Thursday, December 28, 2006

My Lost Luggage is... WHERE?!?!?

We all know that the TSA is responsible for screening passengers, carry-on baggage, and checked baggage on airliners. It would make sense, therefore, to assume that TSA is also responsible for ensuring the security of luggage once it is entrusted to them, and that they take the appropriate steps to do so.

Nope. Once TSA screens the bags, they're the airlines' problem... except when the bags come off the planes and are in secured airport areas. Once the bags are back on the ground, they are again TSA's responsibility, in that TSA is responsible for the security of "back areas".

AP is reporting that 60-70 pieces of airline luggage were found in a Houston dumpster. The luggage belonged to passengers on flights on Continental, Lufthansa, British Airways and US Airways.

A Continental spokeswoman was quoted as saying she didn't know if the contents of the bags were stolen.

It would seem to me that if 60 or 70 pieces of luggage miraculously appeared in a Dumpster, with no indication of how they got there from the airport, it should be safe to assume they are, in fact, stolen.

So, once again, TSA appears to have dropped the ball. Unless, of course, the miscreants grabbed all 70 bags from the carousel, without the rightful owners noticing a damn thing. Somehow, I doubt that's the case.

1 comment:

  1. I read on an airline site that a lot of those bags had transfer tags on them so they should not have even been able to remove them from the security area apparently those bags are handled differently and are probably loaded in some order let alone the airport property. I will not be surprised one bit when the FBI bust up some huge very organized theft ring. There is no way one person could do this alone. And this way at least there watching each other to make sure there not getting ripped off by their own partners. But if one person pulled this off god only knows what else he could do. If that turns out to be the case which is doubtful, I wouldn't go near a plane to meet the Virgin Mary herself!!!

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