Since it’s Conspiracy Saturday, how about this one: TSA agents are supposed to steal stuff to help with the security theatrics to make you feel unsafe.
It defies public-trust expectations, but there are rogue officers at the Transportation Security Administration who think nothing of stealing your stuff.
[…]
The TSA also estimates that for every TSA employee who touches a bag, some six to 10 airline or airport employees and contractors also have — mostly out of view of the passenger.
[…]
There are steps you can take to keep your things out of thieves’ hands:
- As much as possible, keep a watchful eye on your belongings. “You are responsible for your property as it proceeds through the screening process,” according to the TSA.
- Do not pack jewelry, cash, laptops, electronics or any fragile items in your baggage. Leave anything that you can’t live without at home.
- Skip the trays that the airport provides for jewelry, watches and wallets, and belts — using them invites theft. Take off those items before you get to the security line and put them in the pocket of a carry-on.
If you have a lost or missing item from a security checkpoint, check the airport’s lost and found first. The TSA has a list of all the phone numbers at every airport.
If you think your property was stolen, or damaged, during the screening process you can file a claim online.
I don’t fly anymore, and this is why…
If I did, I would travel with a trunk with [Fragile Electronic Components] labels on it. The case would be filled WiFi transmitters, remote cameras, air bags and pressure sensitive triggers. 🙂
I’d transmit to the internet the surprised looks on their ugly mugs as the air bags went off in their faces.
It is easy for people to say – you don’t like the TSA then don’t fly. Well, think. Some of us MUST travel by air. I don’t commute from LA to San Diego. I fly internationally. I can’t spend a week on a trans-Pacific cruise ship! I have never in the last decade flown out of the US without being selected for extra security scrutiny. Why? I’m a very WASP-looking grandfather in a “respected” profession often with US Gov-issued identification! But my passport was issued in Kabul. And I’ve got stamps from several Muslim nations. I had a TSA groper once ask me what I did in Indonesia. Odd. My ticket was for London!
Okay. My vote is for sale. My price? A believable promise to reduce the size of government. That reduction should include downsizing the DHS and returning the TSA to minimum wage security guards waving wands.
Security on airplanes should mostly be hardened cockpits and PRIVATE armed sky-marshals. The TSA has proven time and time again they are incapable of thwarting any threat other than a filled diaper.
Of course, that’s just MY opinion and you’re welcome to it.
There needs to be an air travel provision for the rest of us non paranoid fliers.
Driving my car is more dangerous as is walking down the side walk.
#7,
Here in St. Louis we had a number of baggage handlers caught stealing from suitcases. … It was in the local news a few times. All were suspended. Only one lost his job, because it was his second offense. The rest of the thieve had their job saved by the union and are back handling luggage every day.
Ya, right. Bash the unions at every chance. Invent a story if necessary, which is almost all the time.
Another anti American caught lying.
#35 should have had this link attached.
http://tinyurl.com/44mw568
Of course, the BEST WAY to protect yourself from the TSA is to NOT TRAVEL BY AIR !!! Drive or take a train if you can ….
>> JimD said, on July 5th, 2011 at 9:08 am
>> is to NOT TRAVEL BY AIR !!! Drive or take a train if you can ….
We libs have been pushing for high-speed rail for decades. But conservative have successfully blocked every effort. Maybe TSA abuse will change that.
>> chuck said, on July 2nd, 2011 at 4:33 pm
>>>> “If you think your property was stolen, or damaged, during the screening process, you can file a claim online.”
>> …The claim will be ignored, and your name will be added to the do-not-fly list.
Exactly.
I filed an on-line complaint once for lost items. They sent me a another form. I gave up, which I assume is their strategy.
I couldn’t find the link on Google but I’m pretty sure a TSA agent(s) got busted for theft here in Portland a couple of years ago. I remember a local news clip where they found a whole bunch of stuff in her house she was selling on-line.