[Mont]

40 Pounds Of Halibut Missing From Man's Luggage

"My fish! They stole my fish!"

Those angry words from Ray Bolano in a phone call to his daughter, Barbara Kagerer, after returning to Seattle from an Alaskan fishing trip.

​

"I really just feel violated," he told the Anchorage Daily News. Somebody stole 40 pounds of halibut he had caught and carefully packed into his luggage.

"My dad caught the biggest fish on the boat," Kagerer said, "75 pounds and 60 pounds." Her mom even caught a big one -- 50 pounds, she said. There were pictures taken and phone calls made. You catch fish like that, you gotta brag, right?

On June 24th, Bolano picked up his carefully packed coolers from an Anchorage seafood shop -- each weighing less than the airline maximum of 50 pounds -- and checked them at the curb in Anchorage, got on a Continental flight and headed home..

When he arrived at Sea-Tac, Bolano found one of his coolers intact as it moved along the luggage carousel. But the other wasn't secured -- the rope he tied it up with was missing. When he opened the second cooler, he found the rope -- and a few halibut scraps. The rest of the fish was missing.

Bolano marched over to a Continental claim agent. "Their attitude was 'This happens all the time. Just file a claim. It was pilfered -- so what? Just file a claim.' Not that there was a security breach." Then he said the agent told him he'd signed a waiver on the coolers. That, needless to say, didn't sit too well with Bolano.

"We'd signed a waiver for loss or spoilage," he told the Daily News last week. "Not for disappearage!"

Bolano suspects the halibut heist took place in Anchorage because his flight was delayed. He also suspects the TSA screeners who went through his luggage.

That's not unheard of. Last month, nine TSA screeners were arrested, accused of stealing from passengers' luggage. Over the past six months, screeners have also been arrested in Denver, Detroit and Indianapolis, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Bolano is still hopping mad. In his interview with the Anchorage Daily News, he wondered, if someone could sneak his fish out of that cooler, "what's stopping them from putting a bomb in there and putting it on the plane?"

 

[kinja]

Same thing happened a couple of years ago to me. Returning from a Chandeleur trip via N.O. airport. All fish packed in dry ice, approx. 30 vacuum packs for the group. We arrived at Dallas Love with the cooler intact with duct tape like we prepared it. Got home and opened it to find all of the ice and 1 package of fish. I was hoppin mad. Someone had taken the time to retape the cooler the bastages! Live and learn.-Tom

 

[Hard Head]

Clarification: TSA and Continental are not the same companies. TSA is a contracted agency to screen luggage and people. The Beef is with TSA not Continental Airlines.

 

[bill]

Hh

The fish is with TSA..........LOL

 

[speckle-catcher]

HH - I'm pretty sure Continental has baggage handlers that put that cooler on the plane. It may have well been Continental employees that filched the fish.

 

[speckle-catcher]

how about a newspaper headline:

"Forlorned Fisherman Frets over Filched Flat Fish"

 

[InfamousJ]

It is amazing. We trust our security in airports to a majority group of people with no common sense, no education, big time attrition (quitting jobs), working for a very small wage. I'm no security expert by any means so I have no clue how it works, but it has so far since 9/11. Scary.

 

[WBHB]

I don't have the Halibut, but.....

I recieved a box of salmon this morning that isn't mine. It was shipped from BC. My box came in last week, but I haven't a clue who this one belongs to. It looks like it has been in a customs hold at the Fed Ex facility in Memphis. I guess the fish is OK. It was thawed, but still cold, and vacuum packed.

Guess I will get on the phone and see what is cooking....

 

[speckle-catcher]

sounds like some salmon should be cooking

 

[Hard Head]

And then again, it may have not been properly packed and confiscated by the Security Service. We'll never know.


Speckle-Catcher, I too am pretty sure that Continental's Ground Service personel put the cooler on the plane, but who knows if the fish was in it at the time? Speculation!

 

[InfamousJ]

CCA and Continental. Don't argue with Hard Head. ROTFLOL

 

[speckle-catcher]

I figured he might have had some connection to Continental. You work for them HH?

 

[Hard Head]

18 years.


And for your info Not So Infamous-One, I resigned from my positions on the Chapter and State Boards. Time for me now!

 

[InfamousJ]

Dang, I just saw that on the other board. Anyway, you've given alot and probably time for a change anyway, expecially with twins growing up quick. Congrats. Did you move into the pearland org? Much closer than the 40+ minute drive to LJ.

 

[Hard Head]

Nope, I'm a lone wolf now! Just another card carrying member like so many others. I'll probably get back into another Chapter later, but for now, it's all about the Boys, Julie and Me! lol


Out of here, going to POC this afternoon!

 

[Mont]

I know of an opening for a VP of communications, Don, lol

 

[Hard Head]

Wow, VP of Communications! Let me think long and hard about that one!!

Thought about it.

Uh, NO! LOL