TSA removes fishing weights from my checked in luggage
 

I have googled this and I honestly don't get it. I was traveling from MIA to EU recently and TSA removed lead fishing weights from my checked in luggage. They left a note in that baggage that it was searched, but nothing more.

It was about 5 pieces of small lead fishing weight, bought at Bass Pro Shops. Why the hell would they do that? Everything else came ok.

Only thing that comes to mind, they might have thought it was ammunition, because it was simillary shaped (http://fishreports.fast.netdna-cdn.c...ing-sinker.jpg). But who the hell does not know what a fishing weight is?

Also, maybe lead gives some radiation?

Any ideas?

well - they stole my perfume on the way to Vegas - maybe they needed to get rid of the fishy smell they got from your stuff

lead is a flag, my guess is they forgot to put it back in the bag.

It was new :)

Why would about 200g of lead total be a flag?

They can't see through it with their x-ray scanners.
I once took about 4 lbs of coins in a plastic bag with me in the carry on and it showed up as a big black spot. there was multiple agents looking at it before they decided to open my backpack.

TSA = Thieves Steal at Airports

Because shrapnel.

They were protecting us by preventing you from stealing our fishing weight technology... :winkwink:

There is your answer.

You have people that you don't know going through your personal belongings without you being able to even know when or where they are doing it.

And if they see something they want...they steal it.

I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I'm about sick and tired of having strangers search me and my belongings everywhere I go.

Yeah, a dozen crazy guys with box cutters hijacked planes 13 years ago.
And they fixed that by putting locked steel doors on the cockpit.

That will never happen again.

But we are being searched like criminals anyway? It's bullshit.

I wish there was an option to fly on "Danger Airlines" with no security. As long as there was no "security" I would gladly take my chances. I flew on commercial planes since I was 13 years old in 1974 (back then you could SMOKE on the planes lol) and never worried about "Security". The "terrorists" were always there. But we didn't overreact and act stupid about it.

Now suddenly I'm supposed to be "scared" to fly on a plane? Fuck that.

Bingo:thumbsup:thumbsup

I have a few gimmicked coins for magic reasons. Once I got stopped by TSA because I have 4 silver dollars, one of which, on x-ray is clearly very suspect.

I was pulled, they asked what they were, I explained they were gaffed coins for a magic trick, didn't do the trick, just exposed the gaff instantly, explaining how it works.

They smiled and let me go.

Maybe one of the "criminals" searching your bag has a serious hobby. Fishing.

Ask any pornstar that signs at conventions and they will tell you that more often than not, DVDs and other merchandise will be missing from their bags.

Any government including the US isn't be as interested in protecting the limited number of people on a plane, as much as the numerous people on the ground. Planes hijacked on 9/11 were flown into high capacity buildings at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Given only two choices between shooting down a commercial jetliner or letting it crash into a skyscraper with tens of thousands of people, the US government wouldn't hesitate to shoot it down.

Exactly!.

Next time charter a private jet so you don't have to deal with the TSA.

And they stopped the ability of anyone to hijack a plane by installing solid steel doors on the cockpits of all planes.

That simply can't happen again.

All these searches now are simply the govt. taking advantage of an opportunity that they now use to search for drugs in their never-ending "war on drugs" :(

Bullshit, pilots open those solid steel doors when they need to come out of the cockpit to use the toilet.

yeah, and the aisle way is always blocked by a service cart and a flight attendant while one of the other flight attendants goes inside the cockpit - that way there's always 2 people in the cockpit AND NO ONE is allowed to get up anywhere near the cockpit door while the pilot is out... including first class, so anyone coming up would be seen LONG BEFORE they got ANYWHERE NEAR the door.

And not only that...but I'd STILL take my chances (just like people did for 100 years prior to 9-11) WITHOUT "security".

I'm old enough to remember all the hijackings and plane bombings that took place in the 1970's and 1980's. People didn't act like they were scared to death then.

I'm just saying...without those searches and security b.s. happening in airports we are still much safer flying because of the locked steel doors on the cockpit.
Also they can scan our luggage for "bombs" and "weapons" without having to have TSA agents invade our privacy (and steal things from us).

I don't know about you, but I don't like having ANYBODY go through my things for any reason.
It feels like I'm being violated.

Of course the alternative would be not to fly...but the airline unions have made damn sure that high speed trains don't exist in the U.S.
Planes should only be for transcontinental travel...not going across country.

Anyway, that's just how I feel. I guess there are a lot of people who were too young to remember flying before 9-11.
It was much more pleasurable for sure.

The crap that they are doing now is a huge overreaction

they were going fishing or they thought you were going to make bullets on the plane in the bathroom :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

I remember smoking on airplanes and on "The Dog" too. :smokin

I remember walking out to the plane on the tarmac.

Oh shit, I'm old. :Oh crap

Yep...when I flew from Tampa Fla. to Denver Colorado in 1974 with my grandparents, we walked right onto the plane on the tarmac and handed our luggage to a guy beside the plane who loaded it.

And people were smoking on the plane as well.

Heh-heh...we flew on the old (now defunct) Braniff Airlines.

And the stewardesses treated you like gold (you know...like you were a customer).

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Oh shit, we Robbie all excited again!

I've never had anything missing from my luggage.

good for you - but like i said - they stole my $70 perfume probably when i arrived in Vegas.

cause before there was hardly a chance and my luggage came very late (and looked as if it had been opened)

but of course i only discovered something was missing when i was at the hotel

You are just unreal man. :1orglaugh

Number one: I'm not excited.

Number two: I've had my stuff searched many times and so have most people I know.
I get it, you have no problems with strangers going through your personal belongings. Good for you.
I feel differently. :)

I had three Zippo lighters stolen out of my checked baggage.. two were brand new in the box (They were from when SpaCash first opened and gave them away at internext)

The 3rd one was a birthday gift, and it was personalized with my name engraved on it from a good friend.

But they left all the other Bic lighters that sponsors gave.. a total of 5-8 of them were left in the same bag..

TSA are a bunch of thieving scumbags.. they probably sit in the back emptying tons of shit that goes home with them at the end of the day and its all merited by their little slip they put into your bag..

A lead fishing weight and a piece of rubber cord could easily be turned into a slingshot that is as dangerous as a gun at close range. :2 cents:

Rochard you are the king of "It didn't happen to me so it must be impossible" and "It didn't happen to me so it must be your own fault"

I agree with you on the overreaction thing. I can't tell though if people are actually scared, or its more of a case of, "Well, the government says I should be scared.. so I'm scared and better let all my rights be trampled on. And while we're at it let's get ourselves even more hugely into debt wasting our tax dollars on shit we don't need"

My fucking AARP card can be easily made into a very effective knife that will sever your carotid arteries too...

Im with Robbie...its all bullshit....mostly just a fucking jobs program for the otherwise unemployable

thanks for reminding good old times, i still remember the hidden ash tray in hand rest.

Yeah! lol

Sometimes I watch old movies from the 40's, 50's, 60's, and 70's and think: "We've come a long way in some areas, and regressed in others"

i do appreciate non-smoking on planes

but i remember flying local in Thailand and the "security check" was laughable at best. i could have taken everything on the plane that i would have needed to bring the plane down and no one gave a fuck

surprisingly nothing happens there

Another story from my Vegas trip recently: I brought a really tiny bottle of eye drops and didnt put it in a plastic bag. 3 security checks didnt care at all - the 4th yelled at me that i would need to take it out of bag backpack and put it in a separate plastic bag.

i hate them all

They probably thought it might pose a safety hazard when you start casting a line into first class to steal that Filet Mignon.

Ability to hijack may be gone, but what about ability to detonate in air?
Its not that only thing terrorists could do is hijack the plane.

People already stated in the thread that you can not see what it is during only scan. Like a bag of coins appearing as unknown black object as an example.

Besides them yelling, why do you hate the guy who did their job? Because first 3 guys were slacking at their jobs?

Keep in mind that the fishing weights were in checked baggage, NOT carry ons.