TSA steals property from checked bags then denies claim: anything we can do?

Factual Questions
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[QUOTE=EJsGirl]
Were you a screener pre-9/11? Because I have had bags checked and relocked by TSA since then, and I don’t handle explosives of any kind (unless you count my kids…).

Is that still the only reason they open bags?

And my super-duper travel lock specifically says that a TSA employee can unlock it without cutting it off.
[/QUOTE]

I worked there from Dec 02 to March of 04 (I thought it was 01 to 03, but I just checked and was wrong, I have been severely injured recently and can’t think properly sometimes, so my dates were off) and everything was very new. I’m not saying at all that TSA doesn’t or didn’t have master lock keys, they very well could have had them. Or, it could be something relatively new. But we cut our locks off. A lot of people started getting pissed, I’m sure. Hence, master lock keys I guess.

22

[QUOTE=EJsGirl]

Is that still the only reason they open bags?

[/QUOTE]

Yes, that is the only reason we opened them. We were checked luggage screeners, not passenger screeners. Passenger screeners have different protocol, because that luggage is carry on and can be accessed by the passenger while on the plane. So they open a lot more bags as you all are aware.

There was only one other reason to open them (which I forgot to mention) and that was if there was a firearm that was undeclared inside of the bag. Then we would just call the airline down to the basement to get the bag so they could pull the passenger off the plane. Don’t know what they did from there. That happened only once and it was some guy in the military traveling.