luggage locks eith the red green switch

by **Outlaw Biker** » 5 Oct 2004 22:08

i bought one of these today just to play with i tried to shim it open with a coke can shim but couldnt open it like that-- wierd lock --sesamee lock that even me with my half blind eyes could read the flat spots and open it that way in a few seconds really secure :shock:

glad i dont fly lol

by **logosys** » 5 Oct 2004 22:18

Ah, yes the TSA approved locks. They aren't really there to insure security, but more there to hold your bag shut and let you know if you've been inspected or not...

by **quasar** » 6 Oct 2004 0:20

are those those the ones that anyone with a job in anything has the key to?

by **^kimba^** » 6 Oct 2004 6:06

Yeah there are 3 TSA keys, depending on the style lock. It will have TSAn marked by the keyway...

As it was mentioned, the principle of these locks was so that the TSA could inspect peopls luggage without cutting of their padlocks etc from bags. The idea of locking a bag is purley to keep the zips together and prevent the least motivated oppotunist theif. Anyone could just cut out a bag, or tug hard at a zip to gain entry regardless of the lock.

Personnaly when I fly, I put a serial numbered cable tie thru the loops of the zip on the INSIDE, then pull it tight thru the gap (sounds complicated). There is no way of opening the bag without damaging the tie, so I would always know if they had been nosey

by **hung82000** » 6 Oct 2004 7:56

I liken luggage locks to convertibles with soft tops. Anyone with a knife can cut a hole and get in. The lock is just there to keep the honest people honest. Every time I've flown since they started searching bags heavily mine have been searched. It may have something to do with the SCUBA supplies that I bring, or it may just be dumb luck. But I wouldn't trust one of those locks on a porta-john.

by **PickPick** » 6 Oct 2004 8:09

hung82000 wrote:The lock is just there to keep the honest people honest.

I think there's a more important purpose behind baggage locks. It's like a seal, it shows when someone has tampered with it. There've been several instances where people who worked in the baggage loading/unloading area were smuggling drugs by putting them into passengers bags, marking them and then their accomplices would find the marked bags at the target airport, take out the contraband and everyone was happy. Except when this didn't work, the passengers got the bags with the dope still inside and were stopped by customs. Now when you've got a normal lock on your bag and you're caught, they can test whether the lock was manipulated or not. With the TSA locks, everyone who's interested can get him/her/itself a matching key leaving no traces.

by **^kimba^** » 6 Oct 2004 8:14

Exactly.. which is why I used a serial numbered seal

by **hung82000** » 6 Oct 2004 8:28

The problem is the majority of the luggage locks even before the TSA locks were keyed the same as well. All you needed was a couple keys and you could get into most locks that came with most bags. Even if you didn't have the right key you could just jiggle it and pop it open.

I agree that the locks that in the pre-TSA approved lock days there were locks you could buy separately that were better, and provide protection against people getting in, but most of the locks I'd see when flying were the cheap ones. If it's true tamper evidence you want, ^kimba^'s method is probably the best. Otherwise since they won't let you lock them without the new locks, you're out of luck. Sadly your best bet is to not check anything worth money in your checked luggage.

by **^kimba^** » 6 Oct 2004 8:32

I'll never forget being stopped in LA customs. Dispite checking with airline first, and informing the desk staff that I had an air gun in my luggage, they still stuck it in the X Ray and then went mad.

had all my stuff unpacked on this table and asked me to identify things etc...

Turns out thou, it wasn't the fact I had a gun or even the two hunting knives that caused all the problems. Instead it was my copy of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) Review that was the problem, as I hadnt noticed, but that particular month's issue was entitled "new technology used in US Airport Security"..

D'oh!

Showed my IEEE membership card and explained, and they let me thru.

by **logosys** » 6 Oct 2004 9:24

I got stopped coming back from Norway, because I had a whole mess of technical drawings of some subsea production manifolds we were installing. In some of the documentation, the word "BOM" (Bill of Materials) was used repeatedly. They took me aside and made me explain every drawing that was there. Somehow they got a glorified gate valve confused with with Mark IV....

by **^kimba^** » 6 Oct 2004 11:50

Ha ha, now THAT is genius! :lol:

luggage locks eith the red green switch

luggage locks eith the red green switch

Who is online