Quote Originally Posted by Dr. Fish View Post
Man am I steamed at whichever dullard TSA screener at the Springfield, MO regional airport checked my fly rod tube at 5:15AM this morning. When they put the rods back into the tube they forced them in so hard they stripped off several guides and broke the blanks on both of the rods in the tube!!! One was a Winston LTX 9' for 5 and the other was a Partridge 10' for 6. Both were in near new condition. I am so ticked off. With the force it took to do this kind of damage, they knew what they did but didn't care.

I'm kicking myself for not UPS'ing the rods home and I know full well that many of the folks the TSA hired are the bottom of the barrel. God only knows how long the claims process will drag on IF I get paid at all. several years back they shattered a pair of $250 glasses when the screener dropped by bag from 4' and despite their obviously wrong doing, it took some 15+ months to get paid on those.

Good news is that the fishing in around Mt. Home was ON FIRE!!!
I do not blame you for being mad. You have the right to be. However, what makes you so sure it was someone form the Transportation Safety Administration that did this? It could have been any one of a dozen or more government, airline or airport employees that did this. Like perhaps a baggage handler that was actually trying to steal your gear and jammed it back into the tube/tubes to avoid being caught? Stuff like that happens quite regularly. I would be plenty mad too but I would make darned certain who did this before placing any blame. As far a crushing a pair of $250 dollar glasses just by dropping them 4 feet were they in a hard shell protective case?

If a Transportation Safety Administration employee did this it will be on video tape. You can contact them here:

http://www.tsa.gov/

I use UPS, USPS, FedEx and DHL all of the time. They damage their fair share of freight too. Not beefing about it because it happens but I always insure my shipments. We us those agencies everyday to ship freight around the world to our troops. They do a great job as does the T.S.A. with our Seavan Containers for overseas shipment.