Luggage and airports

Jeff,

Haven't had any problems at all, before 9/11 or after. My family has had more problems with getting items from carry-on confiscated when they travel around the time that rules have changed and the TSA staff don't seem to have any common understanding of what is now allowed/forbidden under the new rules.

Good question to ask, btw. Am eager to hear from others.

--HC

Havn't had any problems yet. Knock on wood. LOL.

Just be sure to bring a couple of days wear in your carry on. Two times out of four, one bag didn't make it until the next day or two.

No problems here. Of course I don't know who'd want my used clothes and half-empty toothpaste.

We've had things stolen both ways to and from STX, always through SJU. Most recent was before Xmas, from a checked bag. They took 3 of the 6 bottles of Cruzan single barrel rum, and the box they were all packed in.

You CAN lock your luggage with a TSA approved combination lock that they can open with a master key for inspection. The lock has a green to red indicator when it has been opened with that key. You can get the locks at Brookstone and other places.

We HAD a TSA lock on our bag--and the TSA inspection in STX is done in your presence. Pretty sure the bag was rifled through in SJU. No time in JFK, and unlikely considering the physical setup in STX. The TSA lock just requires a special tool to open--probably not hard to have one available.
The AA folks in NY volunteered that they knew they had 'problems' in SJU

I have had a camera, running shoes and sandals disapear out of my bag. As for San Juan, I would rather kayak back to the mainland then go through that airport.

Until last summer I worked in Baggage Service for an airline in the states. Island Boy is right, you can lock your luggage with a TSA approved lock; but alas, Beaches (and every airline employee) knows they are not hard to open.
Your best bet is to pack like Linda J - nothing worth stealing.
As a note- NO airline covers theft of any electronics, jewelry, cameras, money, etc. If its valuable DON'T check it. You get one carry-on PLUS a personal item. Fill them with valuables. Or ship things and have it insured.
Sad but true, there are a lot of 'sticky fingers' out there.

not really on subject of luggage, but i heard of 2 travelers unable to board their return flight to the U.S. because they arrived less than 2 hours prior to take off and the boarding gate was locked and unattended. their plane was still at the gate but no one was available for assistance. anyone heard of this at STX airport?

njg

njg,

Yes, this happened to me once at STX. I was booked on the AA 11:20 am flight to San Juan for a medical appointment. Due to personal problems, we didn't arrive at the check-in counter until 45 minutes prior to departure. Even though we had no luggage that needed to be checked or searched, and that it has never taken us more than 10 minutes to get through customs station and TSA pat-downs, the women at the counter refused to even try to let us make the flight, citing the rule that we needed to check in no later than 9:20 am. They even balked at rescheduling me for the next day without a penalty until my doctor, whom we had called to see if he could even see us the next day, told them that traveling to see him within the next 48 hours was critical to my health.

Fortunately, this was an isolated experience. The check in time buffer is definitely an airline specific policy -- and sometimes even employee specific. Cape Air has neve required us to be there more than 40 minutes before departure time, and Caribbean Sun has said anything from be at the gate 30 minutes before departure to be at the check in counter one hour before.

--HC

Recently, on both USAirways and American Airlines flights from the states to STT, after the plane landed in STT someone from the flight crew announced that passengers with return flights to the states must check-in a minimum of two hours before their flight's scheduled departure or they would not be permitted to fly. I overheard some people grumbling about the announcement and other people stating that they or someone they knew had been denied boarding because they failed to meet the two-hour minimum. From the conversations around me I surmised that the rule was a TSA/Homeland Security rule specific to flights originating from US territories and international destinations rather than an airline or airport rule.

It is definately up to the airline - NOT TSA. Airlines set the policy on how long they want customers there, so to not affect their one-time departure stats (which are reported to the Federal Gov't). The airline I worked for had a policy of making every attempt at getting everyone on - no matter how late they showed up. It was an airline that focused (and advertised) outstanding customer service. It was a hassle, especially when people rang-off going thru the security mag; but it was our policy. Other airlines close the airplane door 10 minutes prior to departure to get an accurate head count, etc.
It is each airline who sets their policy; BUT the airline agent can make all the difference. ...and unfortunately there are a lot of unfriendly agents in the friendly skies.

HERE HERE TRAVELWOMAN! BRAVA!!

Yeah, AA is really mean, but I've definitely gotten away with checking in an hour before. Last time I went back to college, I checked in 35 minutes for my flight to SJU (I wasn't feeling well and took my time), and they just put me on an afternoon flight. Because I didn't have to wait in line again, I just went to the beach and showed up like 25-30 minutes before the flight left and went straight through customs. I wouldn't recommend anyone do this though... 🙂

On STX the counters don't open until 6 am. I've had 7am AEagle flights and got there at 6 with no problem. I think this is definitely an airline/airline specific employee issue.

I have had everything of value stolen from my bags and I can only assume that the thefts were perpetrated by TSA agents. My valuables were well hidden, but showed up easily on X-ray. The thieves took everything... even my PDA charger! I now travel with a cheap small digital camera I can put in my purse and costume jewelry. The airline just said "so sad too bad."

As with most things instituted by the government, the "security" measures taken to "protect" us have just turned out to bite us in the butt.

Didn't have anything missing, but I have had things broken. They randomly search bags and when they searched mine, they did a horrible job putting things back together.

My wife and I had a problem with Caribbean Sun on our way to STX- we flew AA from Baltimore to SJU and missed the "Caribbean Sun ONE HOUR" rule by 10 minutes!!(didn't know and were not told)we would have to go on stand-by for the last flight which was booked, so we had to go with American Eagle (they were great!) but it cost us $200 more EACH! but we didn't want to loose a day, we only had 5 days on our trip.