Security agency to pick up tab on airline-baggage claims

By Leslie Miller
The Associated Press

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The TSA began inspecting all checked bags at the end of 2002, a security measure ordered by Congress after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The requirement created a new chain of custody for checked bags that goes from the airline to the TSA back to the airline. Airlines previously had sole responsibility for bags after they were checked.

Passengers since have been caught between the TSA and the airlines, who have failed to agree on who would compensate them for missing or damaged items.

TSA spokesman Mark Hatfield said the agency took the initiative to come up with an agreement, but the airlines thwarted the effort.

"We still believe there's a way to divide this responsibility with the airlines, but until that agreement is met passengers deserve satisfaction on their claims so we will move unilaterally to settle their claims," Hatfield said. "It's time to get through the backlog."

The TSA settled 1,800 claims in the past 22 months. The agency now will pay $1.5 million to an additional 15,000 travelers.

Hatfield said 38 percent will be reimbursed fully, 32 percent will receive half what they claimed and 12 percent will receive less than half. Three thousand people will not be reimbursed because missing items were either prohibited or didn't belong to them in the first place.

Air Travelers Association President David Stempler said he's been flooded with passenger complaints about missing or damaged possessions. Many people don't even bother to make claims anymore because the process is so slow, he said.

"A lot of people are just throwing up their hands," he said.

Two dozen screeners in Spokane, New York, New Orleans, Detroit and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., have been charged with stealing from checked bags.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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