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September 10, 2004
TSA = Taxpayer Soaking Administration
The Transportation Security Administration said Friday that it will pay an average of $110 each to 15,000 airline passengers who claim their possessions were lost, stolen or damaged when their bags were screened for bombs and weapons.
That's $1.5 million of your money and mine (not including 1,800 other claims already settled in the last 22 months) being shelled out to people when it's not even certain if all the claims are owed by the TSA. Some of them, particularly damage claims, could be the airlines' responsibility; but nobody knows who's responsible for what, so the government is only too happy to pay travelers from our pockets.
[Air Travelers Association president David] Stempler said the TSA failed to anticipate the problem when it began screening checked bags.
"We had warned them about this problem when they started inspecting bags outside of the view of passengers," he said. "We told them to be prepared but they weren't.
What a surprise.
Posted by Mike Tennant at September 10, 2004 04:29 PM