I have decided to share with you the letter I have just now sent via email to the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) of the United States Government. Now, I'm not in the habit of writing letters to government officials -- in fact, I think I have only once written to any of my congressmen -- but this time, they've gone too far.
I think the letter is self-explanatory. If any of you would care to spread the word to others by linking back to this post, please feel free. And if you happen to have contacts at any major media outlets who would be interested in picking this up as an op-ed piece, please put them in touch with me as I'd love to talk to them. Sometimes, you just have to speak up for what's right.
Even if it's about a lock that cost $6.99.
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Email Dated: April 29, 2009
To: [email protected]
Dear TSA representatives and management,
I am an American citizen who recently flew from Newark, NJ to Paris, France with my husband, and we each checked two bags for our flight on Air France, all of which had “TSA approved” combination locks. These locks are sold in stores around the US and abroad, and the manufacturers claim that they are TSA approved so that the TSA can open them WITHOUT breaking them when they want to do a checked bag inspection. I’ve been using locks like this ever since the TSA security guidelines where upgraded following the 9/11 attacks, because I still want my personal belongings to be secured but don’t wish the locks to be broken.
Upon arrival in Paris, we discovered at baggage claim that two of the four bags were missing their locks. Upon looking inside all the bags when we reached home, one of these lock-less bags contained a “Notice of Baggage Inspection” from the TSA, while the other – where the contents had clearly been “rearranged” by someone, I’m hoping and assuming it was a TSA baggage inspector – had no such printed notice within. One of the two other bags which still had its lock ALSO contained the same printed notice.
I have no problem with the TSA needing to inspect my bags and I understand the need for safety precautions. I’m glad to know that bags are checked if there is some question about their contents. And nothing appeared to be missing from our bags. What I do NOT like is paying good money for locks that are supposedly TSA-approved and which the TSA should be able to open without breaking… only to find out that on the printed notice, it says “If the TSA security officer was unable to open your bag for inspection because it was locked, the officer may have been forced to break the locks on your bag…. TSA is not liable for damage to your locks resulting from this necessary security precaution.” The airline web sites, such as Continental.com, routinely state that passengers should use only TSA-approved locks when locking luggage: “All checked baggage is screened by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Refrain from locking your checked baggage or use a TSA Accepted & Recognized Lock. TSA is mandated by Federal law to screen 100% of checked baggage. If your baggage alarms and TSA cannot gain access to your checked bag, unrecognized locks may be broken. TSA will not reimburse passengers for unrecognized locks broken as a result of the security screening process. For more information about the TSA, visit www.tsa.gov.”
Well, I DID use TSA-approved locks – all had the TSA diamond-shaped logo on them and the packaging specified it was TSA approved. Now, two of them are gone and I will have to pay to replace them. Why was the TSA agent unable to open this TSA-recognized lock? Was he just lazy and in a hurry? Is it now quicker and easier for the agent to damage my locks than to take the time to get a pass-key and open it the correct way? Why is the TSA putting its name on these locks if it isn’t going to bother to open them the right way? Just because you are a government agency, do you feel you don’t owe the consumer anything for damaging locks your agency supposedly approved in the first place?
It may seem like a minor issue to you at the TSA, having to compensate a lowly passenger for a broken lock, given that there are certainly bigger problems in the world and your job is to focus on security. But isn’t it bad enough the airlines are constantly cutting corners on the comfort of the passengers in order to save money and make more profit for themselves and their shareholders? Isn’t it bad enough that passengers are subjected to rude employees, non-functioning toilets, having to now pay for pillows, peanuts, and checked luggage on many flights, and tolerating long waits for their “scheduled” flights to take off even when bad weather is not a factor? Do we now have to leave our luggage UNLOCKED, where items can (and often ARE) stolen by corrupt airport employees and baggage handlers? Isn’t it bad enough that we can’t even redeem the frequent flyer miles we’ve spent years earning, because the airlines don’t want to honor their own frequent flyer programs and promises to customers? This is getting ridiculous. Just how much are we supposed to take? You can say that we don’t HAVE to fly, but for some of us it’s really not an option; in my case I live in France because my husband is French and this is where his work and his children are located, but my family – including my 75-year-old mother – are all in the U.S. So let’s face it, sometimes some of us have to get on a plane whether we want to or not, no matter what we have to spend to do it, and no matter how badly the airlines and the TSA decide to treat us. Is it too much to ask that we have some peace of mind about our luggage being secure?
When we, the flying public, follow the TSA’s rules and buy the right TSA locks, and the TSA STILL sees fit to break them anyway, I would think the least the TSA could do is include some sort of reimbursement voucher in the luggage along with that standard card of explanation. It would be only common decency – when you break something belonging to someone else, you’re supposed to compensate them, yes? But clearly this has become an industry that no longer seems to feel that passengers should be treated with respect. Instead, we’re treated like criminals to be body-scanned and frisked without respect for personal dignity, or we’re treated as cattle to be pushed around and crammed into tiny, uncomfortable spaces for hours and hours on end… “privileges” for which WE, the passengers, now pay absurd amounts of money, I might add (my round trip airfare on this flight was nearly $200 MORE in April than when I flew the same route for the Christmas holidays!)
So forgive me if I’m a little irate at having to go out and buy two more new locks the next time I have to fly, considering I had just purchased the two you broke, a mere three weeks ago. The next time YOU have to fly somewhere, I hope you have as lovely an experience with YOUR baggage as you have given to us.
By the way, I’m posting a copy of this letter on my blog and hoping that my numerous international blog readers, Twitter followers and Facebook friends will share this with others. If I can get a few media outlets to pick it up as an op-ed piece, I intend to do that too. Word-of-mouth can be a very powerful thing. It might behoove the TSA and the airlines to remember that.
Sincerely,
Lisa Taylor Huff
Freelance Writer, Author and Disgruntled Airline Passenger
