Okay, I hate the TSA as much as anybody… But whut does the TSA have to do with the airlines selling unclaimed/lost/unidentifiable luggage?
I’ve been there. Indeed, it has everything from pristine designer suits to used deodorant sticks.
Yep, I’ve been there too. If you are hoping to snag a bargain, they aren’t a lot of bags or stuff there that are really worth the trip.
According to my ebay searches, TSA sells your stuff. Are you certain this is correct? Maybe it’s only for luggages not seized personal effects, like swiss army knifes, camp stoves, and such?
Here is how it works- You check the bag, the TSA inspects the bag and finds a nice camera. The agent steals the valuables, but does not want you reporting the camera stolen, because it could lead to them being suspected. After all, that agent steals 10 valuable things each day. So after stealing your camera, the TSA agent removes or changes the ID tag on the bag, and switches the routing tag, so it will go on a random flight. Instant lost luggage.
The TSA directly sells the items seized at the gate, after the agents at the gate pick out what they want.
Isn’t this a TV programmme?
So I guess your bags go to Bravo, or TLC, or The Travel Channel.
I miss those nice notes I used to get from the TSA in Dallas (always Dallas) telling me they’d had a look to see if I had anything they wanted to steal.
Cute story and all, but you just know one day the lost luggage will contain that eerie alien goo, and that pretty much wraps it up for Scottsboro.
EDIT: Wait, no, it’s not goo, it’s an amulet. This is chapter one of The Great and Secret Show.
Sounds plausible.
“The UBC has sold a handful of lost diamond jewelry in its forty-plus-year history.”
Wheras baggage handlers, the TSA and UBC employees have likely found armloads of “lost” jewelry…I’m rather unsurprised that out of hundreds of thousands of bags that the UBC has managed to only find and sell a handful of diamond jewelry out the front door.
This makes better sense. Or at least it follows my findings on ebay and craiglist.
Ethical? Federal Law? I don’t see that being followed.
Next time I fly (if ever), I’ll take the clothes and such that I will need and FedEx/UPS it to my destination. That way I can get insurance and seal the box and not have to worry about TSA goons stealing it. It might cost more, but I know that my stuff will be there when I land.
As someone who flies roughly 100,000 miles a year I can tell you that this level of paranoia is totally unjustified, especially if you are flying domestically.
Obviously this is a problem exclusive to TSA screeners and has never, ever happened with airline baggage handlers or private security. That the average annual number of mishandled baggage claims has gone from a mere 5.29 per 1,000 passengers in 2000, the year before TSA was created, to a whopping 3.22 per 1,000 in 2013 clearly shows how theft by TSA personnel must be the dominant cause of lost luggage.
I don’t know. I’ve had my luggage lost permanently twice on domestic flights. I would never check a bag in the future. I only travel by carryon.
Perhaps, but thanks to the airlines raising prices anytime they want and the TSA, I would rather avoid flying if I don’t have to.
I did this with my old train set and someone purloined it off our porch. It was in a “Honey Baked Ham” carton so I guess it was extra crunchy.
Turns out my wife was not only home when it happened, but was on the phone with me.
i don’t understand your answer, so here is a follow up question. does the TSA sell it at this facility in Alabama?
that level of paranoia has nothing to do with the TSA.
Just ebay search something like Swiss Army Knife TSA and you will get listings of property being sold by TSA seizures. Most particular are listings where there’s a large cache lot of objects being sold at once to rare or personalized objects sold.
Most of the comments have stated on how TSA are separate than the airlines what is written in the article. They are certainly not coming from Alabama facility. It’s all over America.
I question the ethics of this due to the fact it’s a profit for TSA or the individual(s) involved. In my view it’s just legalized piracy.
