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What triggers TSA checked bag random search?

Posted on 2/16/24 at 11:29 am
Posted by JonTheTigerFan
Central, LA
Member since Nov 2003
6784 posts
Posted on 2/16/24 at 11:29 am
Just went on a trip and had a note in my bag on the way there and the way back that they searched my bag. I’ve never had that happen before, just seems odd for it to happen both times on this trip. I had some hiking poles in my bag, maybe they looked suspicious on X-ray?
Posted by midlothianlsu
Midlothian, Texas
Member since Oct 2009
1412 posts
Posted on 2/16/24 at 11:30 am to
quote:

random search

Random is the operative word.
Posted by CuseTiger
On the road
Member since Jul 2013
8197 posts
Posted on 2/16/24 at 11:31 am to
Think my ski bag is batting 100% for getting checked. Usually large bags, oversized luggage, or weird looking items will get checked. Not sure about regular luggage
Posted by cgrand
HAMMOND
Member since Oct 2009
38666 posts
Posted on 2/16/24 at 11:59 am to
quote:

I had some hiking poles in my bag
100% will get you searched. mine got confiscated last time
Posted by VABuckeye
Naples, FL
Member since Dec 2007
35492 posts
Posted on 2/16/24 at 1:26 pm to
Electronics in. Checked bag is a search 100% of the times. I was flying back from Los Angeles with a ton of edibles in my bag. It got searched. They left the edibles alone. Just wanted to look at the laptop I had in the checked bag.
Posted by dirtsandwich
AL
Member since May 2016
5134 posts
Posted on 2/16/24 at 2:14 pm to
Laptop gets me every time.
Posted by Shut Up Mulllet
Member since Apr 2021
781 posts
Posted on 2/16/24 at 4:37 pm to
Apparently middle age white guys.
They get me all the time.
Posted by luvdatigahs
Alameda, CA
Member since Sep 2008
3014 posts
Posted on 2/16/24 at 5:48 pm to
They usually don’t let you carry on hiking poles, they will often take them
Posted by BilbeauTBaggins
probably stuck in traffic
Member since May 2021
4307 posts
Posted on 2/16/24 at 7:51 pm to
Everytime I bring Cards Against Humanity they pull it out of the x-ray in my carry on. It's fun watching TSA employees read the cards.

Something about a box within a box makes them nervous? I've had other card games get pulled. I can see the machines and what they see. I really don't know what they think it is. It just looks like a rectangle within another rectangle.
Posted by fargobison
Member since Aug 2011
4306 posts
Posted on 2/16/24 at 7:53 pm to
My ski bag every single trip
Posted by BHS78
Member since May 2017
2042 posts
Posted on 2/17/24 at 6:05 am to
Your name being on file with the NSA
Posted by jbgleason
Bailed out of BTR to God's Country
Member since Mar 2012
18897 posts
Posted on 2/17/24 at 8:08 am to
It's density of the item. If the X ray can't see through it (it appears as a solid mass on the x ray screen) they will want to hand examine it. In my former life, any time I checked my body armor the ceramic plates and the helmet would prompt a hand search. Even when they knew the bag had government equipment in it.
Posted by jfw3535
South of Bunkie
Member since Mar 2008
4646 posts
Posted on 2/17/24 at 8:24 am to
Only time I've ever had my bad searched was when there was a new TSA agent in training and he flagged 90% of the bags coming through for a search. Turned out it was book that had raised his suspicions. Once they saw the book and flipped through the pages, they closed up my bag and let me go on my way, which was good b/c I had some edibles in there and I was sweating it for a minute.
Posted by S
RIP Wayde
Member since Jan 2007
155445 posts
Posted on 2/17/24 at 9:28 am to
I have a period in my last name so that usually does me in
Posted by cgrand
HAMMOND
Member since Oct 2009
38666 posts
Posted on 2/17/24 at 10:13 am to
quote:

b/c I had some edibles in there and I was sweating it for a minute.
TSA doesn’t care about that shite. I bring them in my carryon all the time. They are looking for stuff that can kill people on the plane, blow up the plane, or both
Posted by JonTheTigerFan
Central, LA
Member since Nov 2003
6784 posts
Posted on 2/17/24 at 8:03 pm to
quote:

Random is the operative word.


I would tend to agree if it had happened once on this trip but it happened on the way there and back with the same checked bag. I fly pretty regularly and have never had it happen once before. I did have my Surface Pro and the hiking poles in the bag so it makes sense if one or both triggered something from the X-ray
Posted by LSUfan4444
Member since Mar 2004
53734 posts
Posted on 2/17/24 at 8:35 pm to
quote:

Just wanted to look at the laptop I had in the checked bag.


Well yeah

They should be in your carry on or personal item
Posted by OU812ME2
Earth
Member since Jun 2021
814 posts
Posted on 2/17/24 at 9:11 pm to
My wife is Canadian. Red hair and white as a sheet. She was flying back to Toronto to see her mom and the line was all kinds of burqua wearing people. Guess who they picked to do a 'random' check on. The one little white speck with red hair is getting the triple frisk while abdul and his 8 wives get a free pass.

Laws are for the people who choose to obey them. They will stop and frisk the least person they think will give them a hard time.
Posted by Tree_Fall
Member since Mar 2021
476 posts
Posted on 2/18/24 at 11:46 am to
My checked bag is most often checked when pack 2 cooking knives in a canvas roll. Following on-line advice about packing knives, I've written "Danger Sharp" in big red letters on the roll.
Posted by Napoleon
Kenna
Member since Dec 2007
69059 posts
Posted on 2/18/24 at 9:50 pm to
I've never had the 4 S's for extra search, but the body scanner showed a bulge in my pants. So I had to be felt down in line. It was kind of embarrassing but I got to use the "is all me" line.

Hiking equipment will be me sometimes I guess, I did get stopped for a hammock one time.
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