While we were checking in for a United Airlines flight to Paris last month, my wife asked two federal baggage screeners posted by the United counter if she could lock the bag she was about to check with a new lock approved by the Transportation Security Administration. The TSA screeners didn’t look closely at the lock and said she couldn’t use it.
The United agent checking us in was familiar with the new program, introduced in November, and said she was surprised the screeners didn’t allow my wife to use the lock.
Hearing that, my wife schlepped her bag back to the screeners and asked them to look at the lock again. Then they noticed the logo and allowed her to lock the bag before it was put on the conveyor.
The incident was not a big deal except to point out that nearly two months after the introduction of the locking system, facilitated and administered by Travel Sentry in cooperation with TSA and introduced with a lot of hoopla, some screeners were asleep at the switch.
Until these Travel Sentry Certified locks came on line, TSA urged travelers not to lock checked luggage so screeners would not have to break locks should they have to open bags for closer inspection. Travelers, of course, feel better when their bags are locked.
Recent articles in the New York Times reported on several incidents involving the locks, each emblazoned with a special red and white diamond-shaped logo that alerts screeners that the bag can be opened with a special key or tool should an inspection be required.
Each lock also carries a TSA code that tells the screener which tool to use. In one case, the Times story said, the passenger’s lock was cut. In another, the passenger said the inspectors where clueless about how to open the lock without cutting it.
In my Nov. 30 column on the locks, a TSA spokeswoman said “all our screeners have been trained on these new locks.” And John W. Vermilye, founder and director of Travel Sentry, the firm that, along with TSA, set the standards for lock manufacturers, said the TSA was provided with special tools and training materials for the locking systems at no cost to taxpayers.
It’s obvious now that two months after Travel Sentry and TSA announced the new program, bugs still linger. So what is the status of this program?
“TSA is in the process of reinforcing its message to screeners,” said Vermilye, who early last year launched the firm to help develop a TSA-friendly lock.
“There are 25,000 baggage screeners [another 25,000 screen people]. That’s lot of folks to train. Right now I have eight instances of locks being cut that were reported to us. TSA has been superb about going back to the airports involved and following up with them. Chicago O’Hare is one of them.
“Considering that screeners are clearing 1.4 million bags a day, that kind of rate [of lock snafus] is pretty good. But we want to solve all of the problems.” Added Vermilye: “The whole point is, the TSA wants the information. They want to know where the weak links are.”
To make it easier for people to file a complaint, Vermilye said, “we have a feedback form on our Web site [www.travelsentry.org–click on Feedback on the left side of the screen] so that if people do have a problem they can let us know straight away. If someone has a problem and their lock is cut, they can go back to where they bought the lock and have it replaced for free. Every manufacturer we’re working with [Austin House, Brookstone, CCL/Prestolock and Lewis N. Clark] is standing behind this program. So if their locks are cut by TSA, the buyer will get a replacement [provided he or she produces the cut lock, if possible, a TSA notification of baggage inspection and the name of the airport where the bag was screened]. The form lets us know at which airport the incident occurred and I give the details to TSA. Then TSA follows up directly with the airport involved.”
Vermilye explained that in one instance, the supervisor, who usually carries the keys or tools to open locks, was at another checkpoint at the time so the screener snipped the lock. The problem, he said, is that the locks are appearing at a rate not expected by TSA so it’s not as if you get one a day. TSA has to delegate the tools down to the people who are really opening the bags, Vermilye said.
The lock incidents are not so much about training as communication procedures, said Chris Rattigan, a TSA spokeswoman in Chicago. “As with any other agency, it’s a matter of getting the word out to every single screener. You think you have all your bases covered and there may be one or two instances here or there where you don’t. But for the most part, all of our screeners are pretty much aware of the program.”
Rattigan, too, explained that not every screener has a master key or master combination. The lock program, she said, “is a work in progress and we’re working as hard as we can to make sure our screeners get the word.”
Vermilye noted two categories of problems involving TSA and the locks:
“One is getting an airport up and running–getting the screeners trained, getting the tools out, getting everybody settled down into the new procedure. That’s a big deal. That’s still happening.
“The second is, in the speed of doing the job, every once in a while a screener is not going to look at the lock carefully and is going to snip a lock he or she shouldn’t.”
Vermilye said that getting seven or eight complaints when 1.4 million bags a day are screened isn’t bad, but also said he was sure that his firm wasn’t hearing all the complaints. Based on complaints cited by the New York Times, he’s right.
Right now, Vermilye said, “we have 300,000 locks in circulation and we’re adding between 250,000 and 300,000 a month. By March we should be at the 1 million mark, 2 million by June.”
For fliers interested in buying certified locks, Travel Sentry’s Web site has a store locater that tells you where they can be purchased. And TSA’s Web site, www.tsa.gov, advises that if your bag needs to be inspected and “if your bag has a TSA recognized locking mechanism, we will relock it after the screening process.” Hopefully.
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E-mail Alfred Borcover: aborcover@aol.com
