On a recent flight to a midwestern state, the luggage inspectors took my cosmetics. They allowed me to keep my knitting needles, but in my suitcase, I found my cosmetics removed from the triple-strength, slide-lock freezer bag they were in, then strewn, broken, and smeared all over the inside of my suitcase. My liquid foundation bottle (Revlon, flexible plastic) was gone, but much of the contents of the bottle was adhering to the other items in my suitcase. My blush (Mary Kay, powder-cake type) was broken to bits and scattered around and the compact it came in was gone. My toothbrush was also gone. The zip lock freezer bag, was zipped up, and my toothpaste and shampoo were still in it.
I also found a pamphlet with a note explaining that my luggage had been searched an certain items that were not allowed were removed. Hmm. All I had was clothing, cosmetics, granola bars, and my knitting. (It was a short trip.)
So I went to the FAA reg pages and looked there and the usual suspects are prohibited, nothing about cosmetics.
Frankly, after writing here, and elsewhere, I half-expected to be declared a terra-ist and not let on the plane. So when I was, you can imagine my relief. But when I opened my suitcase, I had to wonder what kind of game is going on.
So I ask fellow Kossaks, have you ever had such an experience? If so, would you elaborate?
What do you suppose was going on when some of my items came up missing, and there was a nasty mess inside my suitcase.