To Avoid TSA stealing or seeing your private things... Send by FEDEX or UPS!

I don't travel anymore....because of TSA.. But the last time I did.. I sent my laptop and personal belongings by UPS or FEDEX (I don't remember) the the hotel where I was staying. They will sign for it and you can track your items.

That's right! No more LOST LUGGAGE.. this should enrage all of the airport thieves! Yeah!

Be sure to take your carry on with items you need (medicines, eyeglasses) and cable lock items in your carry on (go to a radio shack and get a small electric lock and cable) so that when the thieves (I mean TSA agents that are examining your things for your protection) don't accidentally take your property....).

But send your important things by FEDEX/UPS You can track it the whole way and it gets there on time. the hotel can even hold it if your flight is delayed.. no worries.. Best of all FEDEX/UPS has insurance available.. they are a real company. if something is lost.. it will be replaced.. Yes its that's simple!

Hey TSA... have a NICE day!

Another handy hint is to travel light and dont have any carry on luggage at all.

Last year I spent a month travelling round Europe using just one carry on bag.



Separate zipper slot in the side for the laptop.
No lost luggage.

The point should be...why would you have to?

You have given in to TPTB who take your rights and abuse you. So now, you are financially feeding another big business (shipping).

Nice you can afford to, but meanwhile, other people get grief from jobsworth nazis who satisfy their pitiful lives by being nasty because they have a badge.

Originally posted by alfa1
Last year I spent a month travelling round Europe using just one carry on bag.

Maybe you had a better time because you didn't have to deal with the TSA being as you weren't in America.

Yay Fedex support Skull and Bones!

Frederick W. Smith
en.wikipedia.org...

Not to take away from avoiding TSA but its a bad situation either way.

reply to post by bluestar.ranch
I just take my important/valuable stuff in my carry on and stick to it like glue going through security. I've never had anything "liberated" from me, and TSA agents have never given me a problem about following my bag.

Originally posted by nerbot

Originally posted by alfa1
Last year I spent a month travelling round Europe using just one carry on bag.

Maybe you had a better time because you didn't have to deal with the TSA being as you weren't in America.

Yes. I'm sure of that.
But while we're on the topic, the other handy hint is to not bother buying TSA approved locks for your luggage.
1. Criminals already have the keys, so they're no better than any ordinary lock.
2. For odinary locks, criminals or TSA will just use bolt cutters to get into your bag if they want, so its no better than no lock at all.
3. Locks get caught in conveyor belts and rip your luggage, so no lock is better than having a lock.
4. Even if you get your luggage at the other end, lock is gone and somebody has stolen stuff, you cant prove it anyway, and customs dont care, and your insurance claim is no better or worse than if you didnt have a lock in the first place.

You will save a lot more money and have a lot less stress by just not flying all over the place. Spend your money locally. If you want to fly take flying lessons.

Just look at the people taking trips on cruise ships lately, they would have had a better and cheaper time buying a canoe and going to a lake and paddling around and having a picnic with friends.

reply to post by alfa1


As someone who sells security products for a living, I have to point out a fallacy in what you just said.

The TSA locks you mention are specifically adapted so that the TSA can open your case WITHOUT damaging your luggage, or your lock. You are perfectly correct that if you have a non-TSA approved lock, they will open it with whatever tools are available. This sometimes means a box cutter through your suitcases outer skin and lining, which ruins the entire bit of luggage and leads to lost articles, or they bolt crop the shackle of non approved locks, which means your items are no longer secured, and anything could be taken from, or placed within your bag, at any time.

However, if you have your eyes on the bag at all times whilst in the terminal, roving thieves and drug planters will not be able to gain access to it, wether they have a TSA key or not,because your vigilance prevents it. Therefore the only people who could remove an item from your case or bag, would be TSA agents, and criminals who have infiltrated the employment structure of the airport, perhaps in the baggage department responsible for putting luggage on the plane, after it has been through customs and security checkpoints. Keeping an eye on your bags until they enter the sole responsibility of the airport staff absolves you of any blame for articles lost or placed within, and ensures that any tampering has been done by a relatively small suspect pool, when compared with all the people in a terminal on a given day.

Originally posted by TrueBrit
As someone who sells security products for a living, I have to point out a fallacy in what you just said.

The TSA locks you mention are specifically adapted so that the TSA can open your case WITHOUT damaging your luggage, or your lock.

Yep. This what I meant.

2. Criminals or TSA will just use bolt cutters...

Was referring to ordinary locks, not TSA locks.

That's great if you want to spend all that money shipping....personally, I get miffed if I am charged to check a single bag. By the way, there's a great way to avoid that. Have your personal carry on (computer bag), and then bring your bag that you would normally check. It should be right at the upper limit of what is allowed size-wise as a carry-on. Here's the real trick though. BOARD LAST. That's right. Be one of the LAST ones on the plane. That way, all of the overhead space is taken, they'll check it for you, for FREE, and it will save you the hassle of trying to find space for it, or retrieving it when departing the plane. I used to travel about two weeks out of every month, and this worked about 95% of the time. The only time it doesn't is if there is an empty flight, like I'm going to someplace in the boonies...but that is rare these days.

As for theft, etc., I simply don't take valuable things with me except for in my carry on.

Just look at the people taking trips on cruise ships lately, they would have had a better and cheaper time buying a canoe and going to a lake and paddling around and having a picnic with friends.

Apples and oranges comparison. Sure, both can be fun, but they do not equate. The real joy of a cruise is the same as any other all-inclusive vacation...the fact that you feel like royalty and have EVERYTHING done for you. Quite different than the activity you described.

reply to post by alfa1


Yes, but what you fail to respond to (perhaps because it destabilises your point somewhat) is that no matter what you have attached to your baggage, you must keep a careful eye on it. When you are walking around the terminal, you must ensure that your baggage is not accessed whilst in the public thoroughfare. This means that, assuming you have a TSA lock, the only people who could have accessed your baggage, are people who work for the airline, or the TSA themselves, unless of course you intend to stand there gawping while some moron cuts open your baggage lock, or uses a purloined key ,in front of you and steals your belongings.

If items are missing therefore, the suspect pool is reduced and redress is much easier, despite your protestations to the contrary. And, as for getting a lock stuck in a lift door... first of all, most modern lifts, and in fact several older models, feature doors which have a failsafe mechanism which prevents the movement of the lift in the event of an object preventing thier full closure. In the unlikely event that you are traveling from a terminal which is old enough to feature an elevator which is too old to have this saftey feature, you have to rely on not being a total halfwit to see you through the dangerous moment when the lift begins to move.

And let me assure you, only a complete halfwit, or at least someone who is not giving an appropriate amount of attention to thier surroundings is going to have that happen, and people that do not pay attention deserve everything they get when it comes to shredded baggage, and damaged clothing. I mean honestly, there is no known cure for complete idiot, or at least, there are no cures which do not also qualify as fatal.

reply to post by bluestar.ranch


Yeah, well you shouldn't have to. They are public servants and their duty is to do it with respect and to be trustworthy. Unfortunately we got slim pickin's in that department all across the board.

Originally posted by TrueBrit
Yes, but what you fail to respond to (perhaps because it destabilises your point somewhat) is that no matter what you have attached to your baggage, you must keep a careful eye on it. When you are walking around the terminal...

I was under the impression that this discussion was about bags that are checked in, and what happens to them once they enter the mysterious world beyond the checkin counter.
Not for a moment did I think this discussion had anything to do with what happens to your bag while you are personally holding onto it.

Originally posted by TrueBrit
This means that, assuming you have a TSA lock, the only people who could have accessed your baggage, are people who work for the airline, or the TSA themselves,

People who work for the airport. Or if you're transferring between flights, anybody who is on the ground between those flights, anybody who works for the second airline, anybody on the ground at the other end. Pretty much anybody who has a TSA key.
Or not even a TSA key. A quick check of the net finds the general consensus by locksmiths is that TSA approved locks are a joke, you can pick them with a paperclip, and there are even youtube videos showing you how to open them.

Originally posted by TrueBrit
And, as for getting a lock stuck in a lift door...

I said conveyor belt.
As seen torn off halfway down this page.
As well as any number of messages on forums from people who know...

i used to be a baggage handler at cardiff airport. the padlocks are really not worth putting on because i had a phenomenal number of bags that were bust open on arrival from abroad due to bad handling procedures by the foregn airports
aswell as bags being ripped open because of the locks catching the conveyors.

Originally posted by littled16
reply to post by bluestar.ranch

 

I just take my important/valuable stuff in my carry on and stick to it like glue going through security. I've never had anything "liberated" from me, and TSA agents have never given me a problem about following my bag.

Lucky you.. Do you work for TSA? If TSA never gave you a problem... you are one of the few....Have you had your junk grabbed yet?

reply to post by bluestar.ranch
No, I don't work for TSA and I've never had my "junk" grabbed. I've never been frisked or even looked at "hard". The agents have always been very polite and friendly. I don't doubt there have been many TSA horror stories but I haven't had any problems. My husband, who flies very frequently, has been pulled aside for a more extensive search a few times but he admits that they were polite and not invasive (they didn't grab his "junk" even then, just a regular pat down and had him turn out his pockets) even though out of public view.

As a former touring musician, we do it all the time. Its way more secure for our stuff and personal items.

Originally posted by mysterioustranger
As a former touring musician, we do it all the time. Its way more secure for our stuff and personal items.

Yeah! someone agreed with my post about using FEDEX/UPS for shipping important or expensive items to your destination... Like I said, I don't fly anymore.. but If I did. I would keep my personal life and things away from those crooks and felons.

The best part.. No lost luggage and FEDEX/UPS has insurance.. You stuff can be tracked to where you send it...Actually I don't know why more people don't ship things ahead if they have to fly...

reply to post by bluestar.ranch


Because you also have to ship it BACK, and it could cost quite a bit, when that's money you could have used on your trip!

reply to post by bluestar.ranch

One rock and roll tour I did was to Australia, New Zealand, West Coast US, England, Scotland and back. 27 dates...and most dates within one location, I would ship my stuff to the 1st hotel where I was (for more than a day or so)...and then when leaving the country or main region to another...our road mgr would ship it all ahead or back as the case may be.

In the old days? You could use someting like Emery Air-Freight to ship amplifiers and organs for about $2 US a pound....and they pick it up at your home or wherever and get to the destination well before the shows.

I still send stuff ahead even if Im not touring much these days. And when the wife and I vacation...if we buy things on vacation...I never carry them home with me....we get UPS, FED EX or DHL and its home before we are.