TSA baggage seal?
 

Flying out of SEA Monday night, I checked a suitcase and a ski bag, both unlocked. When I got home, I found a "NOTIFICATION OF BAGGAGE INSPECTION" slip inside the ski bag. Among other things, it said that "at the completion of the inspection, the contents were returned to your bag, which was resealed with a tamper-evident seal".

There was no seal on my bag. Nothing was missing, but should they have "sealed" it?

Maybe they did and somebody else removed it once they found nothing in the bag they wanted.

I'm not saying that to be flip, but a dishonest baggage group of people, a towel with some goof off, and bags clean as new, nobody suspects anything was looked at until you get home.

Yeah, maybe if the notification was on the OUTSIDE of the bag, the thieves would be more reluctant. Or an electronic notification done by the baggage barcode and emailed to my preffered notification(like flight notifications)?

('Course they could probably remove the sticker/tags too, so I am imagining a garage somewhere in NYC/SIN/LON wallpapered with stickers-as-trophies and some handlers sitting around that garage wearing my sweater, drinking beers from your stein and eating OUR cheese and sausage)

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"Waiter? May I have another latté, please?"

I'm sorry...I got to this thread late. Did someone have a question about seals? http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif

Typical TSA idiocy! Even if they had placed this 'tamper-evident' seal on your bag, what good is it??? How about tamper-proof??? Does it even tell you what to do in case the 'tamper-evident' seal is missing or has been tampered with?

I have heard that they would put a note inside your luggage if it had been searched and that they were using plastic ties to re-secure bags. I guess it counts for something but certainly it is not enough to deter a thief. What about the bags that aren't searched though? They just get to go on ahead unlocked for anyone to steal from.

They have had a year to come up with a process for screening the bags and there is no reason they could not have done more than this to make sure your belongings are not so susceptible to theft. Instead they wait until the last minute and issue a statement that you have to leave your luggage unlocked.

Edit: for spelling

[This message has been edited by tazi (edited 01-09-2003).]

Concur with your last two statements there, tazi.

As of late 1/6 (or early 1/7 for those of you in MST, CST, EST and beyond ... ), about 10-15% of the bags I saw coming off of baggage claim were TSA tagged with bright pink stickers, none of which had any kind of tamper-proof seal or plastic tie.

What a load of bunk we're being fed. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/mad.gif

[This message has been edited by essxjay (edited 01-09-2003).]

This entire situation has me nervous as a cat. For my next big trip I'm Fed-Ex-ing the meeting relative stuff. I'm entirely rethinking my wardrobe. Wearing my best clothes to fly with as many other 'best' items in my carry on as possible. This is the opposite of my usual policy of having a tiny carry on.
What exactly are we achieving here other than the fact that the majority of people in this country will apparently agree to any stupid scheme if someone puts 'security' on it? I'm slow to anger, but I'm hopping mad over this one.

I handle on-site audio visual production at cities all over the country for a meeting planning company. In order to assure that I will get AV equipment I know will work, I take my own (projector, video cam, tripod, other misc equipment, etc).

My LOCKED 70# Pelican travel case has been all over the US on many airlines over the years with no troubles. I will NOT check it unlocked, but I can't get anyone at TSA to give me a straight answer on consistent landside hand inspection upon request then locked the rest of the way. I am forced now to UPS Red at $$$$ each way.

Any other media/AV producers/crew have hints on how to handle the TSA? I want my case *locked* all the way through, after hand inspection, all the time.

Thanks

Check out http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum81/HTML/003378.html

Looking at my golf case, I do see the remnants of the pink TSA tag they applied at LAX. But TSA is different at every airport and they didn't do the tag at SFO. While they opened my bag somewhere at SFO and inserted the little note, they didn't re-seal with ties or anything. They simply closed the latches.

Now I'm wondering what happens when you travel a lot and check bags a lot. You'll end up with plenty of pink stickers on your bags. They are tough to peel off and I can't see the TSA working their finger nails on the stickers.

I am very sad for the people such as photographers and media planners at meetings who have to ship valuable items or risk not being able to do business.

When I price an air ticket now, I price the ticket + the cost of shipping.

This has increased the distance/hours we are willing to drive rather than fly. We now consider 7 hours a reasonable drive and wonder when an 8 hour drive will be considered reasonable. When you consider all the airport foolings around, it's not that much more time than flying.

Is anyone listening to us?

I also do AV (audio) work all over the country, and I think that using UPS might be your best bet, at least for now.

I just got back from a 10-day show in San Diego, and the video guy checked his tech kit without locking it; sure enough, it was dumped onto the tarmac in Boston! He's missing ~$500 worth of connectors/adapters/etc., and now has to fight with UA and/or TSA about responsibility.

I guess you just have to work those extra costs into the job quotes from now on...

Alan

I agree. Sadly, the justification for driving rather than flying has gone way up. It sadly adds to pollution, lost airline revenue, and hassle factor for travellers who now have to drive long distances rather than relax on a flight.

There are truly no winners here, except for the terrorists...

I'm right there with you. My threshold used to be about a 4 hour drive / 250-mile trip. Now it's about 8 hours / 500 miles, thanks to "enhanced" security.

Only way I get on a <500 mile flight is if the fare is dirt cheap, I have an elite status on that airline, and a rental car on the other end is either cheap or not needed.

And I don't even have unusual luggage to deal with...