ARTICLES of GENERAL INTEREST<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n HOW SAVVY ARE YOU WHEN IT COMES TO AIRPORT SECURITY? With Summer on the way, many of us will be joyfully heading to the airport and jetting off for some much-needed R & R. That sunny beach or exciting travel destination will rightly be uppermost in our minds. Well, it would be, if we didn\u2019t have to worry about the new European Entry\/Exit system and whether there will be enough fuel for the plane! On top of all that travel experts are advising us to pay more attention to airport security. While most people travel without issues, it is a sobering thought that about \u00a37 billion worth of luggage is lost every year! But don\u2019t worry, there is a lot of excellent travel security advice out there these days and it includes sound tips related to the usual combination locks, padlocks and straps most of us purchase for our suitcases. Did you know for example, that thieves, dishonest airport staff or even fellow travellers can open and re-close your suitcase or bag in mere seconds using the simple biro trick? All you need do to open a zipped bag or case is to firmly press a biro into the zip, and you are in. What\u2019s more you can easily zip it back up and everything looks the same as before. Now this is not to say that simple devices like locks are not useful…far from it. Most theft is opportunist, so the idea is to deter casual thieves.<\/p>\n Perhaps the most common lock these days is a TSA lock, either built into the baggage or purchased separately. You can tell a genuine TSA lock by its distinctive logo showing a red diamond. TSA locks began in the US and stands for \u2018Transport Security Administration\u2019. These locks have an override or special key used by customs officials to open a case if they need to check it. At the end of the day if customs want to open your case they will, even if they have to simply break the lock. Oh, and another downside, thieves can buy the override keys online!<\/p>\n A simple trick to increase the security of your luggage is to purchase inexpensive covers. There are hundreds to be found on Amazon, some displaying stylish designs. Perhaps though you might fancy one sporting a brightly coloured giraffe. At least a similar Gaudi inspired cover or colourful zip tie is easy to spot on the carousel and deters thieves who do not wish to be noticed.<\/p>\n Of course, when we reach our destination, we tend to fret about our suitcases appearing on the airport carousel. It is a fact that sometimes luggage is mishandled and appears lost, often leading to several days before it can be returned. Sadly, of course, baggage is also stolen. Most major airlines now offer airline baggage tracking tools through their smartphone apps. This feature allows you to know when your bag has been loaded onto the plane, transferred, or has arrived at your destination. For greater peace of mind, you can buy inexpensive tracking tags, which combined with an app on your phone tell you and airport staff exactly where your suitcase is. Finally, it can be a good idea to photograph the airline tag and maybe the contents inside your case.<\/p>\n Clearly anything valuable should be carried in your hand luggage. A useful tip is to add heavy items that fit into your hand luggage because airlines don\u2019t weigh these bags, being more concerned with their size. If the worse happens and you lose your bag, follow up with airport staff immediately and be as detailed as possible when completing the airline\u2019s lost baggage report. You can bet it\u2019s going to be as much fun as a tax return! \u2018<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Airport security asked me if I’ve seen anything unusual<\/strong>…I just paid \u00a318 for a coke and a ham sandwich…Let’s start with that.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n ARTICLES of GENERAL INTEREST HOW SAVVY ARE YOU WHEN IT COMES TO AIRPORT SECURITY? With Summer on the way, many of us will be joyfully heading to the airport and jetting off for some much-needed R & R. That sunny beach or exciting travel destination will rightly be uppermost in our minds. Well, it would be, if we didn\u2019t have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[435,228],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-4pE","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16063,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16063","url_meta":{"origin":16966,"position":0},"title":"Could The Airport Be Flying High At Last?","author":"Alan Williams","date":"1st September 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"COULD THE AIRPORT BE FLYING HIGH AT LAST? Many of us love to use Cardiff Airport, especially with the time and cost implications of flying from other airports like Bristol or Heathrow. With a ten-year plan of major developments, we will hopefully see a positive transformation in the airport\u2019s fortunes.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Front-cover-300x201.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11871,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=11871","url_meta":{"origin":16966,"position":1},"title":"Seventy Years Of Wenvoe In Transit","author":"Alan Williams","date":"7th July 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"FORWARD OR BACK?: SEVENTY YEARS OF WENVOE IN TRANSIT Recent weeks have seen the celebration of the Queen\u2019s platinum jubilee, including a great display of local memorabilia organised by Mike and Glenys Tucker, which together with the Barry Festival of Transport gave me food for thought on the changes in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Picture8.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Picture8.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Picture8.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13549,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13549","url_meta":{"origin":16966,"position":2},"title":"WENVOE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.","author":"Alan Williams","date":"4th September 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"WENVOE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. \u00a0 Maybe not, but 80 years ago it was a different story. As a child I remember my mother who at the time was living with her parents in Ely, telling me that they had a rather handsome American serviceman billeted with them. Much to the consternation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/G-Earth-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7734,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=7734","url_meta":{"origin":16966,"position":3},"title":"Covid 19 Repatriaton Saga","author":"Alan Williams","date":"6th June 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"THE FIRST....HOPEFULLY THE LAST I\u2019ve never been repatriated before but then I\u2019ve never been in the middle of a pandemic before. COVID 19 was already in Britain before I left. Going abroad didn\u2019t seem like a good idea but as the holiday company hadn't cancelled, I went. Even getting there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reader's Travel Tales"","block_context":{"text":"Reader's Travel Tales","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=125"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9607,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9607","url_meta":{"origin":16966,"position":4},"title":"Teacher Adventures: School Trips","author":"Alan Williams","date":"6th May 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Teacher Adventures: School Trips \u201cWould you like to accompany 30 children to Madagascar on their French language trip?\u201d asked the French teacher at the school I was working at in Kenya. \u201cOui, merci,\u201d I replied, rapidly recalling my GCSE francais! The French teacher assigned to the trip was ill, so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Picture2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Picture2.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Picture2.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Picture2.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3845,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=3845","url_meta":{"origin":16966,"position":5},"title":"DEVELOPMENT OF CARDIFF AIRPORT","author":"Alan Williams","date":"31st October 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The history of the airport extends back to the1942 when the Air Ministry requisitioned land for training Spitfire pilots. After WW2 the airfield was abandoned. The man who decided Rhoose could be the site of a new airport was David Rees-Williams (later Lord Ogmore). In1945 Rees-Williams became an MP;\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Miscellaneous"","block_context":{"text":"Miscellaneous","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=127"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16966"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16966"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16981,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16966\/revisions\/16981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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