Product Details
This is a simple TSA combination luggage belt that securely keeps your suitcase closed, deters casual pilfering and allows you to more easily identify your luggage. These locks might help you prove a claim for damaged/stolen items if such a misfortune occurs.
Description
The combination luggage belt is fully extendable to 72" and has 1,000 possible combinations.
Each lock is packaged in a clear display pouch. Inside the pouch is the lock and a sheet of instructions.
The combination wheels have big bright white numbers on them, making it easy to see and open the belt lock, even in poor light.
The instructions tell you how to change the factory preset combination to any number of your choice.
The lock has a lifetime guarantee. And it also has an interesting extra warranty - if the TSA ever cut your belt off your bag, then the manufacturer will replace the lock for free. Of course, because the TSA have master keys for the lock, they should never need to cut it off the bag.
TSA Issues
These days all checked bags are screened by the TSA, typically by going through a huge mini-van sized 3D X-ray type machine. If the machine thinks it might have seen something suspicious (and the machines have a high rate of 'false positives'), then someone has to open the bag and search through it to resolve the issue.
For this reason, the TSA have formerly been requiring all bags to be unlocked. And, if they came across a bag that had been locked, they'd have to destroy the lock so as to open the suitcase.
If the TSA does open your suitcase, it will insert a piece of paper that tells you they have done this. In theory, if someone else opens your suitcase, they will not insert one of the TSA slips.
If, when you get your bag back at the end of your flight and luggage belt has been cut, you should immediately open it - at the airport. Check to see if anything is missing. If something is missing, and there is no TSA slip, go and see your airline's baggage claim desk. If something is missing and there is a TSA slip, go and see the TSA, or, if you're in a foreign airport, again see your airline's baggage claim people. Your ability to successfully claim for stolen items is greatly increased by the fact that you are making the claim as soon as you received your bag.
Functionality and Security
The TSA luggage belt is easy to use, and it is a great extra feature that you can change the combination, any time, and as many times as you like, to any number you wish.
A combination luggage belt is vastly preferable to a keyed luggage belt, because you never have to worry about losing the key.
The TSA luggage belt should be considered primarily as a way of stopping your suitcases from accidentally being opened, not as a way of securely thief-proofing them. But of course a dishonest baggage handler will first choose to pilfer completely unsecured suitcases, and then will open suitcases with totally insecure locks that anyone can open with a paperclip.
Only a dedicated thief will choose to try and open a suitcase that has a more serious lock on it. And such a thief could simply break in through the side of the suitcase, or cut the luggage strap off entirely, or steal the entire suitcase! So all that any type of lock can do is reduce the chance of pilfering, not eliminate it entirely.
The lock admirably discharges its two roles - protecting your bag from accidental opening, and adding a measure of security to its contents.
