Luggage theft: why you shouldn't check valuables in your luggage!

This is scary. I always travel Southwest to PDX, but never have anything worth stealing anyway. I guess it's another good reason to carry on bags if you do have valuables. I guess now they will install video cameras to keep and eye on the employees. And people wonder why "big brother" is so busy watching.

btw andrew thanks for posting this.

Happened at Bradley Airport in Hartford too

This is as old as air travel. Why would
anyone check valuables?

" the heist of expensive laptops, digital cameras, video cameras, designer handbags and jewelry ..."

I have to agree with peterboy: Putting stuff like that in your checked luggage is just plain stupid.

And yet, people are doing it, because this crime ring was stealing their stuff. Just a reminder.

Thank you for reminder! Reading the heading, I thought you had something stolen, now I'm relieved this has not happened to you. Or to me

Good reminder. Nothing of value belongs in checked luggage. Or anything hard to replace like prescription meds or prescription glasses. I just consider my suitcase... well... an open book! Seriously, that's how you have to look at it.

a friend was crushed a few years ago when all her jewelry was stolen. She was going on a cruise and had checked her bags on the plane, and the cruise people took bags to the boat. At that point, there were so many different parties that it would be impossible to know where they disappeared.

I guess I've always been of the 'if it is important, don't let it out of your sight' crowd.

I'll go a step further, surfmom. "if it's important, leave it at home"

I really can't imagine that anyone would be so careless as to put anything of value, or something they MUST have, like medications, in checked luggage.

But then we once had a new hire who, on his first (one night) trip to the client not only checked a bag (god only knows why), but proceeded to put his ticket/boarding pass in an outer pocket of the checked bag. It took almost an hour to straighten it out - and we were getting ready to leave him behind. And the next day, at the presentation - he was only a note taker - he managed to somehow undo the clips on several copies - which became disassembled in his briefcase. (He lasted less than a month before we explained that he just wasn't cut out for the job.)

Even back in the pre-TSA days when you could put all of your own locks on your luggage, you didn't put valuables in checked luggage.

Andrew, Thanks for the important reminder. I found that my bags had been rifled at MEM and DTW in the past. Fortunately, I don't carry much valuable at all when I travel and my taste in clothes probably deters even that kind of theft!

These days, I am particularly stressed by seeing my bags have been opened and not finding a TSA slip. Happens far too often.

It was Northwest Airlines, not Southwest...not that the same couldn't happen there, but in this article anyway, they are off that hook! We travel via Southwest Airlines a lot, so the first response made me nervous...and I went on and read the article.

We never put the normal valuable items in checked luggage,but I even worry about designer shoes, scarves, or any items that are special to me. We have had the experience of TSA approved locks broken off, and baggage opened with no notice left...sure makes you wonder what goes on behind the scenes!!

This is scary. We never pack valuable items in checked luggage but I always put extra prescription drugs and prescription glasses in as they are no use to anyone else. This makes me think again.

There is a potential problem even if you have your valuables in your carry on. Upon returning through Honolulu (from Kauai), something I was wearing 'set off' the metal detector twice - though it hadn't at the AP in Kauai. I immediately had a wand waving TSA person in my face telling me to step aside & well away from my baggage, including the jewelry I had removed into the little cup they provide. I was startled by this unexpected turn of events & VERY concerned for my stuff.

Luckily, I had a son to check on things, but even relating to him that I had a problem upset the TA. I don't know how I could have handled that if I had been alone.

FYI, metal detectors vary at every airport, so it's far from surprising that one at one airport was sensitive to what you were wearing and another wasn't. I would not personally be worried about a TSA employee stealing something right out in the open, presumably with security cameras everywhere and lots of other people around. Checked bags though can be rifled through away from prying eyes, which is how this ring at PDX was able to get away with it - and probably still would be getting away with it if one of the criminals hadn't snitched because they cut her out!

from what I understand, security cameras are NOT behind where the luggage is sorted to the planes..why they don't have security cameras where most of this stuff is going on is beyond me.

Sorry, that's what I meant to say: olesouthernbelle was worried about TSA at a security checkpoint and I said there were cameras there presumably. Didn't think there were cameras back where checked luggage is sorted, either.

You would think that is where they need the security cameras the most behind the scence where TSA and other airline employees can rifle through your luggage without an extra set of eyes on you..from reports I have read through the years, it seems that every airport has major theft rings going on but don't remember if the security camera issue is axed by a union..
We lock our luggage but they ask you not to so in case they need to inspect..inspect to see what kind of valuables I have that are worth taking is what I suspect.

Andrew: I wasn't really worried about TSA as much as about someone else making off with my things as if they were their own. I've always been told to be sure to keep my eyes on my things in airports (or elsewhere for that matter) & suddenly that 'right' was gone!

ksucat: We lock our luggage but they ask you not to so in case they need to inspect..inspect to see what kind of valuables I have that are worth taking is what I suspect.

I believe TSA has the right to break the locks open to inspect your checked bags, which is why they ask you not to lock your bags. Locking your bags won't keep TSA out - those locks keep the "honest" people out but not anyone with a few tools - but locking your bags might slow TSA down enough so your bags miss your flight.

If there is nothing but clothes in your suitcase, very likely you have nothing to worry about.

Hi Andrew..
We keep a lock but leave it open and never put the laptop, and other valuables in the checked luggage..they do have the right to break the lock..
We forgot one time leaving for a trip with it locked and it was bolt cut opened and things were all rifled through..

Wife loves her Vuitton orange graffiti bag for carry-on..bought her Vuitton luggage years ago but we just don't carry that anymore since its a red flag..we have the Skyway stuff from Costco (5 pieces for under $100) that we put a colored ribbon so we can determine from the sea of black bags at the luggage carousel..