This is a sad and upsetting situation. You give a guy a really nice, collector’s edition, Leatherman. He loves it. He packs it in his luggage, luggage he can’t lock, and trusting the TSA workers, he checks said baggage with said collector’s edition knife (along with another leatherman and a nice folding pocket knife… all presents he and his lovely fiance received for Christmas), and the bastard TSA agents steal the knives. Steal them. No question. No doubt. Stolen. Right out of their can’t lock them bags. Unbelievable.
Here’s the thing… they are supposed to have all this security to protect us. I get that. I even really appreciate it. I never complain about waiting in line. I never even complain about not being able to take along my larger than 3 oz bottle of shampoo in the carry on. Some of it is an inconvenience, but I don’t mind. I don’t think it’s ridiculous. I mean hey, what’s the alternative right? They don’t check, and something terrible happens. So don’t go thinking I’m one of those complainer types. I’m not. But this… this has me incensed.
They are, as I said, supposed to be keeping us safe. They are supposed to be keeping us protected. They are NOT supposed to steal from us. To make us feel like our property is not secure in their hands. And what’s worse… we have no choice in matters. It’s not like we can lock up our bags to keep them out and keep our stuff safe, from them. We can’t. It’s not allowed. So every time we take a trip, travel anywhere, we basically say to them… here, here’s my stuff, go ahead, it’s free. Take it. We can’t stop them. We can’t carry it on.
Our options… we can not take our items (hard option when you travel for the holidays and receive gifts you want to take home) or we can ship them. This is what they say… you should ship your items. OK, so let me get this straight. We can’t trust you, so we have to ship our items… which costs money. Loads of money if you’re traveling out of the country. And it’s not as if ticket prices are inexpensive as it is. The price to fly anywhere, let alone Europe, is high. It’s tough to just get the funds together to buy the ticket. Now we also have to ship every little thing we don’t want ripped off by the airport “security”. That’s crap.
I don’t know what the answer is to this… but I’m angry. You should be too. This could happen to you. This could happen to anyone. It’s aggravating. It’s maddening. It’s frustrating. It’s wrong. I guess that’s what it comes down to. It’s wrong. Plain and simple. I’m disgusted. I’m disappointed. I’m wondering what the number is for FedEx. I have to travel in May. I think I might have to ship my entire bag to England. It’s the only way to be sure.
That really SUCKS. I am very sorry.
So we were looking around online for information about filing TSA complaints and such and we found a guys blog talking about how he lost pocket knives out of his bag too. He said something that I thought was really interesting and a good point. He was saying that on the TSA blog they announced that they caught 225 thieves among their workers last year. They were saying this in a “aren’t we good for trying to fix the problem” sort of way. But the guy whose things were stolen made a good point when he said “so you’ve caught 225 thieves among your own workers in the last year, how many terrorists have you caught?” I like this because it not only points out how unnecessary all this “you can’t lock your bag’ shit is, but it also points out that the people trusted to look through our bags are actually less trustworthy than the passengers they are supposed to be checking. Hey, if they can get things out of our bags what’s stopping them from putting things in? Bastards.
Thanks Syd. It’s pretty frustrating. Especially for the kids. A royal bummer.
M… I so totally agree. Bastards is right. Doesn’t make one feel very safe from the people that are supposed to be keeping us safe. Anyone ever heard the phrase background checks? Or maybe, as your mom so rightly said… if they have to go through our bags, they should have to do it in a supervised area, AND they should have to be searched when they go in and out of that area. After all… it’s security.
What a bummer. I’ve taken to carrying on everything that I plan to take on a trip. Surprisingly you can fit a lot of stuff in a carry on bag. Of course, that doesn’t excuse the thievery, nor would Martin have been able to carry on his Leatherman, but it is a solution for getting around some of the security issues – and being sure your bag is with you when you land!
I hear ya Tam! My friend from Texas came to visit me and bought a nice bottle of wine from one of our wonderful wineries and a fancy jar of marinated olives to take back to a couple friends in Texas. She arrived there, her luggage arrived there, but the wine and olives must have had a layover somewhere else. It is a shame that we can’t trust the people that are suppose to be helping to protect us. And there is nothing that we can do about it!
Darla… Great, now we know they take alcoholic beverages AND knives. What a wonderful combo! Scary! LOL