This is a heads-up for fliers this summer: Know what to expect from Transportation Security Administration screeners at the airport and know your rights. There are tens of thousands of travelers flying somewhere for their summer vacations who are not accustomed to today’s airport security procedures and pitfalls.
As nearly everyone knows by now, the TSA keeps tabs on you and your luggage–both checked and carry-on–at 429 commercial airports throughout the U.S. Since Jan. 1, they are required by law to screen 100 percent of checked baggage as well as what you carry on the plane.
Passengers need to be mindful every step of the way. Things can go awry, even disappear. While screeners are federal employes, it doesn’t mean that 100 percent of them are perfect–or even honest.
When Robert and Victoria Fesmire of Barrington checked in for a 6 p.m. Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta Hartsfeld International Airport to Ft. Myers on April 13, they had three large suitcases to check, not to mention their dog in a pet carrier. Fesmire, in a telephone interview, explained that while his wife was tending to their dog at a nearby counter, he was watching as a screener began to open and check the contents of one suitcase, which contained some irreplaceable Thai silk articles. At that point, Fesmire said he noticed that his briefcase, unattended, was still in the aisle. He said in the minute or so it took him to retrieve his briefcase and return to the bag being inspected, the screener was closing the case and putting a security seal on it.
Fesmire said that when he and his wife opened the suitcase in their Florida apartment, they found that the Thai silk dresses and costumes acquired in Thailand about 10 years ago were missing. He said they made calls to the Atlanta airport and finally to the TSA.
Victoria Fesmire, via a phone message, said, “TSA never answers their phone when you call to make a complaint. Instead you are told to leave your name and number and they’ll call you back. Of course, they never have called back, they never send you anything, so there’s no way to file a report.”
Sad to say, but even with federal screeners on the job, stuff does does happen. Otherwise, the TSA wouldn’t have a claim form (SF95) available on its Web site. Assistance is available by phoning the TSA Contact Center at 866-289-9673, but you get a recorded message that tells you what to do.
Complaints–about 4,600 between January and April–are backlogged so it takes about six months to process a claim, TSA spokeswoman Heather Rosenker said. The lag is due to a shortage of personnel, she said. “We’re working out the kinks.” Nevertheless, TSA has said it will lay off 6,000 screeners by September.
Best advice on checked bags: Do not–repeat do not–pack easily pilfered valuables or things you may need en route in your checked bags. That means your camera, film, treasured jewelry, travelers checks or cash, your passport, medications–well, you get the picture. This means you’ve got to do a little planning at home when you pack. You won’t regret the time spent. As for valuable clothes, that’s a problem. Pack those things in a way that they are not easily removed from a suitcase.
What’s counterintuitive to passengers, however, is the TSA’s advice not to lock your luggage. If screeners need to inspect bags, either in your presence or in the baggage areas out of sight, they prefer not to mess with locks, which they have to break.
As you prepare to travel, take a deep breath when you arrive at the airport. Allow yourself plenty of time. Ask your carrier just how early you should arrive before your flight. Before you start most of the security process, you check in at the ticket counter. Remember that you must have an identification card with your photo on it if you are 18 or older.
In the last six months, it’s been my experience at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, and airports in St. Louis, Albuquerque, Orange County (Calif.), San Diego and Charleston, S.C., none of them as bustling as O’Hare, that the federal security procedures work pretty smoothly. Lines have never been onerous. The TSA screeners have been polite, thorough, even obliging when I requested a shoehorn at O’Hare to put my shoes back on after an inspection.
Travelers can save themselves a lot of fumbling around if they remove metal objects from their bodies and pockets (coins, keys, pagers, cell phones, rings, earrings, metal barrettes, watches, jewelry, pens), put them in a plastic bag and stash them in their carry-on before sending them through the X-ray machine. Then, walk through the metal detector.
Checked bags are screened either by an Explosive Detection System or by an Explosive Trace Detection device. Depending upon the airport’s configuration, you may or may not see this happen. The same goes for checked bags selected for physical inspection. It may happen behind the scenes. If a bag is opened, a Notification of Baggage Inspection is left inside by the screener, who then seals it. The note, in part, says: “During the inspection, your bag and its contents may have been searched for prohibited items. At the completion of the inspection, the contents were returned to your bag, which was resealed.” It goes on to say that if your bag was locked and the screener had to break it, TSA is not responsible for the damage to the lock. The note also includes TSA’s Web address, e-mail address and phone number. Once the screening is completed, the bags go into the airline’s baggage handling system.
With the summer travel season at hand, the TSA offers these suggestions to vacationers:
– If golfers are taking their clubs with them, they should clean them because fertilizers used on many courses can trigger explosive trace detection equipment.
– Children flying off to camp must not carry pocketknives or pointed tip scissors in their carry-on bags. Parents and camp counselors can get permission from the airlines to accompany children to and from the gates. Children under 18 are not required to have have identification cards.
– Don’t expect to carry on such sports items as baseball bats, golf clubs, hockey sticks and fishing gear. These things can be checked. Scuba tanks are not permitted on commercial airliners.
– Suntan lotion, bug repellant and other skin care products can be packed in checked or carry-on bags. Ask your airline about aerosol canisters, some of which can be flammable.
– Undeveloped film should be packed in your carry-on. You can request a hand inspection. Checked baggage screening equipment will damage or destroy undeveloped film.
– Don’t over pack your bags. Screeners have a harder time closing an overstuffed bag if it needs to be opened. If you don’t want your stuff pawed through, pack items in clear plastic bags.
If you are traveling with children, remember that they, too, must be screened. That includes their diaper bags, toys, blankets, strollers and baby carriers. If you are carrying a child through the metal detector and the alarm goes off, the screener must resolve the problem, so make sure the baby is metal-diaper-pin free.
The TSA’s advice on the screening process for children carries this caution: “Alert! Babies should NEVER be left in an infant carrier while it goes through the X-ray machine.” Which means someone tried.
My advice: USE COMMON SENSE throughout the security process.
While the TSA will make allowances for people who don’t want to pass through the metal detector for religious or cultural reasons, they cannot avoid an inspection. On request, they can ask for a pat-down inspection as an alternative. They also can ask the same-gender screener for a private area for this personal search. Persons refusing any type of screening will not be permitted to pass the security checkpoint for their flight. Passengers wearing a head covering may be asked to remove it during the screening process, but they may request a private area while the head cover is removed, inspected and restored.
TSA screeners also must help passengers with disabilities. All the disabled person needs to do is ask for assistance. As a recent Associated Press story reported, screeners, for example, no longer will separate a blind passenger from a guide dog. The TSA instituted a training program designed by groups representing the disabled, establishing guidelines that all screeners must follow.
Give the TSA credit. The agency has a very thorough consumer-friendly Web site that provides answers to most questions, including what you can and cannot carry on an airplane. Check out www.tsa.gov or www.tsatraveltips.us. Or phone 866-289-9673.
As you pack, don’t forget your common sense.
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E-mail: aborcover@aol.com.
