Originally Posted by
I-Like-To-Bike
Apparently you believe that your experience with airline x-ray procedures applies everywhere, so you feel free to resort once again to smug and snarky comments directed at my legitimate question about what you would encounter IF you were asked about luggage contents.
Have you ever been to Dulles Airport or Quad Cities (IL) airports? I have used them in the not too distant past and the traveler personally hands their checked luggage to the TSA officials who run the x-ray procedure. If there is a question about contents, it is the traveler who does the answering about the contents.
Clifford K brings up an interesting point: What does a liar claim if the checked baggage is lost, actual contents or something else?
You insist on conflating the TSA and the airline staff. The TSA's resposibility is security, and they have no interest in the contents of baggage except to possibly clarify what they might see on the scanner images, or the very legitimate issues of hazardous or contraband contents.
OTOH- airline staff are interested in weight and dimensional criteria, so they can assess excess fees if any apply. They also have zero interest in the contents as long as the baggage meets standard criteria. Some airlines DO have a special surcharge that applies to bicycles, but it only becomes an issue when checking a bicycle in an oversize box.
As to any questions of insurance/claims for loss or damage. The baggage responsibility and claim rules don't specify contents, which aren't declared in advance anyway, so my bicycle (if lost or damaged) would be subject to the same rules as anything else people pack. Unfortunately, the cap for loss claims is fairly low, and since I don't buy baggage insurance, I'm underwriting the risk if the damage exceeds the max.
As to my
snarky tone in response to your post, I feel it's an appropriate response based on your long history of posting challenges based on your incorrect inferences of people's posts -- not just mine. In this case, I posted about keeping mum or lying (yes, I might lie about the (legal) contents of my bag IF asked) when speaking to airline ticket counter/check in agents. You then shifted that to imply that I would lie to the TSA which was never said or implied in my post.
My snarky response that it was a classic ILTB tactic, was based on long history, but Nobody has to draw conclusions based on my post only. Regulars here on BF read posts from many people, and form opinions based on the overall body of the posts from regulars. I'm sure people here already have opinions of both you and me, and a single post isn't going to change anything.