It happened several times in the last 2 years. I travel frequently to the States and often VIE-FRA-JFK. I arrived home yesterday and noticed that a sixpack of new socks and a new pair of sneakers disappeared out of my checked luggage. Lost year it was a Star Wars DVD. Could that have been the TSA people? And if so, what do I do. Just swallow it? Did any of you have experiences like that?

Odds are it was luggage handlers. I've had things stolen when routed thru JFK on AA but that was back in '02. Now I lock all my suitcase with a TSA approved lock and the only problem I've had was in Indonesia where the lock was broken and my bag was ransacked.

Please continue to follow this thread in the Travel Safety/Security Forum
Thanks..
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

The TSA is at fault. Full stop.

Theft from checked baggage -> criminal had access to the bag in the "secure" part of an airport.

Criminals having access to a checked bag after checkin -> TSA failure.
Criminals having access to the ramp, screening areas, etc. -> TSA failure.

It does not matter who did the stealing; any theft from a checked bag is a failure of the TSA to do one of the most fundamental aspects of its mission.

i often get my bags wrapped in plastic if i am carrying anything valuble besides clothes...most theives will move on since that stuff is hard to take off, it also gives you a better idea of weather your bag has been opened or not....it also makes it really easy to spot at the baggage claim!...

well, I know they opened my luggage, cause the TSA slip was inside saying it was inspected ... so I assume one of the inspectors took the stuff

Shoes and socks? Times must be tough, we’ve come a long way from TSOs stealing broadcast quality video cameras.

If it's any consolation, you’re not alone:


Linkage

You haven't yet gotten a straight answer to your original questions, mainly because this is an old and very frustrating story. The short answer is: yes, it could have been the TSA people. Or it could have been the airline baggage handlers, helped by the fact that, as ralfp said, TSA don't check who (or what) goes in and out of the "secure" area where bags are loaded. What do you do? There's not much. If the loss is large enough, see if your travel insurance will cover it. You can write to the airlines and airports involved, but the TSA will say "It was probably the baggage handlers" and the airline will say "it was probably the TSA" and they will both stand there looking like guilty children saying "you can't prove it was us." It is very unlikely that either will admit anything.

Yeah, it's happened to a lot of us, and people we know. And as N965VJ points out, 128,000 other people.

If you check on this thread (link), there's a discussion about whether to lock your bag, and other ideas about having a photograph and inventory of the contents.

Some of the TSA people claim that it's the passengers fault if they put valuable items in checked baggage. To our TSA members, I have to ask: "Socks?????"

Does a baggage handler have access to your bag after it is checked? Are you sure a TSO stole your property? Wouldn't it make far more sense for a TSO not to leave a card if they stole something from your bag?

Who says it makes sense?

Wow, that was fast!

I'm just curious why the finger is always pointed at the TSA. Both TSOs and baggage handlers have been caught stealing. I haven't any threads where a person has said "dont fly with Miscellaneous airlines they stole my property".

Let me start by agreeing with your statement that both TSA people and baggage handlers have been caught stealing.

1) Should the finger never point at the TSA? Too many of your colleagues say "It couldn't possibly be us." The TSA needs to shoulder its share of the blame.

2) TSA's share of the blame is more than half - much more. Even when it's a baggage handler who actually committed the theft, it was facilitated by several TSA policies.

First, by TSA policy, checked bags are either unlocked, cable-tied, locked with flimsy TSA locks (the keys to which are available to thousands of people), or have real locks which TSA is allowed to break off. TSA removes locks and forgets to replace them. In pre-TSA times, we could lock our bags properly.

Second, in most airports, TSA x-rays the bags in the so-called secure area. There must be set-ups where the baggage handlers can catch a glimpse of what's on the x-ray, identify a likely bag, and then access it later. There is also scope for TSA staff and baggage handlers to cooperate in identifying and opening bags.

Third, TSA doesn't screen every person who enters or leaves the so-called secure area every time they enter or leave. This makes it possible for a baggage handler to take stuff out without scrutiny. It also makes it possible for the bad bad baggage handlers that are stealing all this stuff to put drugs or guns or a bomb INTO a bag after its been checked, without TSA knowing. Why doesn't TSA get that?? Yeah, the airport workers and TSA people had background checks, including the ones that you and I agree have been caught stealing. Big deal.

Fourth, due to the liquid restrictions, many people have to check bags when they might have carried on before. We're told to check anything "unusual" that might get confiscated by an over-eager TSA screener. More bags is more opportunity.

Finally, it appears that TSA policy will not allow video surveillance of the baggage inspection and handling areas; the claim that it is too expensive is absurd, as a whole airport could be fitted with video gear for less than the cost of one nude-o-scope. I'm guessing the real reason is that TSA just don't want the scrutiny.

Bottom line, even if every theft were physically done by the baggage handlers, TSA policy is helping them.

3) There are some people here who say they lost stuff before TSA and it's no different now. But for every one with that view, I've heard 5 or 10 people say that it's much worse than it was. Did baggage handlers suddenly become more criminal when TSA started, or is it more likely that TSA is contributing to the increase, either directly or through their policies?

Because TSA
1) changed long-standing policy to prevent checked bags being SECURELY locked (required nowhere except the U.S.)
2) took away the few plastic-wrap machines available in U.S. airports
3) yet refuses to commit its employees to the accountability level of quality-checkers in a third-world garment sweatshop routinely provide.

Thieves have ever been alongside the many honest baggage handlers; TSA eliminated pax' right to oppose them, thereby REDUCING security.

FTers must be tired of hearing this, but you must have missed it:

I've traveled since the early 1960s on every continent except Antarctica plus many islands, including places where one's mere presence indicates uncountable wealth by local standards, I took moderate precautions and never had a single theft until TSA instituted the unlocked-bag policy. Since then, and ONLY when flying domestically, I experience theft and/or damage several times a year�though I fly much less than others here.

I'd like to challenge the assumption that there was actual theft involved. It seems to me far more likely that this is simple carelessness resulting in small items not getting back into the luggage. I know I have lost things like socks in hotel rooms that way and I would not be at all surprised if the items just ended up on the floor of in somebody else's bag instead of OPs.