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TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

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Re: TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

#171

Post by someguydave »

blowski wrote: post #26

I don't really understand the importance of this story. Sure it's annoying and a huge inconvenience for the OP and I'm genuinely sorry for him. But it's a lost laptop. How often does this happen? Can you think of a way of changing the process that would result in a net benefit for everyone? If this story was "TSA gave away my diamond necklace" or "Nightclub cloakroom hands bag to wrong customer" we would recognise th…

The difference is that the TSA uses the power of the state to compel you to give up your stuff. Night clubs and other private entities have to compete with each other so there is incentive to help the customer.

Re: TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

#172

Post by JoshGlazebrook »

Just an fyi, even if you don't book the ticket yourself, you can still go on the airline's website or call in and have your known traveler number added to your reservation to receive your pre-check status. (laptop never leaves your bag which probably would have prevented the author's issue in the first place as he was used to using pre-check)

Re: TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

#173

Post by massysett »

plinkplonk wrote: post #40

How this works in India. When you put your laptop in a bin, the security person puts one of two identical tags (pieces of plastic with identical numbers on them) into the bin, on top of your computer and gives you the other one. When you finish your patdown/metal detector etc screening and want to take your computer back, you give the security person at the other end of the line your tag, she looks around for the bin…

Great idea--simple, inexpensive, highly effective when considered relative to its small cost.

Therefore I never expect to see this in a US airport.

Re: TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

#174

Post by massysett »

tobz wrote: post #117
bane wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn't there be? Flights can be cheap, and security requires you to show up hours in advance, but there's no limit to the number of times you can cycle through security lines looking for targets.

Hmmmmm? Every time I've ever flown, my boarding pass is marked up by a TSA agent before I go through the metal detector/body scanner/X-ray belt area. I think it'd be incredibly suspicious if you left and then back through, multiple times even more so.

Print multiple copies. The boarding pass checker has no way to authenticate them so you could even make fake boarding passes. Going through different checkpoints would not be noticed. Even going through the same checkpoint probably wouldn't be noticed.

Re: TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

#175

Post by scholia »

blowski wrote: post #155
ascagnel_ wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The latter. The TSA screening process (a recent report had them pegged at 5% effectiveness[0]) is next to worthless and itself creates a security hazard/potential attack vector. The TSA screening process is also entirely reactionary -- shoe removal only became a thing after an attacker tried to hide explosives in their shoes. If the TSA was pro-active and had a reasonable degree of effectiveness, then I'd be more wil…

How would you make it more effective?

You could remove the TSA and let airlines do their own security checks at the gate. Airlines really don't want their planes hi-jacked.

Re: TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

#176

Post by brianbreslin »

plinkplonk wrote: post #40

How this works in India. When you put your laptop in a bin, the security person puts one of two identical tags (pieces of plastic with identical numbers on them) into the bin, on top of your computer and gives you the other one. When you finish your patdown/metal detector etc screening and want to take your computer back, you give the security person at the other end of the line your tag, she looks around for the bin…

my friend recently left his macbook pro at the jaipur airport after they made him change security lines. They held onto the computer in security because he didn't hand them the token, he took off to delhi, called the airport, and someone managed to track his macbook down and give it to a friend who he had authorized. incredibly surprising, but he still had his numbered plastic tag in his pocket by accident.

Re: TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

#177

Post by imtringued »

deciplex wrote: post #22
vidoc wrote: post #11

In a way, it's not the TSA's fault, it's ours for tolerating this insanity. Sometimes I almost wish someone smuggles a bomb through the TSA security line, and successfully storms a plane so we can finally have concrete evidence that those processes only provide annoyance , not security . The most successful terrorist of all times was Richard Reid, the dude who tried to embark in a plane with explosive material in his…

> Sometimes I almost wish someone smuggles a bomb through the TSA security line, and successfully storms a plane so we can finally have concrete evidence that those processes only provide annoyance, not security. This would result in more security theater, not less. It's the only reaction the bureaucracy can possibly have to it, because that's what we've trained them to do as part of our voting habits and what sells…

We've reached a point where additional security checks further endanger the passengers because terrorists attack the queues before they enter the security check.

Re: TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

#178

Post by tmalsburg2 »

Two weeks ago I traveled in the US and after the scan they first handed me my own computer and then a minute later someone else's MacBook Pro. I said that the Mac isn't mine, and you know what, they didn't believe me. I had to tell them several times that I don't own a Mac and I had to show them that I had already received my own computer. I think they didn't want to look for the owner and just wanted to get rid of the damn thing. I wouldn't be surprised if some people were tempted to give in and say "ok, yes, I admit it, this expensive-looking MacBook is mine". Very careless of the TSA to handle people's belongings this way.

Re: TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone

#180

Post by blowski »

scholia wrote: post #175
blowski wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you make it more effective?

You could remove the TSA and let airlines do their own security checks at the gate. Airlines really don't want their planes hi-jacked.

Surely that would just defer the problem? Plus, the airlines now have to buy all their own equipment, train their own staff. At the moment, they are 'outsourcing' their airport security to the TSA.

I suppose they could each choose which security checks they are going to carry out, but how would they choose? Based on recommendations from something that looks like the TSA?

It's not clear to me that the airlines would want this responsibility, or would do a better job at it than the TSA.

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