guloxi

Amen to that.

vassilipan

I routinely wait for my property to enter the X-ray and was recently chastised by a screener for doing so. When I told the WTMD screener I was waiting for my items to move down the belt, the smart-a$$ by the belt said, "Yea, there's a lot of shoe stealing going on." I guess you can't include civility in TSO training.

2mg

GBU!

horse glasses

This only works if you aren't traveling alone, but when mr. horse glasses is with me, I always time it so that the laptop goes through in between us so that one of us watches it go in and the other is on the other side to grab it coming out.

birdstrike

^ Bracketed by bins with jackets and kippie bags (when I had a kippie bag). Expensive stuff remains in the middle.

With the stuff I carry, I'm not so worried about the TSA as the pax on the airside of the x-ray.

Welcome back Bart!

flyingbrick

Because if you leave it in your pocket and the TSA decides (for whatever reason) to wand you, they take away your wallet and put it in a bin by itself thru x-ray. You are now "detained" and your wallet is exposed, unattended and out of your sight. Not good at all. Better inside your luggage.

birdstrike

Only if the wallet alarms.

Bart

Clearly there are a wide range of experiences at the WTMD. If you ever encounter a rude TSO or one who does not allow you to place your property in the x-ray machine properly, ask to speak with the supervisor. TSOs are obligated to notify supervisors at a passenger's request. You may end up holding up the rest of the line; however, seems to me that it's more important that a supervisor be made aware whenever a TSO is acting improperly.

Key point is that you calmly explain the situation and avoid getting emotional, calling the TSO names or using the Kip-Hawley-is-an-idiot approach. That only puts your credibility in question and leads the supervisor to believe that you're just looking for trouble.

Bottom line is that you are responsible for placing your items in the x-ray machine, and you are responsible for recovering your own property. If a TSO has to handle your property for any reason, that TSO is responsible for notifying you that your property either has to be re-run through the x-ray machine and/or searched, and that TSO assumes responsibility for handling your property responsibly and returning it to you in the same condition minus any prohibited items you may have had. Of course, if there's anything illegal in your property, then it becomes a different issue.

Whining online may help relieve the stress travelers feel, but it does little to improve the process. Submitting written complaints works.

CPT Trips

If the screener has to notify me of the need to rescreen my stuff, why am I routinely separated from my property while waiting for the orthopedic shoe swab? In some airports - LAS - there is a physical barrier (glass enclosed - really the penalty box) that inhibits verbal communication. Who is responsible for my property while I am being prevented from touching it?

mgilmer

LOL

davidcalgary29

I can't speak for the TSA, but I can attest to having been involved with one prosecution of a CATSA officer at a major Canadian airport for theft. This particular officer stole a number of items by using the ol' bin switcheroo tactic: as soon as pax had been instructed to put their valuables in a bin, and the pax moved on, the officer would take it, move it to another spot in the screening line, and then casually switch it for an empty bin. The officer then removed the valuable and kept it beneath the screening table(s) and would retrieve it/them at a later date. He was only caught after a passenger realized mid-flight that he did not have his wallet, created a major stink with the airline, the airport, and CATSA, and insisted on a full investigation. I'm sure that the other victims simply thought that they had lost their valuables, or that it had been another pax who had stolen them, and consequently did nothing about their losses.

So yes, I'd have to say that this is, unfortunately, a realistic concern for air travellers. I am sure that an equal amount of risk must come from fellow travellers, but I have to say that I never did see a file with that particular fact scenario.

frink

Bart, what are your thoughts on the following:

Some mornings at SJC, multiple xray machine lines are open, but with fewer metal detectors. E.g. lane 1 is xray only, lane 2 is xray+metal detector. People who put bags into the xray in lane 1 are directed to lane 2 for metal detecting and then funneled back to lane 1 to collect their bags. I've tried complaining to the supervisor that this is unacceptable (can't see your bags at all after you put them into the lane 1 machine). His responses were a) "No one else has complained before" b) "Do you want me to shut down that line [lane 1] and make everyone wait longer?" etc.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Was going through MIA on Saturday and the guy in front of me throws his wallett and a wad of cash into the plastic bin. I was like you are not going to actually leave that in the open and unattended. He was like beyond shocked that someone might steal his wallett and particularly the cash at the security checkpoint.

Bart

First of all, that supervisor is in dire need of learning how to talk to people. I find those comments rude and condescending.

Second of all, unfortunately, this is the new trend called the 2:1 checkpoint configuration. Some brainchild figured that one way to meet the demand with our limited manpower would be to configure checkpoints with a 2 lane-to-one WTMD ratio. At our airport, the second WTMDs were removed so that we had no choice but to man it at 2:1.

Xyzzy

I've been stuck at 2:1 checkpoints while they found someone to do secondary on the person in front of me. My stuff was pushed through by me as I walked to the WTMD. Normally that works fine. This time it ended up at the far end of the X-ray output tray for *minutes*. I was LIVID and made a huge stink about it until they let me through.