So, I thought I'd try those special combination padlocks on my luggage this trip - the ones that the TSA are supposed to have keys for and each lock has an indicator that signaks whenever soemone opens it with a TSA key. So, if the indicator shows it's been opened and there's no TSA calling card inside, foul play is suspected.
At Miami airport I locked my cases with the new locks at check-in and hauled them over to the TSA area for inspection. One of them was duely pulled for manual inspection, the agent identified me as the owner and asked for the combination. I said "Aren't you supposed to have a key for those locks?" and she replied "Yes but it's in the supervisor's office and it would take too long to get it." So, I had to shout the combination across the hall (they make you stand behind a barrier some 6m away, unlike Honolulu where you get to stand next to the inspection bench).
It's not easy holding a conversation across 6m of busy check-in hall but I got the impression that I could have left the case to it and they would have got the key eventually, but it was better that I was there. The alternative would have been to leave the locks un-locked and rely on the TSA to lock them properly after inspection. Of course they wouldn't do that to cases they did not inspect. Further, these particular locks do not hold closed well when not locked (i.e. the combination spun to something other than the opening one) and they are likely to spring open and fall off unless properly locked.
So, these locks will not really save you the wait while TSA inspects bags, may delay your bag if you are not there while they fetch the key (if they don't break the lock anyway) but will at least let you know if someone other than TSA has used a master key on them (or a TSA agent who forgot or ran out of inspection cards). Attached is an example of what you might find.
Only one real gripe with the TSA themselves. When the agent opened my case in plain view she dropped the top flap on my side, which has a net separator between the compartment in the top flap and the main compartment. She lifted a zippered wash bag out of the way and placed it on the netting of the top flap and located the object the x-ray had worries about (my set of three Reef Corel/Creature/Fish Identification books). When she came to replace the wash bag the zipper had tangled in the net. After a coiuple of minutes of watching her try to untangle it I said she could just pull it out, it was an old case and I wasn't that worried. What did bother me was that she tried to convince me that the zipper had been caught in the netting when she opened the case. This was not so: I had watched her lift the wash bag completely clear of the case before setting it down on the netting where the zipper became entangled. She repeated the claim a couple of times and I told her what I had seen but that it wasn't a problem. The lie was the problem, and if the damage had been significant it would have been a her word against mine and I doubt I would have got very far, being a dreadful foreign sort. As it was I suspect I was lucky to get away without a full body cavity search =8^O
I wonder though, in the oft-cited spirit of "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear", how they would have reacted to me videoing the search...? Anyone tried this? What's a BCS like?
K.
At Miami airport I locked my cases with the new locks at check-in and hauled them over to the TSA area for inspection. One of them was duely pulled for manual inspection, the agent identified me as the owner and asked for the combination. I said "Aren't you supposed to have a key for those locks?" and she replied "Yes but it's in the supervisor's office and it would take too long to get it." So, I had to shout the combination across the hall (they make you stand behind a barrier some 6m away, unlike Honolulu where you get to stand next to the inspection bench).
It's not easy holding a conversation across 6m of busy check-in hall but I got the impression that I could have left the case to it and they would have got the key eventually, but it was better that I was there. The alternative would have been to leave the locks un-locked and rely on the TSA to lock them properly after inspection. Of course they wouldn't do that to cases they did not inspect. Further, these particular locks do not hold closed well when not locked (i.e. the combination spun to something other than the opening one) and they are likely to spring open and fall off unless properly locked.
So, these locks will not really save you the wait while TSA inspects bags, may delay your bag if you are not there while they fetch the key (if they don't break the lock anyway) but will at least let you know if someone other than TSA has used a master key on them (or a TSA agent who forgot or ran out of inspection cards). Attached is an example of what you might find.
Only one real gripe with the TSA themselves. When the agent opened my case in plain view she dropped the top flap on my side, which has a net separator between the compartment in the top flap and the main compartment. She lifted a zippered wash bag out of the way and placed it on the netting of the top flap and located the object the x-ray had worries about (my set of three Reef Corel/Creature/Fish Identification books). When she came to replace the wash bag the zipper had tangled in the net. After a coiuple of minutes of watching her try to untangle it I said she could just pull it out, it was an old case and I wasn't that worried. What did bother me was that she tried to convince me that the zipper had been caught in the netting when she opened the case. This was not so: I had watched her lift the wash bag completely clear of the case before setting it down on the netting where the zipper became entangled. She repeated the claim a couple of times and I told her what I had seen but that it wasn't a problem. The lie was the problem, and if the damage had been significant it would have been a her word against mine and I doubt I would have got very far, being a dreadful foreign sort. As it was I suspect I was lucky to get away without a full body cavity search =8^O
I wonder though, in the oft-cited spirit of "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear", how they would have reacted to me videoing the search...? Anyone tried this? What's a BCS like?
K.
almtree: Bob
