because airport security tampered with my babyharness and did not tell me?

[Ionama]

On a recent attempt to go on holiday, I took off my Baby Bojorn harness and put it thru the xray, I put it on the way I had taken it off and plugged my baby back into the strap I had opened. 5 minutes later may baby fell out of the carrier resulting in a serious injury and I have come to find that 2 side buttons of the harness had been undone. The trip ended up being a 5 day stay in hospital for my baby (and us). No-one told me to come while they 'inspected' my carrier and it was simply in the tray with my hand bag etc. Am I being unreasonable in wanting them to inform parents if/when they do this?.. so that another child's safety is never again compromised..? I am still very much in shock and recovery from my baby's injury... :(

So sorry about your baby's injury. I think you should let the airport operator know, so they can tell their staff to be very careful with baby slings and warn parent if they have undone any straps.

I'm sorry but YABU,

I have a baby bjorn carrier and think they are brilliant but any time I ever put my babies in it, ialways had a feel of each button and catch even on the side I didn't use,
and I always checked it through out using it,

although as others have said it is hard to see how this would have happened, and surely you would have noticed the whole thing open, if the side you used was undone and then the other side

The thing is OP you DIDNT CHECK THE CARRIER UNTIL FIVE DAYS LATER so how in the name of undergoodness do you know that it was airport security who touched it??????

I am not trying to blame anyone or say it is anyones fault. It is a horrible accident. I am trying to find out what their policy might be based upon peoples experience and if its reasonable to inform a parent if a harness has been changed. I do not KNOW if the airport security did anything, it is a deduction based upon no one else handling it except me and them. I was in hospital for 5 days so that is the reason I did not look at it. It is an older model also, two buttons either side, base clips and top poppers.

YABU. None of the airport staff will have 'tampered' with the carrier. Looked at, touched, handled, picked up perhaps, but not done something to it with the intention of causing harm.

Unless you are absolutely certain that the airport staff are solely to blame for your baby's injury, then I don't think you could complain.

But OP how do you KNOW that no one but you and them handled the carrier in the five days?

Maybe they changed the model to the bars at the side as the side buttons are prone to coming undone when carrier is not being worn?

Just speculating. I doubt airport sec deliberately undid them.

...bottyburp...because my husband took our stuff home from the hospital, in a pile and left it on the bed at home and returned to the hospital. No one was in our home for the 5 days we were in the hospital.

Am minded towards skepticism, too.
We used Baby Bjorn w/ 4 babies and I always double checked all the fastenings each time, just make sure it felt right. I am rather infamous for my lack of attention to safety details, too.

I even had DD fall out of one when she was 1 month old (hence my future attentiveness, maybe ) -- onto a concrete floor, no less. She was unharmed.

so if your DH put the stuff in a pile, could the buttons have come undone as he lifted the pile / put it down. You know, as he lifted the pile, the carrier kind of "caught" against him, and the buttons came undone?

Who handled the stuff from the airport to the hospital?

Unless you physically SAW the airport staff fiddling with the carrier then you have no evidence that they did anything to your carrier and YABVVU to suggest (as you do in your OP) that they tampered with your carrier and didn't inform you, leading to serious injury for your child.

Which airport was it?

When I had cause to complain about how I was searched at Belfast International Airport in the security checking area, they were able very quickly to call up CCTV of the incident, which validated my complaint. Why have they not done this for you, in a much more serious situation that me being felt up, after all your baby was seriously injured.

yes, i wonder which airport too.

I have held up huge queues going through security as the staff were waiting for me to get there before checking my bag, adn I was stuck at the walk through bit trying to get 2 children (1 ASD so clingy, 1 about 18 months old so doubly clingy!) to walk through singly, and wait for me... happy days!

Anyway, the staff were (not so) patiently waiting for me so they could search for the killer rattle, of whatever else it was they thought they saw, along with waiting for me to come along and taste liquids etc.

we are, admittedly, a nightmare going through security, but like a previous poster, when I have had a complaint (and NOTHING like as serious as yours, OP) it has been handled well, adn I have been listened to.

..also, to be clear, I would never suggest anyone would want to deliberatly cause harm as shatners has suggested..I just simply agree with edam...if they did or might have undone anything for any reason- to make it lie differently in the tray, to inspect it closer, I would certainly inform the owner, out of safety and courtesy. I just wondered what their policy was also and I am suprised to hear that they undid someones laptop without them being present, I did think that the owner had to be present as they have always called out ' whose it this' when they have inspected my stuff before.

..and yes of course I have thought about the CCTV tapes myself..

Yeah silverfrog, when I went through security recently and they made me take my plastic 50p flip flops off (FFS) they waited for me to get through before they told me they were going to search my suitcase.

they called me over to the side and opened the suitcase in front of me, had a quick cursory look at all the really exciting stuff then zipped it back up again in front of me.

And when I have put stuff in the tray thing to go through the machine, I put it on the conveyor thing, it goes through the machine, comes out the other end and I pick it up

So I am really really struggling to comprehend how the airport security staff would have had the opportunity to tamper with the carrier without being observed.

I think it was the use of the word 'tamper' in your title which suggested that you thought there was something dodgy.

'If they did or might have undone anything for any reason- to make it lie differently in the tray....I would certainly inform the owner, out of safety and courtesy.'

A bit unrealistic I think. They might brush their hand against something, or scoop up a trailing strap or bit of fabric from something in the tray going through the Xray tunnel...

I really don't think you have any evidence that airport staff undid buttons; it is certainly no more likely that this happened than that they came undone while being bundled up to take home from hospital.

i think you should write to them about what happened

okay so you can never be 100% sure that they tampered with the harness and that lead to your babies injuries

BUT, they need to be aware that this may have happened and may have been preventable.

You dont sound liek you are looking to blame anyone or claim compensation etc etc, just to make people aware.

You need to write to them stating the facts that you actually know, and also what you think happened, and what you expect them to do as a result. Even if it is simply a memo to all security staff to ensure they tell a prent if they have in anyway loosened or changed the fastenings on any baby equipment. Make it clear that all you are expecting is for them to consider this in their training for security employees, I would imagine they would be grateful for someone pointing out a potential problem.

totally agree that a discussion could be had, but think OP needs to be clear as to what she wants to happen.

If what she wants is that security do not touch any child related item, in case of mishap, then this is clearly unreasonable. as it would be if she wants to be told if her things are touched at all.

I have talked to security a number of times about a few thigns related to ASD - and on the whole, i find them to be very helpful and willing to listen.

But security personnel touching your belongings is going to happen, and it is not unusual for them to open things up to try to ensure items are fully scanned.

Ionama, You have been asked several times now but not answered. Which airport did this happen at?

I dont mean to be rude but I really think that you are responsible not the airport. All equipment should be checked every time it is used. Even if it was only taken off five minutes before. Especially if it had been out of site.

Another reason you are being unrealistic in thinking that security staff should tell people every time anything is touched is that airports, by definition, are going to have tens of thousands of people passing through daily who speak a multitude of different languages!

Surely it's far safer to have a culture of 'check all of your belongings once they have been through the Xray machine' rather than assuming that every member of staff in every country world wide is going to be able to communicate verbally with every passenger passing through!

I am very sorry to what happen to your baby. Hope he is OK.
The airport staff can not touch anything, to avoid being blamed for putting things in pockets.., that is why they have those tray (they touch the trays), then when it is out they ask you "is it yours?" and always with you watching they then start to search, open, fiddle.... Nothing can be done without you knowing about it.
I agree with the previous poster saying that if it is a old model of BBjorn may be the buttons became undone while you took it of. That is the most probable explaination for that tragic accident.

I flew from hrathrow last year and went through the security with baby asleep in the sling.
IF theyre willing to let me do that I find it a little odd that they would feel the need to closely inspect a sling that was already been xrayed.

I suspect it was a horrible accident with noone 'to blame'

I hope your baby recovers completely and quickly

I am so sorry you have been through this. I really hope your little one is on the road to recovery and that you are soon able to put this horrible accident behind you.

I do think that the airport staff do need to be aware of the implications if they have undone the buttons so that as Ginger said they can prevent this ever happening again.

I dont think it is unreasonable for them to tell you they have undone the buttons at all, would take 2 seconds to inform you they have done it. As others have said there is no evidence that they did so you are clearly not looking ot for compensation, so i do think that you should highlight the situation to them so that they are aware of the implications if a situation arrises in the future...