As filmmakers know from experience: traveling with equipment is a pain in the ass. For years I've been fighting with flight attendants who insist I check my cameras and for years they've refused to learn this isn't an argument they're going to win. Customs, carnets, excess baggage fees, lost baggage, and so on -- this is the price we pay to travel abroad to do what we love to do. But what happens when that price is our equipment being damaged, lost or stolen?
The other night I was flying out of LAX and one of my equipment cases packed full of gear (and personal effects) was flagged for a search. I was taken aside for the routine crotch groping while I watched another TSA agent pull out every single item from my case for inspection. For good measure, the agent rifling though my case then decided to gut my computer bag of all its contents...even though this bag wasn't flagged, or on the inspection table. The result: two adjacent steel tables completely littered with all my equipment and personal belongings. The TSA solution: walk away and let me deal with the yard sale.
Since so much of my stuff was strewn out across so much real estate, it was impossible for me to keep an eye on both tables. Since no TSA agent bothered to help me or keep an eye on my things, half of my belongings were accessible to passersby. Whether an enterprising passerby snapped them up, or a TSA agent pocketed them, or they were knocked to the floor, picked up and not returned, my Shure E4C earphones disappeared.
As a result, I'm now in the process of filing a theft report with the LAPD and also a claim with the TSA to have my earphones replaced. I wouldn't bother if I didn't use my earphones extensively for work and if they didn't cost $400. Now, I can't help but wonder: will my efforts be rewarded or will my small sense of injustice fall on the same deaf ears the TSA reserves for those crying foul about the loss of their Fourth Amendment rights? Since we now have a lot less of them, I wonder if the Terrorists still hate us for our Freedoms?
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