Item go missing in security check

[FullOppositeRudder]

This shouldn't happen - but it has.

An Australian couple at the conclusion of a seven week tour of Northern Europe go through security at their airport of departure.

Cameras and other pocket stuff are loaded onto trays and disappear through the scanning machine. She overlooks a couple of small coins in one
pocket and is taken to one side and interrogated.

He has a couple of hip replacements, the machine goes "off" and he too is taken off line for further investigation. Meanwhile numerous other pax pass through the system without delay.

Eventually both are released and allowed to proceed to collect their previously deposited articles from the trays.

Except that several items are now missing from 'her' tray including her camera which has on its memory card the last three weeks of priceless photos and memories which have waited a lifetime to be realised.

How the hell can this be allowed to happen in a "security area"? Are people being slack here or deliberately turning a blind eye to blatant theft?

[Hotel Tango]

Perhaps a little naive and too trusting on their part. Best is not to have any valuables as loose items and to keep an eye on your tray at all times. There are plenty of thieves among your fellow travellers and they will take advantage of any opportunity which is presented to them.

[750XL]

I only ever place 1 item onto the tray, and that's my bag. Anything else (coins, phone, wallet etc) is placed into the bag and zipped up to keep grubby fingers away...

I'd be surprised if the airport didn't have CCTV covering the area.

[Rwy in Sight]

750XL,

smart advice but how do you empty your pockets in good time as not to hold the line? In my local airport there are no tables before the X-ray machines.

In a non aviation context, I move the pictures from the camera memory to a USB stick or my netbook as soon as possible even at the hotel every night. Or so I want to do!

[Hotel Tango]

Rwy in sight, I prepare myself well before reaching security. Same as 750XL everything goes into my bag. I use a small film cannister to put my loose change in. The only things that go into the tray are my bag, coat and belt. However, you do have a valid point in that it would be useful if all security areas provided tables prior to as well as after screening.

[Heathrow Harry]

always amazes me that there is rarely a check on people picking up bags off the carousel on arrival - if you get down early and see an expensive case you could be long gone before the real owner turns up

[Capot]

Similar thing happened to me at Warsaw (the real one, not Ryanair's Warsaw) a couple of months ago. I put an iPhone onto the tray with my other pocket contents and a very small Asus. I emptied the tray on the other side, went straight to the nearest coffee shop (within 50m), and immediately realised I had no phone.

Back to Security within 3-4 minutes of going through, ignored for 10 minutes by unsmiling military personnel who had suddenly lost all their English and understandably failed to understand my Polish. Eventually told by supervisor, relunctantly called by one of the soldiers, that they had not seen my phone, in a manner that clearly said "P**s off, tough".

I suspect that I failed to pick it up from the tray with all the other stuff, and one of them spotted an opportunity.

Lesson learned; as per above post. Put ALL your loose items into a bag, or coat pocket, to go through the X-ray/sniffer. The only thing that must go through unpacked is a computer and, only in some places, the see-through bag with your bomb-making fluids.

[Load Toad]

There have been examples of 'security staff' being light fingered in HK a couple of years ago & US recently - I expect it happens elsewhere too.

[easyflyer83]

I like how people assume it's the security personnel who has taken items. Whilst i'm positive there are some bad apples out there, in the majority of cases I reckon it to be more likely be other pax and in a good deal of those cases, taken by mistake.

[Smoketrails]

Hmmm..food for thought when Mrs Smoketrails and I pass through AMS and ATL on monday!

[Load Toad]

'Taken by mistake' - I doubt that bit but yes of course fellow passengers can be light fingered too.

[ExXB]

Funny, I've never heard of a passenger getting busted for being light fingered following security. I suspect that few, if any, passengers go through security with the requisite boarding card and ID with the intention of nicking something. So it would be more chance opportunity that might occur once in while.

Even a dedicated black hat is going to think twice about taking something that is not his/hers as being caught is going to disrupt their travel.

On the other hand minimum wage security gorillas have opportunities that no passenger is ever going to have. You quite often hear of them being caught as well. Less so in Europe, likely because they can earn a living wage here.

[merlinxx]

Google "Airport security thefts" pages of stuff there, and being added to weekly.

[750XL]

750XL,

smart advice but how do you empty your pockets in good time as not to hold the line? In my local airport there are no tables before the X-ray machines.

I'm not sure how much you carry in your pockets, but I usually only have a few things ie phone, wallet, loose change and maybe a boarding card if I can't use an electronic version on my phone. I just place the items into my bag side pocket while in the queue, it takes seconds, really.

[GrahamO]

As has been said before, put everything in your bag and lock it. If they say it needs to be inspected, ask for it to be done in the open on a table, rather than being taken away. Don't worry about speaking loudly about wanting the search done in public :)

Oh, and if you have a reasonable amount of bank notes, stick them in your pocket and go through the scanner.

[Rwy in Sight]

750XL and Hotel Tango,


Thanks for your input. Winter travel is better because mobiles, car keys are stored either in winter jacket. The problem is at times like now where temperatures are warm enough not to carry a jacket. I might use the free bags offered by my home airport to empty the pockets before the security and put the transparent bag in the carry on.

However the issue remains with the netbook that has to be removed from the carry on. I do try to keep a close look at it while I am being frisked. With a bit of audacity I tend to transfer pics from the camera to the netbook and make a copy on a USB key I carry with my keys.

Rwy in Sight

[DaveReidUK]

With a bit of audacity I tend to transfer pics from the camera to the netbook and make a copy on a USB key I carry with my keys.


A bold move indeed.

[BKS Air Transport]

The comments on here are all, quite helpfully, pointing out ways in which passengers can try and make sure that their baggage does not disappear during the security checks. Point is though, as the OP says, it shouldn't happen.
Devising a system of ensuring your passengers property is safe for the short while it is out of their sight is hardly brain surgery, and any competent airport management should be able to come up with one in a few minutes.

[hval]

I am always made to remove cameras, phones and all IT items from bag and also to remove them from laptop bags

[500N]

"smart advice but how do you empty your pockets in good time as not to hold the line? In my local airport there are no tables before the X-ray machines. "


Rwy in sight

You sound like those people in the queue in front o fme who wear heaps of jewelery, mig belts with metal on them, shoes that take agres to take off and pockets full of everything likely to set off a machine.


As was said by Tango
"prepare myself well before reaching security."


You talk about Summer / Winter and not having a jacket, think even further ahead than that and take a clear plastic bag with you to put everything in - it takes no space and can be tucked away somewhere afterwards - plus of course cut down on the crap you carry.

[Rwy in Sight]

500N,

Good advice (as I said before) about taking one of those clear "evidence" bomb-building liquids holding bag and put everything inside before reaching security. And as I am taking a closer look on what I am carrying it is not such a big issue (two mobiles, about a pound of keys and my glasses case). Not much but it still needs to be removed on time before I reach security.

The issue remains though is asked to remove a laptop / netbook from your bag. How do you keep an eye on it if it goes to the X-Ray machine before you? And yes maybe airport security should have a responsibility to supervise ones belongings while he/she waits to walk through the metal detector.

Rwy in Sight

[Hotel Tango]

hval posted: am always made to remove cameras, phones and all IT items from bag and also to remove them from laptop bags

Laptop is pretty standard of course. However, as one who always travels with cameras, lenses and other apparatus; and who always places his phone in his bag at security, I have never ever been asked to remove them at any airport security checkpoint prior to processing and perhaps on the very odd occasion post processing. I don't disbelieve you but I am very surprised by this.

[500N]

RIS

If you rely on others, you are doomed.

"The issue remains though is asked to remove a laptop / netbook from your bag. How do you keep an eye on it if it goes to the X-Ray machine before you?"

1. As much as you can, hold the box until the personal scanner you walk through is free, put the box on the conveyor and go through personal scanner.

And if you have done the right thing and removed all metal beforehand,
you will get to the other side before your laptop.

It's all about timing.

And in all cases, keep an eye on it anyway !!!

Keep an eye on who is ahead of you in the queue and move position
in the queue if anyone ahead looks like they might be a hold up
- ie metal on shoes, lots of jewelery, big fat greek wedding guests etc,
older, slower moving people, you know all the one's I mean.

Just work the system to YOUR advantage, not theirs.

Every system can be played, so play it.

.

[500N]

Re cameras, phones etc, I am with Hotel Tango.

EVERYTHING either goes in my bag / back pack
or in my coat and the coat goes in the tray.

I've never been asked to take the camera / phone out.
(except where I have been pulled for a random separate check).

[Rwy in Sight]

Good advice on timing the release of the tray with me going through the machine. I will use it in the future.

Rwy in Sight

[Heathrow Harry]

there was a persistent rumour that when T5 opened at Theifrow a fight broke out between the baggage handlers moved over from T1 & T4 as to who would get to "handle" the "lucrative" flights from the W Indies, Nice, Bhamas etc etc

[hval]

Hotel Tango & 500N,

I am asked nearly all the time. I am also regularly asked to power on items.

[Hotel Tango]

hval, so where is this as a matter of interest? Glasgow?

[hval]

Hotel Tango,

Quite often Glasgow (always made to take my belt off and sometimes shoes), but more often Terminal 5 at London Heathrow.

[500N]

hval

I fly interstate in Australia quite often and have and do fly
Australia to NZ and onwards to the US and Aust to US
and return - (4 different airports in the US, only item ever
removed was an empty 250ml coke bottle !!!)

I have never been asked to turn on an item in 10+ years.

And quite often I fly with other restricted goods as well
and even then I don't get asked to open and inspect before
they go in the cage. Admittedly, I do come across as having
done it before and knowing what to do but even then ..........
(Did get called back once to open bag because some loadie
took objection to it but even the manager warned me to be
a yes man when answering his questions !!!)

Don't know what you do or where you are asked but seems
strange to me !

.

[500N]

hval

They are trying to distract you so they can nick something !!!

And I thought the US was bad.

[hval]

Never had anything stolen as yet: well not for a number of years.

[FullOppositeRudder]

Thank you everyone for your comments and observations. Whilst it wasn't me who was naive enough to believe that property could be stolen in a security check area, it probably could have been me at any point, because like my friends, I trust people (and I trust the system). I now know better, and so do they.

These people had never travelled by air very much. They were mesmerised by something happening to them which they were not familiar, in a strange and confusing environment with a foreign language, different mannerisms and (to be factually frank) a perceived authoritarian attitude (it was in Germany).

I've found myself in a similar situation only once at NZAA where I was really rattled by a confrontational woman who demanded I empty my entire camera bag - and right bloody now!. It was unexpected; I was confused and offended by the attitude, and in that state I could have easily missed anything else which might have been (and was) in another tray. It would have been an ideal opportunity for a quick grab by an opportunist.

And on the other side of the ledger, I've actually seen a security person racing some 100 metres after a forgetful pax with their camera which they had apparently forgotten to collect in YSCB.

I've gained a few tips from this discussion and I thank you for that. If I may, I share one which I employ. On all of my camera cards, memory sticks and computer(s) I have written a short text (txt) file with the filename "Owner_Details_if_found". In it I have listed details where I can be contacted if the device comes into the possession of someone else who cares - i.e. I lose it. If they really want to return it to the rightful owner, they have the information to be able to do it.

My friends are wiser now. But they will continue to hurt for a very long time because quite simply the system let them down - it failed them in a reasonably expected duty of care to ensure that the property of the travelling public is safe whilst undergoing inspection in a security area for which they (the security staff) are responsible

[RevMan2]

I can't stop them stealing from my checked luggage (Opinel knife from the side pocket LAXFRA. Again...) but you can de-risk carry-on theft as follows:

Before you get anywhere near security, put EVERYTHING from your pockets in your carry-on.
If you're selected for secondary inspection (I invariably am - various metal implants..) say in a VERY LOUD voice "I want to have clear visibility of all my carry-on items while you're carrying out this inspection"
If they get stroppy, say "You are NOT performing this inspection until you have retrieved my carry-on items"
Further intransigence: "Get your manager"

Never fails.

[Hotel Tango]

hval, yes but belt and shoes is quite common. We were discussing camera and other such equipment. I've been through Glasgow and have never been asked to empty any contents from my carry-on bag. I automatically take all metals off me (including my watch - which is not really necessary except at some airports where they use particularly sensitive equipment) and place them in my carry-on. You must just be unlucky or you have a suspicious looking face ;)

[ZFT]

I am always made to remove cameras, phones and all IT items from bag and also to remove them from laptop bags

I too lock everything of value in the bag and apart from the laptop, if security want to see it then they 'see it' in my presence. I have limited trust in so called security the world over and openly displaying items of value is temptation too far for what are typically single (brain) cell organisms.

[500N]

ZFT

Re your comment " too far for what are typically single (brain) cell organisms."


I often refer to them as Amoeba's.

And the funny thing is, if you drop the word "Amoeba" at someone and they look at you strangely as they don't understand, you have just had it confirmed that they are a single cell organism.

.

[ExXB]

Some, but not all, security want to see my iPad. No problem but wish they all did the same thing.

[radeng]

It's easy to confuse some of them if you wear trousers that don't have a belt.

[Impress to inflate]

I didnt have anything stolen BUT a fe years ago I went though Adelaide airport security. I had taken my shoes off, belt off etc, walked though the metal detector and the alarm went off. I was told to try again with my watch off. I wasnt happy but had to comply. The security agent took my watch, looked at it and gave me a funny look. It's my one thing I love, my Rolex. They put it though the X-ray for it to fall on the floor on the other side, I went f&*king nuts. It was placed on the belt without a tray so it fell though the gaps in the metal rollers after the belt and fell 4" to the concrete floor. I will not let that stunt happen again.:ugh:

[hval]

Hotel Tango,

I think that must be it. The retina scanners always break at T5 when I use them. They scream and then flop over. The metal scanners always scream, lift their skirts and run off.

Last week at Glasgow I had five trays of stuff all going through the X Ray machine - all taken out of my carry on bag.

Mrs Hval also doesn't have much luck either. The past four times she has flown she has been taken off to a room to be strip searched. All in the UK.

[500N]

Some of you do seem to cop it badly, that's for sure.


Re being picked for a swab or whatever, like waiting before letting tray
go through, I have often dawdled at the tray / item pick up point until
the selectors have picked someone else to swab / take away.

When they are all standing around doing nothing, that is the time
I reckon you are guaranteed to get done.


As someone else said, I wish they all had one standard and stuck to it.

.