Today my checked baggage was searched by the TSA on my flight home, thus continuing an unbroken chain of 100% checked luggage searching on every domestic flight I have taken since 9/11 (but interestingly, none of the international flights). My hand luggage is also searched about half the time, and on one single flight leg I once had a bag searched on three separate occasions.
I hate to cave in to conspiracy theories, but this percentage seems rather more frequent than it should be for someone of my travel behavior. I always buy tickets well in advance with a credit card, they are usually round-trip (although I did do one open-jaws trip last winter), my name is fairly boring and non-ethnic, and I have no criminal history whatsoever (or even any moving violations, for chrissakes). The most exotic city where I’ve boarded a plane in the past 9+ years was Zurich, which is not a place known for its security problems.
So why do I get searched so often? How often are you searched when flying, and what are your travel patterns?
Do you transport any electronic equipment in your suitcase? I made four round trip trips (work and vacation) in July/August when I was trying to make a certain weight category for an upcoming race. So I stowed my scale/body fat monitor in my luggage. My suitcase was searched every single time and my theory is the scale looked weird when my luggage was screened…
The last time my luggage got searched was when the wife and I were still dating, and I had a number of “toys” in my bag. :o
Sweetie sat over on the side of the area and pretended she didn’t know me as the ladies peered at the screen, then tore my bag apart, laying out items in a neat little row on the belt.
I’ve made two airplane trips since 9/11. The first was a round-trip flight by myself to Australia, with only a carry-on backpack. Ticket bought in advance and paid using a credit card. My bag was searched at every opportunity coming and going. I also had to take my shoes off at each security counter.
The second trip was a one-way trip to Australia with my family. We had loads of luggage, bought the ticket in advance, and paid using a credit card. Our bags weren’t searched once, but my husband had to take his shoes off in L.A.
On the trip from Seattle to St. Louis, via Phoenix, I found a TSA flier in my checked bag that said it had been searched. Whether it was or not is anybody’s guess.
Leaving St. Louis, the checked bag was scanned.
Going through airport security in Seattle and St. Louis I had to remove my shoes.
Fine. I’m not comfortable leaving my checked bags unlocked so they can be searched, but I’ve stopped leaving anything of value in them and taking that stuff with me in my carry-on luggage.
But all of this is of questionable value, in my opinion, when you consider that little of the air freight (mail and other packages) that goes on board most airliners is never inspected or scanned.
I once flew from Tel Aviv to New York to Los Angeles, and it was on the last, easy leg of the trip, from LA to Oakland, that I finally got pegged for security. (Well, I was pegged for security in Tel Aviv, but everyone is, so whoopdedoo.) That struck me as kind of funny, but a year of living with Israeli security precautions made me pretty nonchalante.
In fact, I honestly can’t remember if I’ve been searched since. I think I’m less bothered by it than most Americans, because I used to have to open my bag for a security guard every time I walked in a supermarket, mall, or school. I just made my first international flight since 9/11 (just to Mexico), and only remember it because I thought it was odd that I wasn’t searched because I was travelling with a couple of Britons and their baggages were both searched. I guess Americans are more trustworthy than the British? I don’t know, that struck me as weird.
My dad gets searched all the time. He’s very obviously of Middle Eastern/Mediterranean descent, too - he’s Jewish.
When I went to Chicago last January I brought a wok and a bunch of silverware in my checked luggage. I should have included a card for TSA. I’m happy to say that did check it - I would have been worried if they hadn’t. I’ve only had it opened one other time.
I got searched a lot right after 9/11. Since then, I only get searched if I do something stupid, like leave my metal card case in my pocket.
And silenus :eek: The question is did they not know what was in your bag and had to find out, or did they know and had to see!
I don’t fly that often, but my checked luggage is searched every single time I fly. I no longer check anything I value or need, and I leave the luggage unlocked. After it’s been searched they always close it with a sealed plastic loop. Of course, I have no way to cut that plastic loop because I’m not allowed to take scissors or a jack knife on the plane with me. I always have to make a trip to the hotel desk to borrow scissors.
Well, coming in from the Middle East, I get the full check every time I get on a plane. They check the carry ons, the check ins, and I get the whole “Please remove your shoues” thing prior to boarding. Odd, I’m about as average “white-bread” looking a guy as you could ask for.
Frankly, I just don’t go back to the US for vacations anymore, too much hassle to make the time enjoyable.
Only once in all my travels. But I looked suspicious.
I was going through a phaze with long hair pulled back in a pony tail and had a goat-tee (sp) and all in all looked pretty scruffy, and I declared nothing. Even the people I was with said they would have suspected me of smuggling drugs.
Of course, there was nothing to find and so I was ushered through with no further problems.
Oh yeah, I should note that the OP doesn’t mention searches or security measures other than luggage inspection. I’ve also been told to take off my shoes about half the time (which is quite annoying, as I limp when barefoot due to an old ankle injury), even when I tell them that I know from experience that the particular pair of shoes won’t set off metal detectors. (Nothing weird, just gym shoes.) I’ve been told to take off my belt – OK, fine, I almost never wear belts anyway. Right after the TSA announced a policy of cutting off locks, I didn’t know about it and locked my suitcase, but with a dinky little lock that you probably could have cut with a pair of kindergarten scissors – it was purely for deterrent value. Did they cut the lock? Naaaaah, they cut the whole zipper, thus rendering the nearly-new suitcase completely useless; I tried to have it repaired, but was told it would cost more than I’d paid for the suitcase.
Yesterday in Ft. Lauderdale was just plain ridiculous; in the maybe 10 yards between the initial ID check and the gate, I had to show ID and boarding pass a total of FIVE times. What could possibly happen in the 10 yards, secured by walls, ropes, and half a billion TSA personnel, between the front of the X-ray line and the end of the X-ray line? And why should it have changed from the last time I flew out of Ft. Lauderdale, 2 weeks before? Yes, I was carrying a piece of electrical equipment in my checked baggage on the way home – a hand mixer (don’t ask – I was cooking for Rosh Hashanah, and my aunt doesn’t have one). But then why did nobody care when I had the same item in my carryon on the way there? Wouldn’t I presumably have better access to my highly dangerous kitchen mixer under the seat in front of me than in the cargo hold?
I don’t know what’s going to happen when we get bumped up to Red or something, and the plate in my leg starts setting off metal detectors. Will showing the surgical scar suffice? Or will they want to slice open my leg to make sure I’m not carrying a bomb?
I don’t mind being searched, if it’s done with a purpose and some actual cognitive thought. This wasn’t, and it’s getting more ridiculous every time I fly. I’m just asking for some common sense, people.
I haven’t noticed any local weirdness that would cause them to up the security lately. Though I’ve been travelling out of that airport with a kidlet strapped to me at odd hours …
I think it might be part of the ‘increased holiday travel, step up searches’ for that particular stop.
As far as I know I’ve never been searched … half the time I leave the suit case unlocked, the other half I just use a zip tie … they can break it if they officially search it, but things won’t “fall out”.
I’ve flown on 5 round-trip flights in the last two years, three times alone for business and twice with my husband on vacation. All flights were within the US, with tickets booked anywhere from a week and a half to three months in advance. I pack my valuable stuff in my carry-on, and check my bag with my clothes in it. I’ve never had the checked bag searched.
On our last trip, my husband’s checked bag was opened at O’Hare. We think it was because the shoulder strap was still attached (it was a big duffel bag), as it was removed and placed inside - typically they catch that at the check-in counter and ask you to remove the strap. For locks we get these little plastic things from Masterlock that are one-use, and we put a twist-tie on the zipper pull for them to use to close it back up again. They did use the twist-tie to reclose it, and put a printed flyer inside explaining that they’d opened the bag. He said not only was nothing missing, but it had also been repacked far more neatly than he’d packed it in the first place, with shirts folded nicely and everything.
I carry a lot of electronics in my carry-on, and have joked that I’m trying to see how much metal I can put in the bag before they do more than back up the conveyor belt and take a second look. Typically this can include a small nail clippers, AA batteries and charger, CD player and CDs, cell phone and charger, PDA and charger, and cans of soda. On our last trip, I got a small frying pan and a food mill (one of those hand-cranked grinders) as birthday presents, and put them in my carryon to avoid theft. That did the trick, and the security screener had to go to her supervisor to ask. Yes, apparently you can carry on a frying pan and a (boxed up) cast-iron food mill.
I didn’t mention in my last post that my husband’s carry-on bag was searched at O’Hare for this reason. One of the questionable items was a battery charger and batteries, which from the angle it was at looked like cylinders with wires attached. :eek: The other item was a wooden box containing cigars and a circular cigar cutter - again, more odd cylinders and a loop of metal. (The cutter was considered fine by the screeners; apparently they didn’t think anyone was going to be lopping off fingers.)
My carry-on baggage was searched once prior to 9/11…I had a huge backpack, but I was simply a college student going home for spring break. Since 9/11, I think I’ve probably taken about six trips (all domestic). I had one carry-on search and “body wand” experience in the gate area prior to boarding a flight, but it looked like they were doing this with about every fourth person in line rather than targeting me specifically. I had to carry some AV equipment for work on one of these trips and was careful to let the screeners know what it was, but there was no extra searching there.
The lack of searching actually surprises me, given that I live in DC and almost always fly into or out of National.
We have a pretty good track record of being searched. We tend not to check baggage, having only carry-on, and using our passports. We were searched both ways for our trip to Chidope this year. Maybe it’s because they knew we were coming to see you, Eva!
I always get searched. Before 9-11 I got searched, after I got searched even more. I mainly fly internationally.
The last international flight I took they made me take off my flip flops and sweat jacket. I was wearing a tank top and jeans and they still wand searched me. I didn’t set off the first detector.
My grandmother gets searched all the time, which isn’t a fun thing since she’s 79 and doesn’t speak English and is very paranoid. Nothing like trying to calm down an old histerical woman who thinks that they’re trying to steal her underwear.
I’m guessing my bags are being pawed through about 50% of the time. I’ve had the TSA “We’ve been in your bag” note a couple times, but more often, there’s just the sense of “The socks were at the other end of the bag” or “This isn’t how I zip it”
Removing shoes at xray? 100% of the time, and for everybody.
Thank Og they’ve stopped those “random” frisks at the gate.
I’ve been hit, never fail, 100% of the time*, before AND after 9/11. On one flight, I was actually asked to surrender my wallet badge (which has a pin on it). I didn’t, of course, put up a fuss, and got a supervisor over there to ok it.
No matter where I go, domestic or international, i’m always pulled out of line, searched, wanded, shoes off etc. I can’t wait to travel wearin my kilt, i’m sure it’ll just blow their little minds.
I think I’m searched so often because I’m a big boy, and a weapon in my hands might be more dangerous than one in a smaller persons, i don’t know, but it’s automatic, so I prepare.
*The last time I wasn’t searched was when I worked for DoD, and had airport creds, which made things WAY easy.
