Airline Thieves!

[ScubaTexas]

Never mind, found the airline insurance info on AA's website.

Rates
The charge for excess valuation insurance for checked baggage is assessed at a rate of $2.00 USD per each one hundred dollars purchased. The total valuation on your checked luggage may not exceed $5,000 USD per passenger. The total valuation of $5,000 includes the standard baggage liability allowance + excess valuation insurance purchased.

Equates to $20 per thousand of equipment over the standard limit of $635 for international flights and $2500 for domestic flights. Seems like it would be used mostly for int'l flights.

 

[eandiver]

There is no job, profession, position that is employing 100% honest people. The best we can do is weed out the bad ones before too much damage is done. TSA is starting to reimburse passengers for stolen/lost items and this will continue until the dishonest passengers providing false claims put an end to that.

A year ago we had a man file a theft claim for his wifes dildo (can I say that here?) and after all the paper work and reviewing our logs and the looks from other screeners saying " he thinks we took what!!!" the claim was withdrawn due to him "finding it in her shoe" which leads me to one thought and one question. There is no such thing as 100% honesty and how big is her foot?

 

[Rick_G]

Kind of OT, but pisses me off.

What airports are making you take your shoes off or get a cavity search? And why doesn't every airport do it. I asked a TSA flunky and he said that it was mandatory and the airports not doing it were wrong.

Rick

 

[DPJ]

Kind of OT, but pisses me off.

What airports are making you take your shoes off or get a cavity search? And why doesn't every airport do it. I asked a TSA flunky and he said that it was mandatory and the airports not doing it were wrong.

Rick

Happended today in Baltimore (BWI). Supervisor said it was a new rule two weeks ago, but it was a secret document that I could not see. I have been through Atlanta, Orlando and Ft Lauderdale the last two weeks and have not seen the shoe removal requirement.

 

[eandiver]

The screener was full of it. There is no rule that says you have to take off your shoes before going through the walk through but it is strongly recomended. The walk through metal detector doesn't locate the alarm on your person it just says that there is an alarm. Shoes alarm a lot. If that happens you have to go through further screening......a pain in the ***....for both sides.....if you take the shoes off and run them through the x-ray they can identify and clear the alarm there.

 

[ianr33]

You have to take your shoes off in Columbus,OH. But strangely enough only in the terminal that American flies out of,not the one that Delta flies from. I would like to think that that is because of specific information about a shoebomber on American,but I think it is more likely that the head screener there is on a power trip

 

[DPJ]

The screener was full of it. There is no rule that says you have to take off your shoes before going through the walk through but it is strongly recomended. The walk through metal detector doesn't locate the alarm on your person it just says that there is an alarm. Shoes alarm a lot. If that happens you have to go through further screening......a pain in the ***....for both sides.....if you take the shoes off and run them through the x-ray they can identify and clear the alarm there.

I know, here is the policy.
http://www.tsa.gov/public/interapp/editorial/editorial_1050.xml

I have spent a lot of money buying shoes without metal in them. The moron screener, copped an atitude after I told him there was no rule. After I went through the x-ray without setting it off, he wanded me, patted me down and x-rayed my shoes. I spoke to two supervisors and they both said it was an SSI order and could not be shown to the public. Suggested that I read the regulations on line.

 

[Daryl Morse]

Lots of opinions (mostly BS) about TSA. Does anyone here actually work for them? Seems to me that I'm the only one who does (or at least who'll admit it) on this board. From what I've seen at TIA and what I've read here most people are FOS about their "experences" with TSA.

Long before TSA came onto the scene, there was a problem with theft by baggage handlers. This has been well-documented. I've seen closed-circuit footage on TV of baggage handlers carrying arm-fulls of booty to their car at the end of a shift. Travellers tried to mitigate this problem by using secure luggage, shrink-wrapping luggage and carrying expensive items in the passenger compartment. Now that passengers are no longer allowed to lock luggage and reduced carry-on weight limits are being enforced, it's open season again. Whether it's only TSA or whether baggage handlers are exploiting the new rules is immaterial. Passengers are getting screwed in the name of dubious improvements in security.

 

[fdog]

...but I think it is more likely that the head screener there is on a power trip

Yep, this never happens. In wonderful Casper, Wyoming (notice how the TSA behavior colors your opinion of the city?) I was told to take my shoes off by the screener, and walk through damp carpet.

When I quoted the rule mentioned above, I got a sour look and...the screener looked me in the eye (not at the readout) when I went through the magnetometer, and triumphantly told me "see, I told you that you'd have to take your shoes off" as she diverted me to the strip-search area.

Power trip.

All the best, James

 

[lairdb]

The screener was full of it. There is no rule that says you have to take off your shoes before going through the walk through but it is strongly recomended. The walk through metal detector doesn't locate the alarm on your person it just says that there is an alarm. Shoes alarm a lot. If that happens you have to go through further screening......a pain in the ***....for both sides.....if you take the shoes off and run them through the x-ray they can identify and clear the alarm there.

I'm the last one to be an apologist for those yo-yos, but there are new policies, as of September 20th, that give them wider discretion. The two key elements are that all jackets (including sportcoats and suitcoats) come off and go through the X-ray, and that they can refer you to secondary pretty much on a whim, with thick shoes (whether they alarm or not) being the most likely indicator.