Posted on 12/26/2010 3:08:24 PM PST by ottbmare
My brother sent me a carton full of beautifully wrapped and beribboned Christmas packages, most of them containing clothes but a few containing plastic model airplanes for my son. When I opened the carton I found that a number of the packages had been slit up one of the short sides and the side flaps of the box pushed in so that anyone could see what was inside. I could only imagine that this was done for security purposes. Is this standard, now--to slice open Christmas presents and check to see what's inside them? I was a bit shocked, especially since there was nothing electronic or chemical in the carton to trigger a sensor.
They claim that anything that is a wrapped is fair game for opening.
I returned home recently from a business trip to find that my newly purchased bottle of shampoo w/built-in conditioner was missing. I had purchased it because my business trip was extended and due to that I’d run out. I was really irritated because it’s not a cheap brand and although I know the 3 oz. rule applies to carrying liquids on the plane with you, it doesn’t apply to within checked baggage.
So yes, I guess it’s par for the course these days for them to do whatever it is they want.
It was all in one bag that she checked. I think she learned a lesson.
OK. I was going to say NEVER EVER check-in your electronics. I always hand-carry my laptop, MP3 player etc. Luggage should always be clothes. IF you lose your luggage, they’re just clothes and can easily be replaced. Laptops or I-Pad with private info on them cannot.
I agree. Am driving as much as possible. It’s just those drives from texas to Florida , Alabama , and Washington get a little long.
Care to return to the thread you started and at least inform us as to what shipping method was used?????
How about the shipping carton itself, you never mentioned that.........Hmmmmmmmm
Even then, how do you keep your equipment in sight? They pull you aside for a hand pat down and your hand carry goes on out of sight.
I tend to overpack so I have mailed things to myself through the USPS, to avoid "overload" fees, which are killer. I usually pack a flat cardboard box and
When you've flown a bit then take a road trip, you feel positively free! No worries about what and how you pack, what's "legal" and what's not.
It will never stop bugging me that none of the hoops we jump though make me feel any safer, though, just harrassed.
Sorry not to have returned to the thread, I’ve been out of the house for the past few hours.
I checked with my brother. He said he sent the carton UPS and it almost certainly went by air. Also—I forgot this—there was some liquid in the carton, some bottles of a type of soft drink my son loves. If packages are being routinely x-rayed now, that is what may have triggered the search. Though how an inspector would have known the stuff was really a harmless drink without tasting it, I don’t know.
The outside of the carton was sealed with clear plastic packing tape, and it was pretty thoroughly covered so I didn’t notice that the carton had been opened and sealed up again. The evidence of tampering was on the smaller packages on the inside, boxes containing sweaters and other clothes for me and my children. The ribbons weren’t untied and packages weren’t unwrapped. There was just a big slit through wrappings and boxes, with the side of the boxes pushed in to make the contents visible.
No, nobody is flying. They sent me a large carton from Chicago to the DC suburbs, using UPS.
A few years ago, we took some all-American foods like Bisquick and Hamburger Helper to some over seas relatives.
The meat loaf mix was nevr seen again; the Bisquick was slit open and we got a little note to that effect.
Of course since we are middle-aged, middle class white peeps, we must have looked suspicious :-/
Every time I fly to & from Pittsburgh, PA & Washington,DC.
My bag has been open & if I put the tsa lock on the bag. The lock is cut not unlocked like they are suppose to open. Most of the time the lock is gone they keep them.
Some times there will be a sticker inside or outside they have been open. A trip in Oct lock gone & no sticker.
Its all smoke & mirrows wanting to put up a front like they are doing something. You can see several tsa employes standing around doing nothing.
My husband a retired airline pilot flew in the good days before the nuts took over ....
Mayvbe it was for Troy Polamalu>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaJFnGGECJo
I think even before this idiotic strip search and grope search crap started, the TSA could go through gift wrapped packages and open them. When I have flown in the past, even the recent past, I do not gift wrap things. I take the gift bag and tissue with me to wrap when I get to my destination. That said, if things are missing on the other end, get the forms from the TSA and file a loss complaint. I got so ticked 3 years ago when the fools took my TSA approved locks, opened the bags and then just tossed my locks..they were something like 9 bucks each. I filed a complaint, it helps if you have receipts, and I got reimbursed from the loss.
I also know of people who have said things were stolen from them going through security as well as checked bags so the moral of the story is don’t take anything of value.
I have heard of FedExing or UPSing your luggage too, but it has never been practical for me.
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Depending what you have to ‘pay’, when you consider they pick it up at your house and deliver it to your destination address.
You have no hassle at the airport with luggage, don’t have to mess with baggage clerks or ‘worry’ your bags are in Cincinnati while you are in Cleveland, and don’t have the ‘worry’ of a pool person going through your luggage while it is in ‘the airlines’ hands.
These dimwits are required to leave that slip in the bag so that you do know your bag was searched. I leave on top of my things a notice of exactly what is in the bag and that I have the original with me! It may lessen the theft temptation.
This was not carried with a passenger on a plane. It was a cardboard carton shipped via UPS. Nothing was missing, just cut open.
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