bailout bottle and airport security?

[markmud]

Hello All,

I am back from Dennis and Roxanne's Surge in Curacao. My pony bottle was ensconced in its normal position in my SCUBA checked bag (on top, right by the zipper, uncorked, and no dust cover).

I adjust the zippers on the bag in a certain way, and leave a small piece of thread wrapped around the zipper pulls. On this adventure no one entered the bag. Which is unusual. TSA inspects the bag about 40% of the time--I assume because the pony bottle shows up on their radar.

The airline did not charge me an extra fee.

I must be lucky, or privileged in some way, I guess!

It is too easy.

markm

 

[Rred]

mark-
About four years ago it made the news that the TSA routinely fires some 500 baggage checkers every year for theft and similar issues. So, about the quality of the people who are pawing through our bags....and their real attention to the contents, ahem.
But please bear in mind that the TSA has also been somewhat reluctantly admitting that they are having record numbers of no-shows in all positions for the past several weeks, as "furloughed" employees and others sympathetic to them have been calling in sick, or simply quitting, in unspecified but large numbers. It is very possible that a large amount of luggage is not being inspected once it goes past the first baggage check-in.
How I am sure of this? Some years ago when security was very much tighter ("Did you pack your bags? Did anyone else have access to your bags? Were they out of your sight while in the trunk of the cab?" and those interrogations were required) I needed to fly LGA to FLL with a six hour stop in Atlanta, via Delta. I asked if there was any way I could check my big heavy duffle, maybe the night before? So I wouldn't have to lug it around the huge Hartsdale airport or carry it with me all day? And Delta said absolutely no way, no how, it had to travel WITH ME on both flights.
OK, but somehow...when I got to Atlanta I didn't have to claim my bag. When I got to FLL, I waited until every bag had been claimed off the carousel and then went to report mine had been lost. Funny thing, it was sitting--unattended--in the baggage claim pile, where it had been all day, since it arrived on the first originating flight--which they assured me COULD NOT BE DONE.
What happens with your checked bags, and what you are told can, will, or must happen with your checked bags? Yeah, the check is in the mail, too. TSA inspectors have also been reported to cut padlocks off locked firearms cases in checked luggage--despite that being a federal offence. Only the owner is allowed to open them, once they pass the baggage check-in, NO ONE is allowed to open them, much less to cut off the locks, without the owner being called to attend.
You'd be in more reliable hands if the itinerant roofing and driveway paving gangs were in charge. Sadly, documented year after year.

 

[markmud]

mark-
About four years ago it made the news that the TSA routinely fires some 500 baggage checkers every year for theft and similar issues. So, about the quality of the people who are pawing through our bags....and their real attention to the contents, ahem.
But please bear in mind that the TSA has also been somewhat reluctantly admitting that they are having record numbers of no-shows in all positions for the past several weeks, as "furloughed" employees and others sympathetic to them have been calling in sick, or simply quitting, in unspecified but large numbers. It is very possible that a large amount of luggage is not being inspected once it goes past the first baggage check-in.
How I am sure of this? Some years ago when security was very much tighter ("Did you pack your bags? Did anyone else have access to your bags? Were they out of your sight while in the trunk of the cab?" and those interrogations were required) I needed to fly LGA to FLL with a six hour stop in Atlanta, via Delta. I asked if there was any way I could check my big heavy duffle, maybe the night before? So I wouldn't have to lug it around the huge Hartsdale airport or carry it with me all day? And Delta said absolutely no way, no how, it had to travel WITH ME on both flights.
OK, but somehow...when I got to Atlanta I didn't have to claim my bag. When I got to FLL, I waited until every bag had been claimed off the carousel and then went to report mine had been lost. Funny thing, it was sitting--unattended--in the baggage claim pile, where it had been all day, since it arrived on the first originating flight--which they assured me COULD NOT BE DONE.
What happens with your checked bags, and what you are told can, will, or must happen with your checked bags? Yeah, the check is in the mail, too. TSA inspectors have also been reported to cut padlocks off locked firearms cases in checked luggage--despite that being a federal offence. Only the owner is allowed to open them, once they pass the baggage check-in, NO ONE is allowed to open them, much less to cut off the locks, without the owner being called to attend.
You'd be in more reliable hands if the itinerant roofing and driveway paving gangs were in charge. Sadly, documented year after year.

Hi Rred,

Thanks for your reply. I think all that you wrote is probably very true. I believe those things have happened.

On one trip, three firearms were run over by a forklift. One of them was mine. That stuff happens.

The pony bottle in question has been to the South Pacific, Central Pacific, and up and down the eastern Pacific while in my now warn-out and ripped-up scuba check bag.

It has been to the Gulf of Mexico, Southern Florida, and the Palm Beaches. It has been on many trips to the Caribbean Sea.

These trips started about 14 years ago. This bottle has three hydro stamps on it.

It has been to six different countries. The pony has been to some of those countries multiple times.

My other pony has traveled in the cargo hold of jetliners.

When TSA decides that an empty aluminum container, complete with an unobstructed opening on one end, shouldn't be flying then they can confiscate it.

I must be lucky, or something.

markm

 

[tursiops]

Hi Rred,

Thanks for your reply. I think all that you wrote is probably very true. I believe those things have happened.

On one trip, three firearms were run over by a forklift. One of them was mine. That stuff happens.

The pony bottle in question has been to the South Pacific, Central Pacific, and up and down the eastern Pacific while in my now warn-out and ripped-up scuba check bag.

It has been to the Gulf of Mexico, Southern Florida, and the Palm Beaches. It has been on many trips to the Caribbean Sea.

These trips started about 14 years ago. This bottle has three hydro stamps on it.

It has been to six different countries. The pony has been to some of those countries multiple times.

My other pony has traveled in the cargo hold of jetliners.

When TSA decides that an empty aluminum container, complete with an unobstructed opening on one end, shouldn't be flying then they can confiscate it.

I must be lucky, or something.

markm

I don't understand why you are so surprised. You were carrying a permitted object in the correct way. Why do you expect a problem? Why are you surprised it went well?

 

[markmud]

I don't understand why you are so surprised. You were carrying a permitted object in the correct way. Why do you expect a problem? Why are you surprised it went well?

Hi tursiops,

Your question is a good one.

I am amazed by the posts that portray doom and gloom if you travel with a pony. I don't get it. These threads keep popping-up and people PM me asking me questions about it.

IT MUST BE A PROBLEM!

My sarc button is somewhat depressed in responding to the hoopla.

You know, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. I have tried.

cheers,
markm

 

[saxman242]

Just as a data point, I flew with my 13 cu ft pony in my carry on last week, make removed and a ziplock bag over the opening. LAX to Miami, Miami to San Salvador- Bahamas and the same in reverse.

On the flight from the Bahamas back to Miami, I had my bag opened and they swabbed the pony. That was the only time it even got a second look.