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TSA Approved Travel Locks
Shortly after Christmas, 2002, the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA) entered a new phase of luggage inspection at the nation?s
airports. If their new, high-powered X-ray machines detected luggage contents
that could not be identified, the TSA would open and inspect the bag even if it meant breaking its lock. They
would then close the bag (after inserting a note that they had made the
inspection), and seal the bag with a plastic tie. Within a week or two, after
many locks had been cut off, they began to advise passengers "Please do not
lock your bags" in order to reduce the number of complaints they were receiving
about the broken locks.
Magellan's responded to the discomfort of travelers who
disliked checking in unlocked luggage by offering low-cost, easy-to-break plastic seals that
would deter the casual luggage pilferer and serve notice to the passenger that
someone had forced open their bags. (We
had actually been offering the removable PrivaSeal since the early 1990s.)
Although these easy-to-replace seals provide peace of mind
to travelers, they do not actually lock
luggage, since, by design, these seals are so easily broken. What the industry
needed, ideally, was a solid padlock that would provide as much security as
travelers had in the days prior to the end of 2002, but that could somehow
allow the TSA access to the contents of luggage being carried by all the
airlines in the US. In the spring of
2003, a company called Travel Sentry responded to this challenge.
Travel Sentry's concept was to create a standard of lock design
that allows the traveler to lock his/her bag, while letting the TSA open and re-close
the lock by means of special access tools. If a lock is designed and
manufactured to this standard, it is allowed to sport the unique "Travel Sentry
Certified" logo.
Magellan's is pleased to offer a Travel Sentry Certified
lock to our traveling customers. These high-quality, four-dial brass locks
feature easy-to-read numbers (set them to any combination you desire) and come
in Black or easy-to-spot Neon Yellow. A set of two is $19.85.
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