PsycheDelia

the TSA has suggested that all air passengers leave their bags unlocked

does anyone here have a problem with this? maybe airport workers are honest in the united states, but anyone who travels overseas is worried about things being stolen from open bags.

and since the bags are the private property of the passenger, shouldn't the bags be opened in their presence? i know in that in some countries if the airport authorities find a bag suspicious then the passenger is stopped before they board the flight and asked to open it. i have no problems at all with my bag being checked, as long as i can lock it again after they are done with the search.

Loren Pechtel

Yeah, that worries me, also. The whole security nonsense has been a big headache for us.

We've ended up going to bigger suitcases to bring the same amount of stuff because we can't pack as efficiently. We also normally tie our bags up with multiple straps in addition to the normal lock.

We have drawn multiple security inspections in China over the years, this packing has been no problem. We are called into the check room, open the suitcase and show them whatever it was that puzzled them on the x-ray. If they are not sure of the situation they may look a bit more (like the guy whith us with an x-ray resistant film bag. The security guy didn't seem to understand that a flexible bag was the big blot on the screen. He looked at it very puzzled, looked over the rest of the stuff in there and then let the bag go.)

TSA's nonsense, though, is much more offensive.

US airports don't have the level of theft you see in the third world, but they are by no means immune.

Books are a problem item? We *USED* to pack them at the very bottom of the suitcase around the rods of the handle. Now, however, that's not the best idea--it could result in unpacking the whole bag. Whenever we go visit the folks I always carry books because there will be plenty of times I'm excluded from the conversation (language barrier, not anything against me).

Food a problem? There's always a lot of food in our bags heading there--things that are either unobtainable over there (yes, the general products are there but not neccessarily the exact thing--for example, my father-in-law likes Planters Dry Roast peanuts.) or unduly expensive.