Recourse for TSA ruining a bike

[cgolvin]

Looking to assist a friend. TSA apparently had difficulty closing up his bike bag, forced it and broke both the seat and down tubes on his C68. The airline says it doesn't bear responsibility because they don't open bags, had to have been TSA.

Does any one know the liability rules and what steps one must take to get compensation from TSA? (Looking at previous threads I see that @kgreene10 was able to resolve a similar situation on site, will message him directly.)

Thanks in advance. His Colnago was super nice, one of those special paint job models, quite a shame.

[fa63]

https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/claims

Please allow up to six months to fully investigate your claim

I wish your friend good luck

[cgolvin]

Thanks, I've passed that link along.

[CAAD]

Need to check with the airline again and read the fine print. Usually, there isn't much coverage for bikes in soft-sided bags, but better double check. I know a lot of the airlines stipulate the bicycle must be in a hard-sided case to have any coverage.

What kind of bag did he use? Was it packed full of loose gear? My bike bag gets packed with just the bike and everything attached to itself with velcro straps, noting loose for TSA to pack incorrectly. Check with this credit card for travel insurance also.

[54ny77]

Might want to check travel insurance (if any) as well as homeowners policy or vehicle policy, depending on where the bike is insured.

[unterhausen]

I don't understand why they always open bike bags. It's just theatre, but I guess the employees don't know that. They should get special training on how to put them back.

[KJMUNC]

Originally Posted by unterhausen

I don't understand why they always open bike bags. It's just theatre, but I guess the employees don't know that. They should get special training on how to put them back.

Guessing it has something to do with with the fact that a lot of people include CO2 when they fly and there's likely a lot of wires/cables that they want to take a peek at as they might be something else.

Hate to hear about such a nice bike being torn up....I've only ever used a hard shell case or an Orucase Ninja with the frame completely padded. Still made me super nervous each time I flew with it.

[NHAero]

Charles, can you tell us what the bike luggage was specifically?

I always wonder about hard vs. soft cases. Hard has to protect more in handling, but seems as though it may be more vulnerable to TSA.

[54ny77]

NH, I use an old darned near unbreakable case from Performance Bike that's at least 20 years old. It is a tank, and has served me very well. I NEVER worry about baggage handlers causing a problem.

Yet, the TSA hamfisted idiots managed to damage a frame some years back. It was minimal, but still, it needed repair. Didnt' even bother filing a claim, it just wasn't worth the headache. The f'ers literally took everything out of the case including the frame. I know they did this because I take a pic of the pack job before each flight, and the repack was....sloppy at best.

Oh and they were kind enough to leave a piece of paper in there saying they inspected it....

Originally Posted by NHAero

Charles, can you tell us what the bike luggage was specifically?

I always wonder about hard vs. soft cases. Hard has to protect more in handling, but seems as though it may be more vulnerable to TSA.

[AngryScientist]

I would absolutely push back on the airline.

It seems highly unlikely that TSA shoved the bike in a bag with so much force they broke frame tubes. Sure, they almost certainly packed it back incorrectly, but I'd bet that the actual breakage happened when it was either maneuvered by the bag handlers or in-flight somehow.

I doubt you'll see any substantial money out of TSA.

I hate those guys. I've flown with a bike a bunch and they always open the case and rummage around in there. Just x-ray the damn thing. It's a bike geniuses, leave it alone.

Most recently I had purchased a cork screw while travelling and TSA confiscated it because their policy is that if the corkscrew has a foil cutter, it can't fly. The foil cutter portion is like 1/2" long blade with a rounded tip. Morons.

[donevwil]

My brother received a bent seatstay (ti) at the hands of baggage handlers (don't know specifically TSA, airline, 3rd party), but he was SOL for no other season than it was a soft sided bag and every airline we researched says they specifically do not take responsibility for bikes in soft sided bags/cases.

Ultimately he was made whole because he bought his ticket with a credit card that had all forms of coverage for travel mishaps.

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by NHAero

Charles, can you tell us what the bike luggage was specifically?

I don't know the details, but am guessing it wasn't a hard case. His words:

"The bag was “hard” to close the zipper of because the seat wouldn’t go further, but I’d done it multiple times just had to pull the bag over. Assume that TSA just got angry because it didn’t shut easily so they slammed the seat down."

Originally Posted by donevwil

My brother received a bent seatstay (ti) at the hands of baggage handlers (don't know specifically TSA, airline, 3rd party), but he was SOL for no other season than it was a soft sided bag and every airline we researched says they specifically do not take responsibility for bikes in soft sided bags/cases.

Ultimately he was made whole because he bought his ticket with a credit card that had all forms of coverage for travel mishaps.

Thanks Evan, have instructed him to check with the issuer of the card he used to purchase the ticket.

[El Chaba]

About a dozen years ago I took a bike along on a trip. The bike was in a hard shell case, and a rather new case at that having only made a couple flights at that point. Upon going to the baggage claim, I noticed that the case was partially open. There was paperwork shoved in the case indicating that TSA had performed an inspection. In any event, they were too stupid to recluse the case and latch it. And the bike travelled for some part of the journey like a partially opened clam shell. The wheels were in separate bags within the case and I protected frame tubes and other critical parts with foam pipe padding and secured the bike in a compact package with packing tape. In the end, there is no doubt that the bike came out of the case and took an impact as the rear derailleur was destroyed, despite being wrapped in foam. The latches on the case were also smashed as were the casters. I threw the case away. The damage looked malicious to me. I inquired but quickly concluded that from a practical standpoint that you have no recourse. You are far better off shipping your bike with adequate insurance.

[bicycletricycle]

I think you are suppose to thank them and hope you don't get put on a no fly list for complaining

[prototoast]

Many credit cards offer some sort of insurance for damaged bags. Your friend should check what card he used to book his flight/pay for his luggage.