Security and TSA Approved Locks

[KyleAfterAWhile]

I read on the TSA website that you can use TSA approved locks, but have also spoken to people I know who said they were given "flack" for having them on there.

Do any of you fine folks use the TSA approved locks on your check-in bags and have you ever had any issues come of it?

I am obviously not trying to keep them out, but want to make sure my stuff does not fall out of my bags.

 

[loves to dive]

Every time we have used them, they have cut them off so we just started using zip ties. They have never opened one with them on it.

 

[KyleAfterAWhile]

Every time we have used them, they have cut them off so we just started using zip ties. They have never opened one with them on it.

Wow, that is nuts considering that the TSA approved locks means they can get into them with a universal "key".

 

[loves to dive]

Wow, that is nuts considering that the TSA approved locks means they can get into them with a universal "key".

We figure it's one of two reasons. We are divers and if you run our luggage under xrays it can look very interesting with BCs so they open them or it makes them mad because we put the locks on them so they cut them off. We always used the TSA approved ones. The only reason we ever locked them was because our gear is kind of expensive and important and we didn't want it getting gone. After they cut them off and broke the heck out of honey's lights for his underwater video gear, we stopped locking them. Now he puts the lights in carry on and the batteries in checked luggage. I pretty sure it's not always TSA cutting them off.

 

[KyleAfterAWhile]

We figure it's one of two reasons. We are divers and if you run our luggage under xrays it can look very interesting with BCs so they open them or it makes them mad because we put the locks on them so they cut them off. We always used the TSA approved ones. The only reason we ever locked them was because our gear is kind of expensive and important and we didn't want it getting gone. After they cut them off and broke the heck out of honey's lights for his underwater video gear, we stopped locking them. Now he puts the lights in carry on and the batteries in checked luggage. I pretty sure it's not always TSA cutting them off.

Who else would cut them off? I may be mistaken, but I thought that the luggage screening is only done by TSA and airlines do not see your luggage until it is time to load it on the tram.

 

[loves to dive]

Who else would cut them off? I may be mistaken, but I thought that the luggage screening is only done by TSA and airlines do not see your luggage until it is time to load it on the tram.

Any one who touches it after it leaves your hands. Through the years of flying we have had many things taken from our checked bags, especially before we started locking them.

 

[KyleAfterAWhile]

Any one who touches it after it leaves your hands. Through the years of flying we have had many things taken from our checked bags, especially before we started locking them.

That is interesting. I guess the route of where luggage travels is more complex than I thought.

 

[loves to dive]

From an article in USA today:

Soon after your suitcase vanishes behind the rubber curtain, it merges with the bags of other passengers -- in large airports, thousands an hour. After traveling up, down and around a vast network of high-speed conveyor belts, it arrives in a cavernous warehouse-like facility. Here, it will be scanned by Transportation Security Administration staff to make sure there's nothing in it that shouldn't be there, primarily explosives, illegal drugs or weapons. If they see any reason to open it, they will. Your bag might also be subjected to other checks, including sniffer dogs, X-ray and laser scanners and machinery designed to detect trace amounts of banned substances. If it passes muster, luggage handlers load your suitcase onto a wagon with the baggage of others on your flight. This wagon is driven onto the tarmac and its contents packed into the hold of the plane.

Many people touch your bag after it leaves your hands.

 

[anonymousegirl]

I used them every time and I fly internationally at least twice a year, and domestically, up to 10 times a year. Never had a lock cut off. Only once had anything pilfered, and they twisted the lock bolt, took my snorkeling equipment, and twisted the lock back so it appeared secure. Changed to heavier locks after that.

 

[Alesia]

I just use twist ties.

 

[iivye]

I always lock my bag with TSA approved locks. None have been cut off and I have had my bags searched before (TSA has left notes in my bag saying it was searched).

Edited to add that my husband generally doesn't lock his bag but has had items taken from the checked luggage. Little stuff like chocolates and a souvenir shot glass.

 

[WDW Traveler]

Use TSA approved locks every time we travel and have never had them cut off and have never had our bags searched, at least we have never received a note saying we have. Never had any issues using them (knock on wood).

 

[KrazeeK120]

I just use twist ties.

May I ask why? Seems like it would be quite easy for someone to untwist it and open the bag. They aren't secure at all.

 

[Alesia]

May I ask why? Seems like it would be quite easy for someone to untwist it and open the bag. They aren't secure at all.

Honestly, it's just as easy for someone to use a pair of snippers to cut a lock off. If someone really wants to get in your bag, they will. You really just need something to make sure that your bag doesn't come unzipped accidentally and I think twist ties are the simplest solution. Or, if I don't have twist ties, I use zip ties.

I've been doing this for 20 years and have never had a problem.

 

[DVCismyhappyplace]

We use TSA locks every time we travel (which is a lot) and never had an issue with the locks being broken. We started using locks after DH had Disney souvenirs stolen out of his bag at MCO.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

The lock just tells the thief "look they have something they don't want me to have"

(And if the TSA can open them, trust me everyone in the airport can! Don't believe me, do a YouTube search to learn how easy it is to open these things!)

 

[Dream Finder]

WE have used zip ties since 2001. Preferably a bright, neon color. The tie is for 2 reasons - first, most crimes are "crimes of opportunity". In other words - "hey - look at this, I can get in to this bag and grab something in under 20 seconds". If they have to take time to snip the tie, most of the "bad guys" will go for an easier target. Second, with the amount of handling the bags go through, I like having the zippers secured so they don't open with all the ups and downs and flinging around.
We take 2 - 5 trips a year and we've only had our bags looked in to once or twice (once the culprit was those "honey spoons" - solid honey on a stick to stir into your tea. DH looked at the bag (retired LEO) and told me that the sticks in the box would look awfully suspicious in an x-ray -lol)

 

[bumbershoot]

but have also spoken to people I know who said they were given "flack" for having them on there.

Who gave them flack? You don't speak to anyone who would be going into your luggage behind the scenes.

I pretty sure it's not always TSA cutting them off.

Unless it's a luggage handler thief, TSA are the ones back there.

Many people touch your bag after it leaves your hands.

That said TSA, dogs, and luggage handlers.

May I ask why? Seems like it would be quite easy for someone to untwist it and open the bag. They aren't secure at all.

Zip ties.

All I care about is the bag not breaking open.

Any criminal can undo a bag zipper with a pen thanks to YouTube.

 

[KrazeeK120]

Zip ties.

All I care about is the bag not breaking open.

Any criminal can undo a bag zipper with a pen thanks to YouTube.

I wasn't asking about zip ties. The poster I quoted was talking about twist ties, which are very different from zip ties.

 

[KyleAfterAWhile]

Who gave them flack? You don't speak to anyone who would be going into your luggage behind the scenes.

Not true. Some airports have TSA agents collect luggage after you do self check-in.