Posted on 03/28/2012 6:10:06 AM PDT by libstripper
Think twice before you check your luggage at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Cash, jewelry, electronics and other valuables are being stolen from passengers’ baggage at a staggering rate.
It’s happening as a result of inside jobs that aren’t being stopped, CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer reports exclusively
(Excerpt) Read more at newyork.cbslocal.com ...
I once worked for a company which had distribution facilities in New Jersey. The ongoing volume of theft was just incredible. Every other truckload to my recollection.
You know the answer. “Look for, the Union Label....”
The degree of leadership incompetence required to let this happen is absolutely staggering. You all would read about me in the paper if I saw a TSA thug steal something from my baggage.
TSA stands for “Thieves’ Security Association.” It’s yet another example of government helping itself to billions of our hard-earned tax dollars to make life better for government employees and worse for ordinary American citizens.
Now I know why I’ve been advised to have only a carry-on and my purse/backpack when I fly in June.
My BIL is an airline pilot. He says that this goes on constantly. He also thinks that all it would take to stop this is to install cameras where the handlers have access to the luggage.
Too bad you can’t put exploding dye packs in fake jewelry boxes in the luggage. I’d like to see red dayglo TSA and airline luggage handling employees.
That’s not a bad idea. I’m gonna give this some thought...
THe TSA employees are only stealing in proportion to their proportion of the airport staffing.
This has been ongoing for oh, 60+ years.
Nothing new, it always gets worse during economic recessions.
THe TSA employees are only stealing in proportion to their proportion of the airport staffing.
This has been ongoing for oh, 60+ years.
Nothing new, it always gets worse during economic recessions.
First, remember the Muslim terrorists complied with every security restriction in force that morning. When, not if, there is a second such incident we will find the exact same thing.
Second, if there is such a problem with items being taken off aircraft in transit why should we think that things are not being put on aircraft. During an earlier war, the one on drugs, it was repeatedly documented that the biggest problem with drug smuggling wasn't the passengers but the ramp employees. Why wasn't this lesson brought forward?
Until we employ an aggressive profile based security system, like Israel, our airport security will remain a farce designed to inconvenience passengers while making them feel safer.
Sorry, but this has been going on at JFK for decades -- long before TSA. The Mafia has always owned the unions there and the Mafia will steal anything they feel like stealing. I recall warning people not to check valuables when going through there and they didn't listen, and lost their stuff.
It's not incompetence in most cases, I suspect, but rather complicity.
And I thought Rome Airport was bad...
They are stealing for the Trayvon fund scholarship fund and to pay the Zimmerman bounty!
It is New York...... the Great Satan.
There is not merely smoke, there is real fire
If I have to fly, I only bring a carry-on. If I need more than what is in my carry-on, I can buy it at the destination and ditch the excess before I come home.
And my stuff doesn’t go through the scanner until I go through the metal detector or whatever. (Don’t have a problem with that, because, by the time I hit the metal detector, the only metal on me is in my teeth...). There are too many thieves waiting on the other side of barrier. I’ve heard that TSA thieves can even open the scanner and reach in to grab stuff.
But the truth is, I have only had good experiences with TSA types. I hate the searches, but they have always been polite and helpful. Maybe I have low standards, or maybe I’ve just been lucky.
“Too bad you can’t put exploding dye packs in fake jewelry boxes in the luggage.”
But can you put a camera triggered to take pictures upon opening (like a deer cam) and immediately stream them to an online database?
I travel frequently - my recommendation is NEVER pack anything that has value to someone else. Camera, laptops, cell phone, watches, jewelry, whatever ... They are typically small and will easily fit into a normal carry-on bag.
I only pack things that have little or no value to anyone else. Clean, but used socks, underwear, shirts, pants and toiletry items aren’t going to be stolen. That’s the stuff that gets sent through TSA - and practically NEVER gets touched.
As for a gun, perhaps I’m a cheapskate; but a gun packed in accordandance to airline regulations is automatically insured for around ~$1,250. So, if they want to steal my $500 rifle, they would be doing me a favor because I will claim the full amount in loss. I’ll be glad to sell every weapon I have for ~$1,250 each.
How are they defending America while stealing?
I was thinking the very same. Why can't you? Where can I get me some of that? :)
Nice idea, but would not work due to some particular technical aspects of the dye packs.
(I could tell you how they work, but then I’d have to kill you...)
You never get a chance to see them rumaging through your bags. All done behind closed doors. TSA knows this stealing is going on, why would they not have survelience cams watching this?
Most overseas trips, I get to destination , open bag to find that little note from TSA. Trick is don’t pack anything holder’s people can take to pawn shop or trade for crack.
But it does train the populace for blind compliance to the edicts of an authoritarian government.
Exactly.
Everything of value that I need to carry - laptop, cameras, iPod, tablet, one night’s change of clothes - goes in a backpack and into the overhead. Once on board, I remove the camera bag and slide it under the seat with the shoulder strap looped around my ankle.
Unless a few baggage handlers are aroused by clean underwear I don’t foresee a problem.
I’ve been three times around the world. Never travel with anything you can’t afford to loose. If the baggage handlers/TSA types don’t get it, the hotel staff will. One place was so bad, everytime I put something down, it sprouted legs and walked away.
The guns I’d pack would be handguns. That creates a real moral problem for me because, aside from a .22, they’re large caliber defensive handguns. The dollar value isn’t the thing; it’s my concern that one of my guns would be stolen and used by some thug to injure or kill an innocent person.
Morale is important, and they're happier if the have your stuff.
I grew up near Kennedy Airport. I remember in high school waiting at a bus stop, as one woman in line in front of me bragged to her friend about how much stuff her union husband was stealing from Panam. It was an open scandal, Panam union goons would steal repair items and resell them on the black market. No one would do anything about it.
America is a third world country.
Just use GPS receivers embedded in some items, and watch where they go. You can’t use exploding dye packs, hehehehehe.
This is what you get when you check your bags, and it’s always been that way. When I flew to Australia 30 years I missed my international connection in San Fran, so Qantas “secured” my bags in a pre-clearance area til the next day. When we arrived in Perth one bag was missing; the one full of new Levis ect. from the States for Mom and Dad. (They were living there at that time.) Qantas reimbursed us $60. The contents were worth at least a grand. Never checked a bag since, never will again.
I am surprised cameras are not commonly used in such situations. It makes no sense at all. Oh wait, it’s a guvmint agency.
Precisely. The theft, which is bad enough, might prove to be the lesser problem.
Still, those allegedly guarding the public should not be looting their property.
I checked an extra cell phone in my luggage once. I got off in Miami, but my cell phone traveled on to San Juan where it made calls for the next three weeks, according to my phone records.
When we are forced to fly, I always pack our scrungiest clothes in cheap suitcases (they’re comfortable, well-worn & entirely replaceable at any Goodwill store.
If we need something nice to wear at our destination, we go shopping there.
And anything expensive purchased on a trip is shipped home via FedEx.
I always get a chuckle at the thought of TSA theives hopefully rummaging through our bags full of ripped, dirty underwear.
Your stuff is part of their benefit package. Just consider it a tax.
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