# TSA Master Keys Leaked **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 10, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-master-keys-leaked/730538 "2015-09-10T18:33:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-master-keys-leaked/730538/41 "2015-09-15T18:03:26Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Really? > Luggage locks? As if the pulls on the zipper would withstand a twist with a pliers… Well, yeah, but I lock my doors at night, even though my windows wouldn’t survive a blow from those very same pliers. The locks are meant to discourage sneak thieves, not determined criminals. However, I don’t bother with the locks either, and instead just have really old and dingy luggage. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-master-keys-leaked/730538/42 "2015-09-15T19:22:16Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > I was thinking about this thread and a couple of thoughts popped into my head. > > 1. To know if someone opened your lock, get a TSA lock and clog the key hole so the master key won’t work. If you get your suitcase back without the lock, then you know someone cut it off. Of course you lose the lock, but someone with a rogue master key won’t be able to secretly open your lock and lock it when they’re done. You might think you could just use an ordinary lock, but I’m thinking that it might stand out to the TSA and be targeted more often for search. > > 2. To help with theft problems, they could compare X-Ray images of your bag at checkin _and_ pickup. If items were stolen in transit, it should be evident in the two X-Rays. They don’t X-Ray the bags when they arrive, so there would have to be a system where you ask for your bag to be X-Rayed before picking it up. It wouldn’t worth it all the time, but it would help when you’re traveling with expensive equipment. Of course, the TSA would then blame the missing items on the airline, who would blame it on the TSA, and back and forth ad infinitum with you no better off. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-master-keys-leaked/730538/43 "2015-09-15T19:38:45Z")
I haven’t flown in a number of years. So now my old but perfectly serviceable luggage can be legally vandalized by the TSA and the only way to avoid this is to buy new luggage? Can I send the TSA the bill for my new luggage? (I know I can’t but it seems like I should be able to.) ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-master-keys-leaked/730538/44 "2015-09-15T19:59:34Z")
That’s why I just put exploding die packs in all of my luggage. You see this way … Oh, sorry, they said the time is up on my one phone call, gotta go … ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-master-keys-leaked/730538/45 "2015-09-15T20:10:09Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Not necessarily. As mentioned above and shown in the video, if you just have regular luggage with a zipper, someone can get in and out of your suitcase without you being any the wiser, TSA lock or not. Sure they can, but a luggage thief is likely looking for the quick and easy score. If he can’t open your lock, he’ll likely just move on to another bag. He’s not going to want to take the time to undo and redo your zipper when there’s hundreds of other bags which can be locked/unlocked with no effort. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-master-keys-leaked/730538/46 "2015-09-15T20:19:11Z")
> [@Bookkeeper](#): > > Of course, the TSA would then blame the missing items on the airline, who would blame it on the TSA, and back and forth ad infinitum with you no better off. Agreed, but at least you would have a more convincing case with the police, airlines and insurance if you could prove that your item was in the bag in the first place. Plus, if the routing tag specified that it should be X-Rayed on arrival, it might deter some thieves since they there would be a better chance the loss would be investigated. How do airlines handle theft anyway? If something was stolen from my bag, I wouldn’t realize the theft until many hours or even days later when I unpacked it. The airlines would need to be justifiably cautious handling claims or else it would easily be abused. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-master-keys-leaked/730538/47 "2015-09-15T20:28:35Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > Sure they can, but a luggage thief is likely looking for the quick and easy score. If he can’t open your lock, he’ll likely just move on to another bag. He’s not going to want to take the time to undo and redo your zipper when there’s hundreds of other bags which can be locked/unlocked with no effort. There’s almost no effort involved using the pen trick and that is, indeed, how some/many thieves do it. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-master-keys-leaked/730538/48 "2015-09-15T21:10:17Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > There’s almost no effort involved using the pen trick and that is, indeed, how some/many thieves do it. True, that is pretty easy to get into the zippers. One way to defeat that would be to lock the zippers clasps together to something fixed on the suitcase rather than to just each other so the clasps couldn’t move. If the thief pries open the zipper, they wouldn’t be able to zip it back up. Not all cases use zippers. For the hard cases which are padlocked, jamming the master hole would make it more unlikely a thief could get in. I suppose if you did that, it might be a good idea to put an extra lock inside the case with a note like “TSA, use this lock to relock the case.” ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-master-keys-leaked/730538/49 "2015-09-15T21:16:54Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > State approved physical locks is an actual thing? Bloody hell. Where are you from? I’ve not been to The Land of the Free™ for years, but even I knew about this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-master-keys-leaked/730538.md?page=2)