
TSA gave my MacBook Pro to another passenger at LAX, and now it's gone - teslacar
http://www.echeng.com/journal/2016/5/23/tsa-gave-my-macbook-pro-to-another-passenger-at-lax-and-now-its-gone?ts
======
DanBC
This got a lot of discussion a while ago here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11759741](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11759741)

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quasse
I had an incident with the TSA in Austin where they silently removed my
MacBook from the bin of my stuff and just wandered off with it.

I was travelling for work so I was carrying two laptops, two tablets and some
custom network hardware that all needed to be scanned. Luckily I wasn't too
frazzled to notice that one laptop was missing from the bins, but it could
have easily gone the way it did for the author here.

I ended up having to walk around the checkpoint asking random agents if they
had taken my laptop because no one thought it would be worth flagging me down
or notifying me in some way that they had taken my property. In the end I
spotted some random TSA goon messing around with it at a table all the way
across the checkpoint.

~~~
ralfd
And? You ended at the most interesting point: What happened then? What did he
say when you approached him?

~~~
quasse
It wasn't much of a climax, I was pretty annoyed at that point and he mumbled
something about individual tests (probably he meant that little swab they do
for explosives?) and then just handed it back without doing anything. I was
pretty worked up because it was a brand new top spec MacBook Pro and I would
have felt terrible explaining to work that I had lost it in an airport.

~~~
salesguy222
It's possible he was attempting to feign for the cameras that he was doing
work on it, waiting for you to walk off, and then he would take it home.

Or he's just severely incompetent when it comes to the honor and dignity that
TSA agents should have when temporarily confiscating other people's items.

I once had my hands swabbed at Raleigh Durham for a "random test" done by the
TSA. The testing unit beeped very loudly and said my hands tested positive for
explosive residue.

I sat there "waiting for instructions" for 10 minutes until another colleague
informed the person in charge, "oh yeah; that's been broken for weeks"

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js2
I had an incident with TSA in Miami where I accidentally left my Macbook Air
behind in the tray and flew home to Raleigh before I realized it was missing.

So I called up MIA lost and found, identified the laptop by the neoprene case
I keep it in, and was able to auhtorize having my father pick it up. He
shipped it home to me.

These stories mostly don't end poorly. The good outcomes just don't make the
news because they are the expected outcome (as they should be).

Tangent: I'm not a fan of the TSA, but I separate the organization from the
individuals. Most TSA officers I've dealt with have been professional and
pleasant. And since I always opt out, I've dealt with a lot of TSA officers.

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mintplant
> Amazingly, this story ended well, but the only reason it did is that I set a
> custom lock screen message that included my contact info. If you are running
> OS X, I highly recommend that you do the same!

This is such a great idea. On Windows 10 this inspired me to set my account
profile image to a picture with my phone number and email address.

~~~
avenoir
This got me thinking. I have BitLocker on my XPS. If the same thing happened
to me while it's powered down i would be screwed.

~~~
kamjam
Or, just wrote you name, number and email on some stickers and put them on the
bottom of the laptop. It doesn't have to be high tech, and in this story the
woman who took the laptop could have got in touch much sooner.

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startupdiscuss
I forgot my kindle in my rental car once, and I realized it after I was
through TSA.

The (very kind) TSA lady walked me back through security, to the rental
counter, to get the keys to the car park, to retrieve the kindle, back to the
rental counter and then back through security!

Just wanted to put in a little positive for the TSA.

edit: syntax

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et-al
I used to think stickers on Macbooks were a crime against their clean design.
However when your entire office, or the airport security line, has a row of
identical laptops, stickers become very useful in identification.

~~~
drpgq
My Macbook fell off my desk and I ended up with a sizeable dent near the lit
up Apple. At least I can recognize it now.

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1024core
In India (where I just was), the security guys give you a "token" (a number on
a plastic paddle), and put one on the computer in the bin. So when you pick up
the computer, they match the tokens to make sure it's you. Low-tech, but
effective.

~~~
JoelTheSuperior
Mumbai didn't do this but Jodhpur did. Was certainly a good system and I do
now wonder why more airports don't do this.

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Exuma
Well that was an enraging read. The passive aggressiveness of the last letter
from the airline absolutely killed me.

We fucked up all your shit, can't wait for you to fly with us again!

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swanson
Before you downvote or comment on the resolution (the laptop mixup was an
accident and it was returned shortly after), take a look at the last comment
thread:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11759741](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11759741)
which was before it was returned. Interesting to observe the flood of comments
about how it was a scam -- when it appears to have been much more innocent.

~~~
waqf
It does sound like a scam, though. Creating a commotion to distract as many
agents as possible and hold up the line is exactly how you would do this; and
it's still unexplained why the woman accepted a MacBook that wasn't hers (did
she have a MacBook too? If so why wasn't it found still at TSA?)

The only evidence otherwise is that the laptop was returned — which could also
be because the posting attracted so much publicity that the scammers thought
they would be caught if the investigation continued. Or at least their _modus
operandi_ would become a "known scam", which makes it harder for them to
operate.

~~~
swanson
From the article,

> She was with her friend. Her friend had the same computer (which we saw on
> the video). Her friend ran off to hold the plane at the gate. She thought
> her friend left her computer. Sat in a diff section of plane so couldn't
> communicate with her friend (so didn't know she had a duplicate computer),
> and flew to New York. Discovered the extra computer when they landed. 4 days
> later, got back to LA, and finally had time to open the computer and
> investigate, and saw my contact info on the login screen.

Sounds like an honest mistake to me.

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peterwwillis
Anecdote:

A TSA agent took 20 minutes to begin searching my bag while my flight was
about to leave. They finally finished it, I grabbed the bag and ran....
forgetting the bin with my wallet, keys, boarding pass, etc. I ran to the air
shuttle, got to the terminal, only to realize I lost my stuff. Ran back to
shuttle, ran to security, tried to be as "un-panicked" as possible and get a
guard's attention rather than busting through security the wrong way. Finally
got someone to talk to me and found out they had actually gone to my terminal
to return my items to me. So I ran back to the shuttle, back to terminal,
retrieved my items and got on the plane. I was told not to be so careless with
my stuff.

What I have learned is that if you actually unpack your entire bag into the
bins in small clear ziplocks, they don't have to wait for a guy to open and
search your bag. They just look at your shit in passing and you can go.

Also, peanut butter is considered a cream and therefore cannot be taken on a
plane in more than 3.4oz.... unless it's on a sandwich.

Fucking TSA.

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r00fus
Should have a (2016) on the title.

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__jal
I had a laptop vanish at LGA a few years ago. Mostly the same story, down to
the "sue us if you don't like it". And it was LGA, so the TSA "agents" were
also assholes.

I generally don't fly with a laptop anymore. I bring an (encrypted) drive and
borrow a machine. Only had one occasion when they asked for the drive to be
taken out of my bag.

Considering current "security" at the border, I guess I need to buy an old
feature phone as well for crossing the border. Although for fun, I'm very
tempted to fill an old iPhone with choice commentary on what I think of the
TSA.

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chx
Noone steals my ThinkPad T420s. There are advantages to a laptop older than my
boots besides the excellent keyboard.

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bobbles
Isnt this actually the story of this random woman stealing this guys laptop?

TSA just picks up the items and motions towards the queue with them, just
because they point a laptop at you doesnt mean you claim it and walk off with
it...

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strictnein
> "Update, June 2: My computer is back! Scroll to the bottom for an update."

The computer was gone for just under two weeks. Still really sucks, of course.

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cestith
Another PSA in addition to those in the article: keep your belongings in
sight.

~~~
chrismcb
The only time my belongings are out of my sight is when I go through security.
The only time I am afraid, and fear for my safety, is when I go through
security. The only time I am molested, is when I go through security. Good
thing we are safe.

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geophile
Well, I got groped by the TSA last week. You've got to keep a balanced view --
remember the good and the bad.

~~~
waqf
What's the good? Creating employment without needing to go to the expense of
having a competent system that looks after passengers' belongings (or their
bodily integrity)?

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jordache
important to know it was a macbook pro and not a dell xps.

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notliketherest
Sorry but that's your fault for not keeping your eye on the laptop the entire
time. I literally do not step to the scanner until it goes into the X ray, and
then I keep an eye on it until it comes out.

~~~
jungletek
Sorry, but that's some victim-blaming bullshit.

I had a laptop LCD destroyed by TSA when one of their lackeys idiotically
pushed so many bins through the x-ray machine that it caused mine, and several
others at the tail-end of the machine's conveyor, to fall right off.

I was standing a few feet away, watching, unable to point out their mistake in
time. Barely got an apology, and everyone was too incompetent or unwilling to
help me with any info about how to document or get evidence that they damaged
it, and how to file a claim. Ended up having to 'suck it up' and accept the
loss, otherwise I would have missed my flight.

Fuck the TSA, fuck bullshit security theater, and fuck people that don't
understand that you can make your best effort to protect yourself and your
things, but sometimes that's not enough.

~~~
notliketherest
Shit happens.

