only TSA accepted baggage locks required ?

[lucky white heather]

We have not been to the states recently so are unfamiliar with the "up to date" baggage / personal locks requirements..can you tell us if USA /TSA approved baggage locks will be necessary to arrive/depart Miami if flying BA both legs please? We want to pre-empt this problem if it exists.

If yes, where can these locks be easily purchased in the UK... recommended details of an accepted style/ type etc from those who know , would be gratefully received.

We also need to know more about the new thing called ESTA ?...can BA do this for us as we'll be arriving on their aircraft so they should have all our pre - flight details on file or do we need to give advance details / pay fee etc somewhere else?

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

[ab0si]

You don't need a TSA approved lock. If you want to lock your luggage, though, you are supposed to use a TAS blessed lock. If you use a non-TSA approved lock and the Powers That Be decide to open your luggage, they will simply cut the lock.

 

Two problems with a TSA approved lock:

Thieves have copies of the master keys

Sometimes TSA employees cut them off any (bad hair day, one assumes)

 

Given the above, I don't bother locking my luggage any more. (I use twist ties so that the zippers don't get caught in something are get accidentally opened.

 

ESTA -- clearly designed to make the U.S. even less popular around the world -- is actually rather easy to handle. Go to https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov, click apply at the bottom of the left hand greenish box and follow the instructions. It is good for two years from the issue date.

[6rugrats]

We have not been to the states recently so are unfamiliar with the "up to date" baggage / personal locks requirements..can you tell us if USA /TSA approved baggage locks will be necessary to arrive/depart Miami if flying BA both legs please? We want to pre-empt this problem if it exists.

If yes, where can these locks be easily purchased in the UK... recommended details of an accepted style/ type etc from those who know , would be gratefully received.

We also need to know more about the new thing called ESTA ?...can BA do this for us as we'll be arriving on their aircraft so they should have all our pre - flight details on file or do we need to give advance details / pay fee etc somewhere else?

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

 

You are not required to have any locks on your baggage. Best insurance is just not to pack anything valuable in your luggage.

[Keith1010]

My brother in law who is from the United Kingdom uses them on his trips to the USA. He purchases them at the Amazon.Com United Kingdom site. I just verified that they are available so you can easily get them on that site.

 

Yes there are some people who have reported having their TSA locks cut off at the airport but in all the time we have used them this has not happened to us. So, using them has worked out well for us.

 

If someone wants to get into pretty much any lock they can do so. The same for a home security system. But, we will continue to use them hoping that they at least deter some people from getting in them.

 

Keith

[kenish]

I see locks on softsided luggage all the time. If someone wants to get in, all it takes is a good knife, they don't need to defeat the lock. Of course it keeps honest people out and also secures the zipper. I confess I put a TSA lock on my soft luggage but realize the limitation.

[fbgd]

You don't need to use TSA approved locks on arrival into the US, but you do for any flight that originates there.

 

I've had several over the years and have never had them cutoff. One of them was smashed apart during handling and was tied around the handle but nothing was taken and a TSA inspection notice wasn't present either. The place where I bought them had a no quibbles guarantee and replaced it free of charge.

 

You are not required to have any locks on your baggage. Best insurance is just not to pack anything valuable in your luggage.

 

Perhaps but if you consider the value of the clothes and other items (that may not be particularly valuable) in a case it easily can be several thousand dollars worth to replace.

[LHT28]

We use "Zip ties" when we fly into/out of USA .

For other destinations we just use regular combo locks

[Globaliser]

can you tell us if USA /TSA approved baggage locks will be necessary to arrive/depart Miami if flying BA both legs please?

On the way to Miami, just use your normal locks. The TSA doesn't get involved on this leg.

 

On the way back from Miami, don't use your normal locks. As others say, you can use TSA-approved locks for this leg, but I personally just use cable ties. You just need to go into a Robert Dyas or any other hardware shop to get some. (I actually keep a bag of cable ties in my suitcase so that I always have some with me whenever flying from a US airport.)

We also need to know more about the new thing called ESTA ?

ESTA -- clearly designed to make the U.S. even less popular around the world -- is actually rather easy to handle.

This page on the BA website really tells you everything you really need to know about the Visa Waiver scheme and about ESTA.

 

When people get used to the ESTA and it's fully in force, it will actually be better than the current scheme and better than the scheme used by other visa-obssessed countries like Australia. One great boon will be (but isn't quite yet) that the I-94 will get abolished. No more green forms, no more stubs just waiting to fall out and get lost, no more angst over whether one will get arrested on next entry because the airline forgot to take (or lost) the green stub from the last departure, etc ...

[lucky white heather]

On the way to Miami, just use your normal locks. The TSA doesn't get involved on this leg.

 

On the way back from Miami, don't use your normal locks. As others say, you can use TSA-approved locks for this leg, but I personally just use cable ties. You just need to go into a Robert Dyas or any other hardware shop to get some. (I actually keep a bag of cable ties in my suitcase so that I always have some with me whenever flying from a US airport.)This page on the BA website really tells you everything you really need to know about the Visa Waiver scheme and about ESTA.

 

When people get used to the ESTA and it's fully in force, it will actually be better than the current scheme and better than the scheme used by other visa-obssessed countries like Australia. One great boon will be (but isn't quite yet) that the I-94 will get abolished. No more green forms, no more stubs just waiting to fall out and get lost, no more angst over whether one will get arrested on next entry because the airline forgot to take (or lost) the green stub from the last departure, etc ...

 

Thanks to all those who have responded with the info necessary to make this next flight inclusive cruise trip less worry-some for us.

 

Can I add, this is an update response also to those who read and commented on a previous post I wrote about a dilemma I was having with BA regarding being forced to share my seat on a flight with a very oversized pax whose rights to overflow their assigned seat seem to be preserved at the cost of my rights ....also a fare paying pax... who did not agree I should have to "share" my assigned seat and was unhappy at having to.

BA Exec Club could offer no informative guidance in response to my letters requesting their guidance on what I should do if this happened to me again...so I have now written to Willie Walsh Chairman of BA to ask if he could advise me..of course the letter won't get passed to anyone important for their "take" on dealing with this situation, since my gut reaction from the replies to my first two letters to BA's Exec club, tell me (in other words) that any average size person who fits their own seat has to just put up with sharing their seat with an overflowing neighbour even if they don't want to, and have actually paid for a whole seat of their own.

[katieemily]

You don't need a TSA approved lock. If you want to lock your luggage, though, you are supposed to use a TAS blessed lock. If you use a non-TSA approved lock and the Powers That Be decide to open your luggage, they will simply cut the lock.

 

Two problems with a TSA approved lock:

Thieves have copies of the master keys

Sometimes TSA employees cut them off any (bad hair day, one assumes)

 

Given the above, I don't bother locking my luggage any more. (I use twist ties so that the zippers don't get caught in something are get accidentally opened.

 

ESTA -- clearly designed to make the U.S. even less popular around the world -- is actually rather easy to handle. Go to https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov, click apply at the bottom of the left hand greenish box and follow the instructions. It is good for two years from the issue date.

We have Samsonite cases made of heavy duty plastic (ABS?) which have an integral combination lock. We have always set the security code before departing the US. Have we been lucky or are the security people still able to access the inside of the case? We never pack any valuables in these cases.

[greatam]

We have Samsonite cases made of heavy duty plastic (ABS?) which have an integral combination lock. We have always set the security code before departing the US. Have we been lucky or are the security people still able to access the inside of the case? We never pack any valuables in these cases.

 

You've been lucky. No way for TSA to get into your suitcases for an inspection. They will rip/break/whatever they have to do if they really need into the suitcase.

 

Either leave them unlocked or secure with zip ties.

 

I am a BIG advocate of brightly colored zip ties. Easy to see your luggage BEFORE it even gets onto the revolving carousel (like when it comes out of the chute). And if TSA opens the luggage, they generally replace your bright zip ties with creme or gray zip ties. IF I can't see my brightly colored zip ties, I won't even take my luggage off the carousel. I go immediately to find an airline employee, so they can watch me open the luggage. If things are missing (never happened to me), I could make an immediate report. NO QUESTION then of who stole what, when.

 

I always laugh when I walk into the AA terminals at JFK and PHX. Sitting right beside (or on top of) the baggage screening machine is a bright red pair of bolt cutters. They are NOT there for decoration. Supervisors are the only people who are supposed to have the keys or the codes for TSA locks. If the supervisor is on break, away from the area or just "GONE" (which happens way tooooo often with TSA), no one waits for the supervisor to show up with the keys. They just cut the locks and go on about their business.

 

IMHO, TSA locks are a false sense of security.

[megr1125]

You've been lucky. No way for TSA to get into your suitcases for an inspection. They will rip/break/whatever they have to do if they really need into the suitcase.

 

Either leave them unlocked or secure with zip ties.

 

I am a BIG advocate of brightly colored zip ties. Easy to see your luggage BEFORE it even gets onto the revolving carousel (like when it comes out of the chute). And if TSA opens the luggage, they generally replace your bright zip ties with creme or gray zip ties. IF I can't see my brightly colored zip ties, I won't even take my luggage off the carousel. I go immediately to find an airline employee, so they can watch me open the luggage. If things are missing (never happened to me), I could make an immediate report. NO QUESTION then of who stole what, when.

 

I always laugh when I walk into the AA terminals at JFK and PHX. Sitting right beside (or on top of) the baggage screening machine is a bright red pair of bolt cutters. They are NOT there for decoration. Supervisors are the only people who are supposed to have the keys or the codes for TSA locks. If the supervisor is on break, away from the area or just "GONE" (which happens way tooooo often with TSA), no one waits for the supervisor to show up with the keys. They just cut the locks and go on about their business.

 

IMHO, TSA locks are a false sense of security.

 

DITTO! Love zip ties....look the locks, TSA or NOT will keep anyone from getting in to your bag! face it...all a lock is going to do is slow someone down for 2 seconds...NEVER EVER pack anything that you can't bear to part with....and IMO all they really do is keep the 2 ends of the zipper together...

 

BTW, the ts does NOT have to relock your bag (told to me by a TSA trainer...great guy, lots of stories!) they MAY do it cause they are nice! They WILL cut off the lock...sadly he said sometimes they just can't be bothered to get the key! I have had bags opened and reclosed, and have had TSA locks cut off as well...

 

I do like your idea about NOT taking the bag off if the tie is MIA...i may borrow it....question, have any agents ever given you trouble, meaning you told them your bag tie was MIA and they said, "yeah right lady"???:confused:

[world~citizen]

You can get suitcases with TSA integrated locks.

 

Next time we buy suitcases we will get those.

 

We have had a TSA lock removed.:eek: Interesting to see what happens with built-in locks. Does anyone have any experience with that?

[LHT28]

NEVER EVER pack anything that you can't bear to part with....

I would have to go with just what is on my back or in my carry -on...I love all my clothes that is why I take them on vacation with me!! :D

[megr1125]

I would have to go with just what is on my back or in my carry -on...I love all my clothes that is why I take them on vacation with me!! :D

 

hahaha! then perhaps you should buy new clothes that you DON'T love!!:p