Recovering luggage locks or costs likely a lost cause

Question: I just returned to Hawaii from a leisure trip. I am at wits’ end as TSA has lost at least five of my combination locks over the past few years. Twice this year they have forgotten to put my locks back on. I tried to file a claim, but it was denied, because they said I couldn’t prove I locked my lock. The last time, I left a large, 9-by-13-inch note on the top of my clothes that said, "Please put lock back on." Is there any recourse for my missing locks besides leaving them off? What does TSA do with all these locks they "forget" to put back on? I use these locks because I have had items go missing before.

Answer: "Unseen forces besides TSA may have contributed" to your lock disappearing or your baggage being damaged in transit, according to the Transportation Security Administration. Basically, there is little recourse for finding the locks or getting reimbursed.

You can file a complaint or claim, and "it will be looked into, though it is sometimes difficult to substantiate a lock was on any particular bag," said Nico Melendez, TSA spokesman for the Pacific region.

Locks are sometimes damaged by conveyor belts.

The TSA’s website — www.tsa.gov/travelers/customer/claims/damagedlocks.shtm — shows a photo of 244 damaged locks pulled from under an airport baggage conveyor belt and collected in a one-month period at a New York airport.

TSA suggests using a "compatible" lock that it helped develop when you travel. The locks, which can be opened by security officers using universal master keys, are sold at airports and travel stores. See www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/assistant/locks.shtm.

Question: What happens when middling complaints (e.g. rudeness, inspected baggage left in shambles, etc.) are filed on the TSA’s website? In a recent attempt to register such a complaint, the response was a long explanation of TSA procedures, concluding with "so sorry" with no reference to the particulars of my complaint. This suggests that the response was automatically generated. An attempt to reach someone at the listed phone number was similarly unsatisfactory. All this leads me to wonder whether there is any point in even bothering to try to lodge a complaint.

Answer: According to TSA, complaints don’t just go into a black hole.

"Complaints that come into our national call center do receive an automated response, but those complaints or compliments are then forwarded to local airports for action and further response," Melendez said.

Asked whether that meant someone from a "local" airport would respond, he said yes.

Let us know if and when you get a response to your complaint.

MAHALO

To all those involved in an only-in-Hawaii incident. One afternoon last month, my friend and I were on TheBus, returning home to Manoa after shopping in Chinatown. At a bus stop near Queen Street, the lady sitting across from us began yelling to the bus driver to wait. Then a young man got on the bus, huffing and puffing, holding a broom. My friend whispered, "He has the same broom I just bought," then realized she couldn’t find her own broom! We asked the young guy where he got the broom, and in very broken English he explained that it’s not his broom. Then the lady who told the driver to stop said, in her halting English, that he had jumped off the bus to catch the man he thought had forgotten his broom! He happily gave the broom back to my friend. He saved her a $3 broom but could’ve lost his $2.50 bus fare. In all this craziness, we did not get the names of the lady, the young guy and the bus driver to tell them their kindness was precious beyond measure. — Helen

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