Airport Security

tonygair

Recently on a flight to the Canaries, Security took a electronic tablet out of my bag, possibly for examination, then failed to put it back in the bag. I did not realise the item had been taken. So I put in a lost property request, and they found it. They are charging me £25 for the priviledge of depriving me of my tablet and are also charging me for the courier. What are my chances do you think in a small claim action against the airport?

Ayr_Rage

Never in all my 45 years of passing through airport security has anything been removed from my hand baggage without the person asking me to confirm the bag was mine and all items subsequently removed needed to be put back in my myself.

If it was removed from a checked bag where you shouldn't have packed it then be thankful you are getting it back.

mr_stripey

All airport security I've been through in the last decade or so have been at great pains to tell you to remove all electronic items before you get to the checkpoint. 

So if you didn't do this, maybe they did remove the item. The onus is on you to check you have everything back before leaving security. I always take a few moments to gather all my belongings before walking away.

Note - recently transited through Dublin and they had the new style scanners. As I was preparing to remove my laptop the guy told me to leave it in the bag. I still checked it was there after the scan though.

Result that they've found it though! 

MattMattMattUK

tonygair said:

Recently on a flight to the Canaries, Security took a electronic tablet out of my bag, possibly for examination, then failed to put it back in the bag. I did not realise the item had been taken. So I put in a lost property request, and they found it. They are charging me £25 for the priviledge of depriving me of my tablet and are also charging me for the courier. What are my chances do you think in a small claim action against the airport?

Somewhere between zero and none. 

Airports make it clear you are responsible for your luggage and possessions, you should have kept an eye on your luggage even with security. They make clear at security that it is your responsibility repack your bags not theirs. I would be genuinely thankful that you are actually able to get this back. 

SW17

It's quite unusual for UK airport security to take something out of your bag for inspection without your knowledge or presence. That said, UK airport security using the older scanners would insist that tablets are removed before going through the scanner. If they are not, the normal procedure is to send the bag for secondary search, which happens in your presence, and the tablet is removed and put back through the scanner (possibly the whole bag is scanned again). It's not clear from your post whether it was removed before or after the bag went through the scanner (and you may not know the answer).

On the basis that it was found and not stolen, one assumes the motives for removal were genuine, even if procedure may not have been followed correctly. I'd say your chances of claiming money from the airport are negligible, even if you could prove it was they who removed it without your knowledge.

eDicky

Presumably its removal was during a secondary search, after your failure to place it separately for the scan. As mentioned, it's the passenger's responsibility to repack anything removed and the officer would rarely do so.

Phoenix72

I mean, if you just followed the instructions given none of this would have happened.

SW17

eDicky said:

Presumably its removal was during a secondary search, after your failure to place it separately for the scan. As mentioned, it's the passenger's responsibility to repack anything removed and the officer would rarely do so.

It is the passenger's responsibility, but they need to know it's been removed. I've never seen UK airport security do a secondary search of a bag without the owner present. It's not standard practice at all, and bags subject to secondary search aren't just put back on the belt with the rest, except perhaps when the whole bag has been rescanned after a search in the presence of the owner.

Even if there was some fault by security (and based on the limited info I think there was potentially fault by both passenger and security), I just don't think there is any chance of seeking financial redress successfully here.

TELLIT01

As it costs a minimum of £35 to make the claim it seems pretty pointless to pursue that route for a £25 charge.

eDicky

SW17 said:

eDicky said:

Presumably its removal was during a secondary search, after your failure to place it separately for the scan. As mentioned, it's the passenger's responsibility to repack anything removed and the officer would rarely do so.

It is the passenger's responsibility, but they need to know it's been removed. I've never seen UK airport security do a secondary search of a bag without the owner present. It's not standard practice at all, and bags subject to secondary search aren't just put back on the belt with the rest, except perhaps when the whole bag has been rescanned after a search in the presence of the owner.

Even if there was some fault by security (and based on the limited info I think there was potentially fault by both passenger and security), I just don't think there is any chance of seeking financial redress successfully here.

I believe you're correct. But looking back, Tony seems to infer that the tablet was removed without his knowledge. He may return to confirm or otherwise, I also notice that he has edited after all the replies posted before yours.

If indeed his bag was seen in the scan to contain the tablet, which was then removed and put through in a separate tray without his being informed, such that he was unaware of the need to await and collect it, that would appear to be quite irregular (and to me, unlikely).