what is the deal with the TSA?!?

[mlmdub130]

so i just got home from costa rica, which btw is the most amazing place ever, and when my baggage came up at the carousel at dulles my bag was wide open. i don't mean like kinda open i mean they broke the zipper and made the most laughable/retarded attempt to tape it shut i have ever seen and the bag was open for all to see. from first glance it appears everything is still in the luggage, but who knows i was there for a week and packed a ton of crap. after talking to a few morons at dulles last night, our flight landed at midnight, i had no luck. the people at dulles said i should contact TSA but TSA would only send me back a standard letter and not pay for anything. after doing a little research online it appears i will most likely get nothing back but sent a complaint anyway.

i guess i will wait and see what happens but i feel that in the end i will get nothing and be out a $150 peice of luggage. just wondering if anyone has had any similiar problems with TSA and what the end result was.

[FRPLG]

was it locked?

[GMScud]

I think a big part of the problem is that you're putting hourly employees who are for the most part probably making $10-$15/hr on the front lines of USA airport safety. Kind of scary, and a lot of times you may not have the sharpest tool in the box patting you down or checking your luggage.

TSA Fondles Women and Children Refusing Airport Naked Body Scanners

[mooby]

I feel like we are walking an extremely fine line between invasion of privacy and national security.

I mean for the people who advocate more personal privacy at the airports, etc., what happens when that loss of security directly contributes to a terrorist attack in the US?

And I know at the same time if I was going through an airport checkpoint with absolutely nothing of note on me, I wouldn't like it if they pulled me aside, and made me completely undress in the name of a random search. But I will put up with that if that's what it takes to stop terrorists.

It's a very tough line the gov't has to walk, to make sure that the citizens safety is the highest priority, but at the same time we have to protect our privacy rights. It just seems no matter what happens, nobody will be happy.

I'm sorry that your luggage got ripped open and you can't do anything about it, but that's just the way it is nowadays.

And it's not just about terrorist attacks too. When guys and girls are smuggling drugs into the country through their stomachs and rectums, you have to find a way to stop them when they go through the airport. And that is why you see naked body scanners at the airports today.

So would you rather they go away at the expense of allowing more illegal drugs into the country, or would you rather they stay and invade your privacy? As the cartels in Mexico keep making billions of dollars off all the illegal drugs they sell in the US, the US has to start increasing methods and ways to stop them from getting into the country. It's not just guys carrying 60 pound marijuana bundles over the US-Mexico border, it's young people ingesting up to the 30 of these tiny ingestible bundles that contain X, coke, w/e, and then crapping them out once they are in safe place for the cartels to sell. If anybody has ever watched that show Border Wars (which I love) you'll get an idea of how hard it is to stop them from getting into the country.

[mlmdub130]

Originally Posted by mooby

I'm sorry that your luggage got ripped open and you can't do anything about it, but that's just the way it is nowadays.

And it's not just about terrorist attacks too. When guys and girls are smuggling drugs into the country through their stomachs and rectums, you have to find a way to stop them when they go through the airport. And that is why you see naked body scanners at the airports today.

So would you rather they go away at the expense of allowing more illegal drugs into the country, or would you rather they stay and invade your privacy? As the cartels in Mexico keep making billions of dollars off all the illegal drugs they sell in the US, the US has to start increasing methods and ways to stop them from getting into the country. It's not just guys carrying 60 pound marijuana bundles over the US-Mexico border, it's young people ingesting up to the 30 of these tiny ingestible bundles that contain X, coke, w/e, and then crapping them out once they are in safe place for the cartels to sell. If anybody has ever watched that show Border Wars (which I love) you'll get an idea of how hard it is to stop them from getting into the country.

the fact that somehow this is an excepted practice is not only sad but mind boggeling.

i have no problem with them doing their job but where in there job does it say to be careless and disrespectful of others personal property? open my stuff up search through it do whatever you have to do to "fight terrorism" but atleast have some respect. and if you damage it tape it shut, they ripped the zipper out of half of the bag and then instead of taping all the way around the bag they put two peices along the zipper.

and honestly how does ripping through my bag help fight drugs thats what the x-rays are for, and all that was in my suitcase was clothes and one knife and a leatherman which are perfectly legal in checked luggage

[Hog1]

Originally Posted by mlmdub130

so i just got home from costa rica, which btw is the most amazing place ever, and when my baggage came up at the carousel at dulles my bag was wide open. i don't mean like kinda open i mean they broke the zipper and made the most laughable/retarded attempt to tape it shut i have ever seen and the bag was open for all to see. from first glance it appears everything is still in the luggage, but who knows i was there for a week and packed a ton of crap. after talking to a few morons at dulles last night, our flight landed at midnight, i had no luck. the people at dulles said i should contact TSA but TSA would only send me back a standard letter and not pay for anything. after doing a little research online it appears i will most likely get nothing back but sent a complaint anyway.

i guess i will wait and see what happens but i feel that in the end i will get nothing and be out a $150 peice of luggage. just wondering if anyone has had any similiar problems with TSA and what the end result was.

Did you tip the luggage guy before boarding?

[mooby]

Originally Posted by mlmdub130

the fact that somehow this is an excepted practice is not only sad but mind boggeling.

i have no problem with them doing their job but where in there job does it say to be careless and disrespectful of others personal property? open my stuff up search through it do whatever you have to do to "fight terrorism" but atleast have some respect. and if you damage it tape it shut, they ripped the zipper out of half of the bag and then instead of taping all the way around the bag they put two peices along the zipper.

and honestly how does ripping through my bag help fight drugs thats what the x-rays are for, and all that was in my suitcase was clothes and one knife and a leatherman which are perfectly legal in checked luggage

I'm assuming it was a part of a random luggage check or some other reason, but that's part of their jobs. And at what did they go through it? Was it when you boarded the flight, after you sent it through the xray machine? Or was that suitcase large enough that it had to be tagged and stowed away in the cargo hold, and it got searched after you sent it into the luggage checkpoint?

Like I said man it sucks that they ripped apart your bag, and then did an insanely bad job at fixing it, but short of a complaint there's not much you can do about it. If I was in your position I'd be pissed too, but unfortunately you'll just have to live with it. If you want you can keep trying to get an apology out of someone, whether it's the airline or the TSA, but I get the feeling you'll just keep running in circles on that one.

[mlmdub130]

Originally Posted by mooby

I'm assuming it was a part of a random luggage check or some other reason, but that's part of their jobs. And at what did they go through it? Was it when you boarded the flight, after you sent it through the xray machine? Or was that suitcase large enough that it had to be tagged and stowed away in the cargo hold, and it got searched after you sent it into the luggage checkpoint?

Like I said man it sucks that they ripped apart your bag, and then did an insanely bad job at fixing it, but short of a complaint there's not much you can do about it. If I was in your position I'd be pissed too, but unfortunately you'll just have to live with it. If you want you can keep trying to get an apology out of someone, whether it's the airline or the TSA, but I get the feeling you'll just keep running in circles on that one.

they went through it at ATL after we arrived from costa rica we had to reclaim our luggage and take it to be re checked prior to going to customs. they searched it after i rechecked it at ATL before it was loaded into the plane. i actaully saw it being loaded into the plane with the tape all over it and knew it was nothing but bad news.

i know it's just wierd that it is acceptable. there was a IAD employee that was there when my luggage came off and he saw it and knew how bad it was and just told me straight up i would get nothing back. it's just weird to me the lact of any form of accountabilty, i just don't get it.

[firstdown]

TSA what does tits & ass have to do with your luggage?

[mlmpetert]

My mom got searched when she went to california. My mom is about the nicest lady youve ever met and was kind of upset and felt really really uncomfortable with the whole thing. Im kind of glad they searched her though i feel like if she can get picked then anyone can. I also think everyone should have to go through the full body scanners. My thoughts are if you want to fly in our skys then you should have to prove youre not going to do something that could kill everyone on board and possibly people on the ground too.

I also think they should be able to search your luggage for bombs, not for drugs though. It all comes down to protecting people who are flying while in America. Its kind of like dui check points; they can do them for the safety reasons, but you can have dogs at check points to sniff out for drugs because thats evasion of your privacy and convenience.

If they were searching your lauage because they thought a bomb might be in it or it was part of their random searches for bombs and broke your zipper because you had a lock on it, then i think thats your fault and im glad TSA isnt lazy to where they wont search something cause it takes extra effort. But if they broke it because they thought there might be some drugs in it or they were just plain careless opening your laugage then thats complete bs.

[over the mountain]

Originally Posted by mlmdub130

the fact that somehow this is an excepted practice is not only sad but mind boggeling.

i have no problem with them doing their job but where in there job does it say to be careless and disrespectful of others personal property? open my stuff up search through it do whatever you have to do to "fight terrorism" but atleast have some respect. and if you damage it tape it shut, they ripped the zipper out of half of the bag and then instead of taping all the way around the bag they put two peices along the zipper.

and honestly how does ripping through my bag help fight drugs thats what the x-rays are for, and all that was in my suitcase was clothes and one knife and a leatherman which are perfectly legal in checked luggage

im just guessin but maybe they saw the knife on the xray and decided to investigate personally? idk how big the knife was but i would assume that if im coming from costa rica and brought a knife in my checked luggage that it would get more scrutiny and probably raise some kinda red flag for further investigation, etc.

is a leatherman a rifle?

a few years after 9/11 i had a bunch of high end salt water lures in my carry on and they made me throw them away, really really sucked. some of them did have huge hooks, i suppose.

[CRedskinsRule]

Not that it is any help at this point, but now you can buy locks that allow for TSA to have a master key, I think all luggage stores sell them.

Sorry for your loss mlmdub. Just seems like there ought to be some sort of acknowledgment of the damage they did.

[mredskins]

Originally Posted by over the mountain

im just guessin but maybe they saw the knife on the xray and decided to investigate personally? idk how big the knife was but i would assume that if im coming from costa rica and brought a knife in my checked luggage that it would get more scrutiny and probably raise some kinda red flag for further investigation, etc.

is a leatherman a rifle?

a few years after 9/11 i had a bunch of high end salt water lures in my carry on and they made me throw them away, really really sucked. some of them did have huge hooks, i suppose.

It is a Swiss Army knife on steroids bitch! =)

[mlmdub130]

so this is what my luggage looked like coming up the carousel. and i guess i forgot to say in my original post that my bag had no lock what so ever on it.

so far i have gotten three seperate emails telling me "Thank you for your inquiry to the Transportation Security Administration. We have forwarded your email to the appropriate group for response."

by this time i'm alot more calmed down than i was when i first saw the bag, and know that i will receive nothing in return. i just think it is sad when this is what we have come to where people just have no regaurd for other peoples belongings. and i bet a friggin 7 year old could tape the bag shut way better than the donk that taped mine

[MTK]

The price we pay to be "safe" I guess.