I recently attended a conference and brought a server along with me for a presentation. I checked the computer box, and on arrival noticed there was TSA tape along the bottom of the box. When I opened the box (20 minutes before the presentation), the network cables, power cable, and keyboard that had been in the bottom of the box were missing, replaced with the TSA notice. Luckily I was able to hunt down the items in time, but it almost ruined my presentation! The value of the missing items isn't great, but is there anything I can do about this?

Send your computer via Fedex, not as checked luggage.

This always scares me as a college student because I check most of my stuff when moving out to NYC. I'm scared that some TSA person will steal all my stuff and make me go out of my way to buy new sheets and stuff.

Yeah, unfortunately didn't have time for this, flew out the same day as the presentation

I put in a claim late last November for a can of Tiger Beer that went missing from one of my bags when I was in transit at LAX and my bags underwent inspection before my domestic flights.

When it was the only thing missing in my bag when I got home I was pretty miffed (it was just a little gift for my dad).

So you gather your document: boarding passes, copies of your check-in bag receicpt, the TSA card/sticker, itinerary, tickets and a receipt for the item. The TSA has a list online (don't bother calling, you just get a message saying go to the website). I didn' t have a receipt (free beer!) so I just went online and found a price of $3.95 from Yahoo Shopping and gave the TSA that.

I mailed the documents at the beginning of Dec and received a check for $3.95 over memorial day weekend (6 months).

Whether carelessness/theft it should be reported even for these little things (because they may move up to bigger things later). And helping to get rid of sloppy/dishonest screeners helps the image of those guys that are just trying to do their job right. I wasn't after the $3.95, naturally, but if they had a problem employee, I was hoping my report would help them get rid of him/her.

IMHO