Warning - Don't check things you don't want to lose - LONG

[RachelEllen]

Just a warning for travellers.

The short story - While under the control of TSA, luggage can have large valuble items taken out. (and one would presume put it, but that's another issue.) There is no system in place to claim lost or stolen items.

The gory details:

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This happened to my husband over this Christmas. We just flew from Boston to Houston (December
21, 2002, Delta flight 1181). We had most of our valuable items in our small carry-ons, and a few in a larger wheeled bag. Delta told us we had to check the wheeled carry-on because they wouldn't count a small backpack as a "personal item". Fair enough. We did quick triage, but there was still a large amount of video equipment that would only fit in the wheeled bag.

(rest written by husband from his point of view)

When I arrived in Houston, I found that my checked bag had been
unlocked, my video camera, wide-angle lens, and batteries had been stolen,
and then my bag had been re-locked! (to keep it "secure" I
suppose). Delta says they are not responsible because the checked baggage is screened by TSA (the U.S. government's new Transportation Security Authority). It turns out TSA is not accountable to anyone but congress. Having $700 worth of my stuff stolen and being told I have no recourse also infuriates me.

You might ask, did the baggage screeners take the camera out to see what it was when they saw it and wondered what it was on the x-ray, and just forget to put it back in, or did someone spot it on the x-ray and decide it would make a nice present for his kid? In the end it appears it doesn't matter, because there is no procedure in place for getting anything back if they
keep it by accident, and legally no one needs to pay you for anything if a TSA agent decides to steal it.

I have spent most of the last days trying to contact TSA. It turns out they are virtually impossible to contact. Out of the seven phone numbers I have been given for TSA, three are answering machines (from which I have gotten no return calls in over a week), two were out of service, and two were people who didn't know how to contact anyone in authority at TSA. God forbid there is a terrorist emergency and you needed to contact them. It would not be possible.

Even the airlines and the police can't contact TSA. For those who are interested, I have written up some details below.

The TSA national consumer phone number is (866)289-9673. It is supposedly manned 8AM to 10PM Eastern time, Monday through Friday, and Saturday, Sunday, and Holidays 10AM to 6PM. I called many times over a two day period. The number leads to an answering machine. I have left messages and have gotten no return calls. I called the State Police at Logan Airport (617)482-2800. They said there is nothing they can do to
help. They gave me a phone number for TSA (617)561-5994. That number is not in service ! I called the State Police back and they gave me another number (617)568-0500, which turns out to be another TSA answering machine.

I called the State Police again and they scrounged around and gave me a number they were given as the "TSA lost & found" (617)569-6951. It turns out that's actually the TSA passenger checkpoint at American Airlines. They didn't have any phone numbers for anyone in authority of any kind at TSA (makes me feel great about how they would deal with an emergency). I called the State Police yet again. They said they were also
frustrated about not being able to contact anyone in authority at
TSA. They said TSA dosen't have to cooperate with the Police or answer their questions, and they don't.

I called the Port Authority at Logan Airport. They had a list of phone numbers for TSA. All of those phone
numbers except one were answering machines, or special TSA lines that hang up on you automatically after four rings. A real TSA person answered at (617)568-0507. She said she didn't know of any TSA lost & found, and she said I should call the airline. I explained that Delta said that TSA is responsible for the bags while TSA is screening them. She put me
through to some other TSA person's answering machine. He did not return my call. I called the guy at the Port Authority back and asked for suggestions. He said "I have a feeling we are going to be getting a lot more calls like this, and there is nothing we can do."

I eventually got in touch with a guy named Ray Smith at TSA at Logan Airport. He is in charge of the Lost & Found function of TSA, but he says it isn't really his job, he is just "doing it to help out". He said he would investigate my loss, but when I called him back in several days he hadn't done anything. I asked him whether there were video tapes of the checked paggage screening and search area. He said there are not (although
there are video tapes of the gate check-points. Apparently people can walk in and out with fairly large objects such as my video camera, and they don't have to account for these objects. I asked Ray if there is any to make a claim against TSA. Apparently no one was questioned, and there are
no clear lines of accountability.

TSA inspectors can steal anything they want, because no one can investigate them, and there is no system in place to hold anyone to account for thefts from passenger luggage.

I called the State Police again and they said they have no authority to
investigate TSA. They said that they don't know if any law enforcement
agency has the authority to investigate TSA.

 

[Luv2Roam]

But somehow not surprised.
I hope you write your state elected officials, including your Attorney General's office.
Good luck. I am very sorry to read this happened.

 

[Andrew_Lubow]

I'd send a copy of this letter to one of the TV news magazines like Dateline or 60 Minutes. You have nothing to lose and if they pick up the store may help people..

 

[DebbieB]

Do you have homeowners or renters insurance? You should be able to make a claim there, minus deductible.

I think the airlines baggage policy excludes electronic items, so even if your checked luggage was lost completely they probably wouldn't have covered the camera.

 

[RachelEllen]

Originally posted by DebbieB
Do you have homeowners or renters insurance? You should be able to make a claim there, minus deductible.

I think the airlines baggage policy excludes electronic items, so even if your checked luggage was lost completely they probably wouldn't have covered the camera.

We're working on claiming through renter's insurance, but our deductible is quite high.

That's true that the airline says they are not responsible for lost camera equipment. It's annoying because it was the airlines who told us we had to check the bag which contained the equipment. We found out afterwards in one of our phone calls with the airlines that this exclusion is written in the small print on the regular ticket jacket (not very helpful if you have an eticket!). Again, it is their call, but we've taken all those items on the plane before, just this time our smaller bags were not called 'personal items'

Luckily, we did take out all of our videos and carry those on. We knew luggage can get lost, and didn't want to lose anything personal and irreplaceable.

The main problem is not the monetary loss, but the complete lack of anyone responsible for those losses and the lack of accountibility and security in TSA.

Rachel

 

[zulaya]

Another urge to send this to your local tv stations, newspapers, and national news people like Dateline and 60 minutes. Get the word out to people and hopefully it will let other people know what can happen AND with that kind of publicity a lot of heads may roll in government over this.

 

[alvernon90]

In addition to trying to contact the media, you should contact your member of Congress, especially if your representative is a senior member.

Explain what happened, and ask him/her to request a General Accounting Office (GAO) audit of lost and found procedures for TSA. This will bring all kinds of uncomfortable pressure down on the agency, and will smack them right out of their "who cares" attitude.

You can also leverage a contact with Congress against the media contact. The producer is more likely to investigate the story if they have a member of Congress to put on camera, and the member is more likely to do something if there's a chance of national media exposure for them.

For maximum effectiveness, look for transcripts of the news programs for previous stories on TSA and baggage screening, then find out the name of the producer (not the reporter or correspondent) who put that segment together. Those producers are most likely to do a story because they already know a lot about the subject and already have contacts, so it's less work for another segment. Find transcripts at the show websites or by searching on Nexis.

It may be more than $700 worth of work, and it probably won't get your equipment replaced, but if you want revenge, nothing hurts bureaucrats more than being investigated by Congress and the press. They scatter like roaches when you flick on the lights. Good luck!

 

[lsyorke]

"). Delta says they are not responsible because the checked baggage is screened by TSA (the U.S. government's new Transportation Security Authority). It turns out TSA is not accountable to anyone but congress. "

This is unbelievable!! I reiterate the suggesion to contact the major news agencies. You can't carry it on, you can't lock it and they're not accountable, thats amazing!
I would think that this story would create quite a stir.

 

[Luv2Roam]

That is correct about electronics. I had forgotten, a few years ago CM here was with her family returning from WDW. They had a videocam stolen from their checked luggage.
That was what made me start reading the fine print on airlines, luggage and liability.
I can see since TSa is in the newborn stage and security has a high priority that TSA will be in the same power mode the IRS use to be in.
Keep us posted!

 

[LisaR]

I am so sorry to here that your equipment was stolen. Here is a quote taken from the TSA website:

QUOTE:What happens if my belongings are missing from my bag when I arrive at my destination?
TSA screeners exercise great care during the screening process to ensure that your contents are returned to your bag every time a bag needs to be opened. TSA will assess any claims made to TSA on an individual basis. QUOTE

At the very least, they need to assess your situation.

Was there a note in your luggage that it had been searched?
Again, from the TSA website:

QUOTE: Will TSA relock my bag if it is opened for screening?
If TSA screeners open your bag during the screening procedure, they will close it with a security seal. In addition, TSA will place a notice in your bag alerting you to the fact that TSA screeners opened your bag for inspection. Our highly trained screeners will take great care to secure your bag for the rest of your trip. QUOTE

Good luck in getting this resolved. We leave in one week and are not packing anything of value in our checked luggage. I just don't want to take the chance. We are even using disposable cameras this time around!

Lisa

 

[RachelEllen]

Originally posted by LisaR
I am so sorry to here that your equipment was stolen. Here is a quote taken from the TSA website:

QUOTE:What happens if my belongings are missing from my bag when I arrive at my destination?
TSA screeners exercise great care during the screening process to ensure that your contents are returned to your bag every time a bag needs to be opened. TSA will assess any claims made to TSA on an individual basis. QUOTE

At the very least, they need to assess your situation.

Was there a note in your luggage that it had been searched?

The problem is finding someone to assess! We contacted seven different phone numbers, left messages, talked to the front line security screeners. They have no process in place to make a claim or assess! There is no one to talk to, let alone make an assessment.

There was no note on our luggage. It was a cheap luggage lock more for keeping the bag closed than for security. The bag had been unlocked and relocked.

 

[goofyforwdw]

I to live in a and this sound like a"Help me Hank "case. Hank is on the channel seven news give her a call and she may be ble to help you. We ha our digital camara stolen last Christmas by the Limo Co we used, it took for ever but we finally got paid by our home owner ins.good luck Brenda

 

[sgtdisney]

I can see how this problem is going to become bigger and bigger. If the TSA, the US Government, is going to break open your personal property and investigate it away from you and not in your sight, then they should be FULLY responsible for anything lost, stolen or broken in the luggage (excepting the locks.) Your house cannot be searched without a search warrant and documentation as to what is being removed from it, however your luggage can be examined, defiled and pilfered from at the whim of a person who works for a government agency? This is going to be the last nail in the coffin for a number of airlines, mark my words, unless something is done. It sounds like you have absolutely no rights as an American Citizen anymore once you step foot into an airport in the USA.. Ok, stepping off soapbox, I just find this rather upsetting.

 

[SueM in MN]

If TSA screeners open your bag during the screening procedure, they will close it with a security seal. In addition, TSA will place a notice in your bag alerting you to the fact that TSA screeners opened your bag for inspection. Our highly trained screeners will take great care to secure your bag for the rest of your trip.

We had secured our bags with those plastic ties (like the news media and the TSA website says to) so that they could cut them if needed. At the Minneapolis airport, they did cut them, but did replace them. At the orlando airport, we got the little notice that said they had checked our bag (it was in a pocket where it was not readily visible; lucky I checked all the pockets). They did NOT close it with a security seal. All they did was zip the zippers back shut. I have to say they not only didn't take "great care to secure your bag for the rest of your trip", they didn't take any care at all. Our impression was that the screeners at Minneapolis seemed to be effeciently organized and know what they were doing. The ones at Orlando were disorganized (lots of people and they were checking bags, but they seemed not very organized). They could use a lot of process improvement to make things work better.

 

[RachelEllen]

Some follow-up. We contacted a few news stations and several people were interested in this story. One made a few phone calls and got us in touch with the head of security of Logan airport, George. Here's how a converstaion with him starts:

Me: This is Rachel Ellen, is George there?
Secretary: I'm sorry, he's not in today, what is this regarding
Me: Some items take from our suitcase. I believe Ron from WUFO called earlier
Secretary: Oh, wait, I think he just walked in to his office

Anyhow, this fellow was apologetic about our not getting any return phone calls and said he would have a customer service rep call us back 'within five minutes' to 'make a claim'

About 10 minutes later he calls back and tells me he's talked to Ray, (a lower level person in security and the highest level person we had previously talked to, I mentioned him in the last summery). He says that Ray had called my husband on both the 23rd and 27th and had clearly told my husband that TSA was not responsible for the losses, Delta was. George was quite abrupt and said that the matter was closed as far as he was concerned.

(This isn't true, like I said before in our first conversation with Ray, Ray said he was 'helping out' with lost and found and would 'investigate our losses,' There was a second conversation with Ray I didn't mention where he referred us to World Wide Security (who runs the security of carry-on bags) and finally the conversation with Ray on the 27th where he told us there was no way to make a claim against TSA, there is no monitoring of TSA, and his investigation' had turned up nothing. He said he would call back later.)

As of yesterday, when I first wrote in this thread, Ray had not called back. Well, about two hours after I talked to George, he called. He made absolutely no mention of George, but guess what! Now he's determined, through his 'investigation' that TSA was not actually in charge of security at the airport that day, they were just training their employees. So, I have to go back to Delta for a claim.

Looks like we got some folks nervous and they decided to get thier stories straight. Good luck to everyone travelling!

 

[ncligs]

Verry sorry that this has happened to you.It is only going to get worse for people that check luggage.Thats another reason for us to only do carry-ons, as we have done the last 4 years.For people that need to check luggage, I would never check anything valuble.

 

[Luv2Roam]

Just as an FYI to others who are flying, this from Northwest:

"Passengers should NOT pack medications, car keys, tickets, passports and other legal documentation, valuable items such as jewelry, irreplaceable items or cameras in checked luggage."

RachelEllen -- I am so glad and appreciative you and your DH are being so persistent! Good job!

 

[bicker]

In the end, it seems like where this is going is that folks are going to need to start shipping their belongings via FedEx, rather than trying to carry it on or check it.

 

[Chuck S]

Originally posted by RachelEllen
Now he's determined, through his 'investigation' that TSA was not actually in charge of security at the airport that day, they were just training their employees.

Looks like we got some folks nervous and they decided to get thier stories straight. Good luck to everyone travelling!

What, TSA hands off security to the airlines, and it varies day to day? We flew from SAT to MCO (via DFW) on Dec 3rd and TSA was very much in control of security.

 

[Mrs. Snowgod]

How remarkable and how very unfortunate! Thank you for sharing this information... no doubt others may experience similar frustrations.

Good luck receiving some kind of satisfaction...I hope you finally do in the end.