TSA Uses Decoy Luggage To Bust Airline Laptop Thieves

@SalimaCachophony: That's why I use those TSA approved locks.. if anything does go missing.. I can hold TSA accountable since they are the only ones that have the keys (and me).

grald

the question that begs to be answered: who in his sane mind checks in his laptop and mobile? Jeez... I know that they were using decoys, but judging by the thieves modus operandi, a lot of morons must be checking in their expensive electronics stuff.

Micho

@paintedangel: Unfortunately, airlines limit what you can carry on board a plane, then the TSA requires that whatever you check you leave unlocked.

All of which tends to limit your options.

ghmlco

@Lite: is on a boat.: And driving your own family across the country in the Wagon Queen Family Truckster DOESN'T require you to put your faith and safety in the hands of strangers?

Worse, in the hands of strangers driving while talking on the cell phone, texting, drinking coffee, eating, putting on makeup, smoking, and trying to stop the developing fight between the kids in the back seat.

I'll take the professionals any day.

ghmlco

@Superfast: If terrorists hijacked and crashed a commercial airliner once a week, every week, in this country, and you flew commercially once a month, your odds of dying in said terrorist hijacking and crash would STILL be less than they are right now of dying from a snake bite, spider bite or bee sting.

fuck it, two times i've tried to comment with my experiences with my users checking luggage in the years since TSA have been there and each fucking time my god damned reply was wasted due to an accidental click outside of the input box

fuck this comment system. i hope it gets an std and DIES!!!

@Lite: is on a boat.: I flew to Rome two weeks after 9/11. Not only did I get upgraded to an amazing suite at the hotel for nothing, there were no lines anywhere. We did the Vatican tour in a couple of hours. It was amazing, and *everybody* was happy to see you because tourism had dropped off to practically nothing.

Zanzan42

@paintedangel: No, I'm the guy who plans ahead enough to not have to walk down the streets in a bad neighborhood at night (Well, most of the time.) looking like a victim waiting to happen.

@Lite: is on a boat.: Do you walk down the streets in a bad neighborhood at night with cash hanging from your pockets then whine about getting robbed? Sorry but I have NO sympathy for those who knowingly put their valuables at risk of being stolen. Yeah it sucks that people as a whole cannot be trusted but hey thats the reality of the situation kids. We ain't in Kansas anymore Toto.

paintedangel

This is news? My Bro had a room mate years ago that was supposedly stealing Burbank blind. The ramp rats would even steal golf club then go to the links nearby to play. If the original owner was lucky they'd dump the clubs somewhere in lost luggage.

JohnnyGTO

This makes me feel good, getting ready to fly for only my second time ever in just a month! Although my laptop and camera are going to be in my backpack I take as carry-on. Definitely not going to subject anything like that to the horrors of being in the cargo bay. Luggage gets treated about like packages transported by the US Postal Service!!

technoindigo

@DeusExMach has jumped the snark:
hrmm... no... we cant ditch them... because if we do... the unemployment rate will go up for another 0.01%....

odobo

I wonder if these are the fuckers that stole my stuff. I sooooooooooooooo hope that they are.

Don't drop the soap.

After gathering 6 bags after JFK security (myself and kids) I thought the next one was my friend's bag. 20 minutes later, at a gate not far away, I discovered that I had missed my own computer bag. There were almost no passengers at this security stop on that day. The security people just shrugged their shoulders. A simple camera would have caught the thief, who in my mind was probably a TSA official or their friend because of their lack of concern.

4 years in prison is a stern penalty but it's not fair, because so many other TSA employees get away with the same thing.

The system is flawed. They force us to reorganize ), so they should take the responsibility to insure that we leave with what we brought. Reasonable humans will frequently get separated from valuable items under these conditions.

I almost never fly these days if the journey is 12 hours or less by car. I love my cars. I hate airports (usually).

Private air transportation is great but I rarely do it.

stevewoz

@Superfast: Probably a pretty accurate statement.

However, unlike driving your own family across the country in the Wagon Queen Family Truckster, taking a plane or train requires you to put your faith and safety completely in the hands of strangers.

Even though you weren't more likely to die in a horrible plane crash/terrorist incident post 9/11 the travel industry as a whole was severely affected.

Me? I went on vacation the week after Sept 11th. Best damn vacation I've ever had. Airports were vacant, parking was never an issue, hell I had Disney World with no lines for a week.

who checks laptops and cameras? Besides getting stolen, it gets tossed around like a football

redkamel

I'd bet good money that, if you ran the numbers, you would find that you are more likely to die in a car wreck on your way to replace your stolen shit than in a terrorist attack on an airplane before the TSA was around (including 9-11)

Superfast

@DeusExMach has jumped the snark: I fly 6+ times per year. I have never had anything stolen. Then again, I'm not stupid enough to put valuable electronics in my checked luggage either.

Even better is that I never set foot on any plane un-armed. I always have weapons on my person. Just because the TSA doesn't view pens and various other instruments as weapons, doesn't mean they cannot be used as such.

@tande04: The TSA isn't there to do something useful. The TSA is there to make people feel "safe" about flying and "maybe" catch a bomber.

They act as an up-front deterrent for those of less conviction that the absolutely hardcore looking to cause chaos.

Basically they're they version of the cop getting his free donut at the donut shop. You're less likely to cause a problem there with the fuzz so close.

Really, the TSA needs to be an actual REAL police force. Not contracted goons and thieves on a power trip.

@Lite: is on a boat.: and they steal shit...

@Intelext: Really? I thought it was the suspension of basic civil liberties that myself, my father, his father, and his father before him fought and/or died to protect.

The problems in this world come not from those few who are forced to fight for what they don't really believe in but from those that refuse to fight for the things that they do.

@DeusExMach has jumped the snark: Get rid of them too.

I was having a conversation about the TSA the other day and I was amazed how many people said they actually thought the TSA was doing something useful.

If ever there was a system in need of overhaul its the entire airline industry, including the TSA.

tande04

@SalimaCachophony: Why not just have the Air Marshall check such luggage and have it follow him around?

@DeusExMach has jumped the snark: I really have no problem w/ the TSA other than they harass people who even look muslim.

What they need to do is give the Air Marshalls the authority to taser those little snotbags that keep kicking the back of my fucking seat.

This is why we can't trust the government anymore....

Intelext

TSA seriously needs to do this much more often and randomly. I was just a victim of a camera stolen out of my luggage and there was no notice of inspection. Go figure.

SalimaCachophony

Honestly, can we just do away with the TSA agents at airports, please? Enough is enough. It's not doing what it is supposed to do. It causes the costs, both implicit and explicit of flying to go up with no return on the investment. Keep the Air Marshals, ditch TSA.

I'm still trying to get reimbursed on a solid 24K Zippo lighter that went "missing" from my luggage back in 2003 on a trip to Dana Point CA!

They even made me remove the inner portion (even though there was no kerosene at the time) so ultimately it was just the outer housing.

That was a gift from Nextel for getting Emerald Dealer Status 5 times in a row.

/bastards

I knew someone who checked some credit cards for a flight to Hong Kong. While they were in mid-air someone was charging up a storm in the US.

The airline and TSA claimed that it couldn't possibly be one of their employees.

Funny that. Though I never figured out why they checked credit cards...

@Lite: is on a boat.: You mean when I drive on an Interstate highway filled with (most likely overweight) 18-wheelers, my safety isn't in the hands of strangers?

jswilson64

@Shizzyraw: Stood by? stood in my way, is more like it. Out of the way, and get a real job. The Air Force IS hiring.

this is the reason why the next time i fly i'm going to buy something that resembles a gun (prop, airsoft, etc...) and then have to report that there is a firearm in my checked luggage, then the TSA can not touch your luggage or even open your luggage for any reason.



this also mandates that you cannot use those TSA locks where they have the master keys to.

victorkruger

@Lite: is on a boat.: As a TSA instructor and a 6 year employee, if there is one thing that I have learned, it is that the traveling public is very confused. When TSA was first rolled out, every one loved us. "You want me to take off my shoes, no problem." "Thanks for for keeping us safe." Fast forward 7 years latter and its the complete opposite. "TSA doesn't do anything", "We need real cops and not contracted goons and thieves on a power trip. " Then when most of these people take a trip over seas, they are horrified by airport security. Guys walking around with sub- machine guns, and REAL pat-downs.



The traveling public is why we can't do our jobs properly. "OMFG! She touched my breast! I have to call my congressman!" And don't get me started on full body imaging! An unassembled Improvised Explosive Device transported through our checkpoints in pieces and assembled in the sterile area is probably the biggest treat to aviation right now. A guy can walk through a metal detector with Semtex or c4 strapped to his chest, but if he is smart enough not to have any metal on his person he will not set off that WTMD. Full body imaging is how we mitigate that threat. The technology is there, but some idiot is worried about an officer in a remote location seeing the outline of his penis, so we don't use it? Are you serious?



Do some TSA officers steal? Absolutely! Do congressmen, investment bankers, corporate CEO s, policemen and firemen? Absolutely! No matter what the profession, there will always be a few bad apples that will give everyone a bad name. What most people fail to realize is that TSA only has your luggage for a VERY BRIEF amount of time. It gets X-Rayed and then it's transferred to the airline. The airline is the one that is alone with your bag in some dark remote location in the belly of the Airport for hour hours at a time, not us! I wish you guys could see it, miles and miles of unattended bags left there by who? Yes that's right, your air carrier!



Sorry for the rant, but I have stood by long enough while we get a bad rap. Just my 10 cents.

Shizzyraw

@Grendel: I feel bad for you, but you should know better than to bring something like that to an airport.



Was the gas station out of 56-cent bics?

@Lite: is on a boat.: Yep - I went to Paris on Sept 18th, 2001 and was treated like a king. Upgraded to first class outbound and returning, upgraded to a suite in my hotel. Didn't see another American for two weeks. Best Vacation Ever.

bdgbill

@Superfast: Did you see they guy on the Colbert Report. He got past razor blades, box cutters, terrorist memorabilia, and a whole 12 oz container of Crest. The TSA is a joke and is just another useless "security" programme that Republicans have been pushing through since they found fear the best voter motivator. That would be about '80-'82 or so.

quayzar

@Geisrud: I was on my way back to Michigan from the Nextel convention that gave the bastard to me lol

@SalimaCachophony:You dont even have a blank star by your heart. What does that mean?