Airport security and losing valuables?

[lahuasteca]

<p>I'm always nervous at the airport security checkin lines. It's a good place for theft - wallets, cash, valuables - not to mention one's photo equipment. I just hate taking valuables out and putting them in those little trays. Someone on the other end can easily run away your items while you are being held up at the x-ray machine. Any suggestions on how to make airport security a little more secure for your personal items?</p>

[Norman 202]

If you have a photo bag can't you put your valuables in that?

[henkelphoto]

<p>I live in Las Vegas and they have the full-body scanners. It only takes a few seconds in the scanner and then you're through. </p>

<p>Although I watch my camera bag and other valuables as they move on the conveyor, I'm not too worried. I've been through security at a number of places (I'm a photojournalist) and I don't think anyone is too interested in making a commotion at the TSA security area. If I were to see anyone touching my stuff I would yell at the top of my lungs that someone is stealing my things. </p>

<p>I always take off my watch, and put that with my keys, wallet and any thing else in my bag well before I get to security, out of the view of others. </p>

[Robin Smith]

<p>I think you are probably being a little paranoid - everyone has the same concern, and anyone would be pretty dumb to try something there which is stuffed with security staff. Most people are carrying tablets, laptops, phones. There is zero reason why they would think your stuff is just so great they need to risk stealing it. Put your money into one of your bags if you don't like it lying in its own tray.</p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>I usually travel with either a backpack or briefcase. While I'm in the security line everything that would go into a tray -- wallet, keys, phone, pocket change, keys, even my belt if it looks like they are having you take those off that day -- goes into an outer pocket of the backpack/briefcase. By the time I get to x-ray, all I have to do it put my laptop and shoes in a tray. Everything else gets retrieved out of the backpack on the other end. I do this not out of worry about things being stolen but just to make things faster and not to be fumbling around.<br /><br />I agree with Robin that you'd have to be a pretty stupid criminal to steal things in front of dozens of security officers, countless security cameras and in a place where you've already had to show ID just to get there. </p>

[dcstep]

<p>Don't put your valuable in one of the open containers. Instead put them in your photo bag or a coat pocket.</p>

<p>TSA agents have been known to steal, but the threat is lower than when anyone could go onto a concourse. Keep an eye on your stuff as you go through the scanner. You'll be okay.</p>

[bob_flood1]

<p>Grab-and-run theft was something of a problem before 9/11, but the controls instituted for security have had the beneficial side effect of making theft too difficult to get away with. The grab-and-run thief can't get to the inner end of the x-ray system without a valid ticket and matching ID, which pretty much excludes petty types. If the thief has someone on the inside at the airport to get them access to that area, the thieves learned a while back that after grabbing someone's stuff, they have to be able to run to the parking deck because the accomplice in the car won't be allowed to sit at the curb, and airport security can close the exits to the parking deck very quickly. Further, everything in US airports is under video surveillance these days, making it much easier to identify the thief and so hard to get away with the crime that the thieves have moved on.</p>

<p>That doesn't rule out the possibility of someone inadvertently picking up a briefcase because it looks like his, but actually it's yours. That situation is usually confined to briefcases (much less diversity among briefcases than among backpacks), and gets resolved when the person with the wrong bag returns to security looking for his own.</p>

[Ed_Ingold]

<p>I carry a few large Zip-Loc bags for miscellaneous items through TSA inspection, then put that bag in a camera or computer bag. Things like keys, coins, pens, watch, etc. tend to get lost in a bag meant for something else. The baggy keeps everything together so I can reassemble my stuff once through inspection. Nothing pocketable is put in an open tray.</p>

<p>A gallon sized plastic bag can also serve as an effective rain cover for your camera in an emergency. A handful of heavy rubber bands completes the emergency kit.</p>

[Ian Taylor]

<p>I fly with lots of gear for work a lot. (Maybe 15-20 flights a year for 10 years.) Never had a problem.</p>

[allenahale]

<p>Don't drink before going through security. Seriously - the biggest threat is you not being situational aware of your surroundings going through security. Stay alert and you will not have a problem. The threat and risk is low especially if you remain alert. My experience is much like Ian's - never had a problem - all over the world.</p>

[gungajim]

<p>In addition to ziplocks, a photographer's vest with lots of pockets is another way to minimize having lots of loose items. Like Ian, a couple dozen flights per year or more for 25 years and never a problem. </p>

[mariodennis]

<p>I put everything in my backpack/vest/messenger bag or whatever. I suppose there's someone stupid enough to try to steal something from the x-ray conveyor, but (1) where would they go? and (2) they're probably on a dozen cameras at the time. Assuming they went through security with a valid ID they'd narrow down the suspects pretty.y quickly. So, I don't worry about it.</p>