gets broken by the airlines. I can't quite get my daughter to see just how expensive those bargain chocolate bars are...

At least according to another thread that was posted here, TSA says that if they didn't put a tag in the suitcase, it wasn't them. :rolleyes:

When I travel Europe-US with my Rimowa aluminum suitcase I always get the love note. So far it hasn't happened with my old Atlantic, so I guess looks is a factor for TSA as well.

Cheers

I only check my (clothes) bags when I'm checking my (gun) bags. But I've gotten the notes several times - but always in the clothes bags and never the gun bags.

This seems Very Strange to me.

Once they must have been very curious about my ammo because when I got hom there were several hundred rounds of 22 and 380 ammo rolling around inside my bag because they didn't latch the holder correctly.

omg!
 

Oh no! That is terrible. (I guess it's "nice" of them to poison-test the
bars for you j/k)

Interestingly, we didn't use a lock, but used twist-ties to secure the zippers,
and those were twisted back together carefully. We haven't invested in
those TSA-approved locks, because I'm not sure it's worth it...why have a
lock if it's just a lock that can be opened?

--LG

My understanding is that besides the manufacturers, TSA is the only one to have master keys for the locks. While they can get in to the lock, it should keep the ramp workers out. They'd still be beneficial outside the US.

Super

Add Velveeta and Peanut Butter to the food products that require a bag to be hand searched.

Do you know if this is just since the "liquid/gel" thing, or always? We
definitely have flown with PB in our checked luggage in the past, but I
don't remember getting the note.

--LG

In my experience brownies, fudge, and lead crystal will trigger inspections, too.

Deleted

yum!
 

I think I want to travel with all of you who bring fancy chocolate, brownies,
and fudge along. :)

--LG

We used TSA locks on a trip from Europe to the US this year and the TSA lock was cut off! The TSA said that they are not always recognised!

I've had deodorant and coins set off alarms. Never pack either at the top or bottom of your cases.

I guess most of you don't fly out of DFW and don't use curb side check in.

Before DFW got the in line system all curb side bags were done by hand. Now only terminal A since the didn't have funding for the inline system there.

[QUOTE=Bart]The intent all along was to have in-line baggage systems that minimized the number of bags and number of times that they would have to be handled by either TSA officers or airline employees. Unfortunately, this means having to reconfigure the conveyor systems to accomodate the CTX and ETD machines. Some folks just can't adjust to changes in the matrix.
[QUOTE]

Just allow paging once all major airports get this system and I'm all for it. I think the feds are slowly giving funds to TSA and airports to build these systems. My father works for a conveyor company that builds these systems for the airports. Small airports like DSM and SYR could be put at the bottom of the list and stand-alone CTX machines from major airports with inline systems can be sent there.

No offense, but I want TSA down-sized. They should be used for essential tasks like reading x-ray screens and ETD testing. (I'll avoid the privatization controversy here.) Using TSA for loading and unloading baggage is like using a police officer as a toll-booth collector. I still think TSA staffing is not properly planned at airports. Sometimes there are 3 screeners at a CTX machine with low pax volume and sometimes there's 1 screener at a CTX machine with 10-20 bags!!! :eek: (He ended up doing a mass ETD swab on all of them and then threw them on the baggage conveyor.)

Sorry, but no. It's not that difficult to get a master lock ... think eBay and other more nefarious schemes ...

locks...
 

Hm, so what do you do personally? I guess if you don't have anything that is
both valuable and liquid/gel, you could split the carry-on/checked that way and
just not lock it.... That's what we've done.

Of course, in a sense, everything in my luggage is "valuable" to me! Maybe
the TSA-locks are less likely (even if possible) to be tampered with?

It does bother me that the TSA locks are so brightly-colored and obvious
to bystanders. I mean, if a thief had to investigate locks closely before
knowing if his/her skeleton key would work, then it would be another
deterrent. Surely the TSA folks get up close enough that they don't need
the special color indicators....

--LG

It's happened to me as well somewhere between HNL and BWI. I even told the TSA agent that they were TSA locks. :rolleyes:

With the symbols on the locks and saying TSA on them, it shouldn't be too hard to recognize. I personally think TSA agents are lazy and just cut them instead of finding keys.

Ok, the theory went ... :)

Civil Fine in my future?
 

Friday, I checked my golf bag DEN-ELP. When I got to ELP no golf bag and no clothing. My stuff came in on the next flight, and my TSA approved TUMI cable lock was missing. Looked in the golf bag and had a love note, and an orange note that said that they had removed "hazmat", from my bag, and described it as a lighter or matches. I can only think that I may have had a lighter in one of the pockets, since I have been known to smoke a cigar now and then. I would like to file a claim for the $20 lock that went missing, but am afraid that I would be subjected to a civil fine for violating the prohibition on lighters in checked luggage.

Think I have to worry about getting a civil fine levied?

No, it was way before (since 2002) when a bunch of my co-workers and I were staffed overseas and stocked the larder with food from the states on every trip home.

I get the TSA note quite often. My 'guess' is it's the bottle of wine in my checked bag I usually take on overseas trips (w/ the GPB exchange rate it's cheaper to bring a bottle & have a glass of wine in my room before going out than pay for it at the hotel bar!). Or it could be flat-iron (for hair). Given I pack the bottle well & in the middle to avoid breakage, I always worry that TSA is just going to toss it back in & it will roll to the side/get smashed. Cheers.

PS - it never occurred to me that food would set off any alarms!