Bag stealing off luggage conveyor belt
 

read about 2 chinese at bkk airport with many stolen rimowa bags, worth up to 60000 thai baht each. bags were stolen from arriving airplane luggage belts, also grabbed from up-racks on the plane.

So, do you favor luxury, hi-label bags and have you ever had someone steal your bag, during air travel?

A high end bag says, "I am rich. I am a target." My $40 bag says, "Underwear."

On those rare occasions when I have checked luggage I always position myself in close proximity to where the luggage first comes off the conveyor belt and drops onto the carrousel. That way I can easily keep an eye on my bag until I retrieve it.

I do the same, although I wonder why I never have someone check to see if the label matches my ticket stub as I exit the luggage area or the terminal. I think they used to do that at most airports, years ago. My bags are not from those trendy companies but they were not cheap and they look kind of boring, unlike some of those Rimowa bags.

I can’t think of something that concerns me less than having my bag stolen off the belt. I’m sure it happens, but it must be very rare. Mishandled luggage rates, which would include stolen luggage, are around 5 per 1000 passengers, globally, with the overwhelming majority being ultimately recovered. Mishandling rates in the US are even lower.

All that using cheap luggage to dissuade would-be thieves will do is just ensure you have to use cheap luggage.

<<So, do you favor luxury, hi-label bags and have you ever had someone steal your bag, during air travel?>>

No, and no. I see no point in buying luxury luggage; it'll inevitably get abused by the baggage handlers and repeated use. For me, it's all about function. And with my latest bag, color, as I adore purple and it stands out in the sea of black bags.

Samsonite has served me well for the past 25 years.

I do wonder how often this happens.

Yes it makes sense that if people were to steal luggage they would go after the most expensive stuff they could get and like roamsaround I try to be Johnny on the spot when the first bags come out from the carousel.

Our luggage is Samsonite too and its been just fine. Got it as Costco too at a good price.

My luggage is a collection of Airline replacements for bags they have destroyed over the years. Ugly as sin, but almost impervious to damage, and in no way would be mistaken for expensive luggage.

I have caught someone taking my bag a time or two because they look so bland, not intentionally that I could tell. I now have a distinctive mark on them that lets me spot them from across the terminal

I do as RoamsAround does, but also have multi-colored ribbons tied to the handle of my bag, which is an Eagle Creek two-wheeler. That's so I can find it easily, but also to make it less likely someone will think it is theirs. There was a thread a few years back where someone had taken the wrong bag and not realized until they started to unpack. They did take it back to the airport, but when I suggested it was not an unavoidable accident and could have easily been prevented they received quite a lot of support from other posters.

I did buy a Tile for my most recent trip, but am not sure it was worth it. https://www.thetileapp.com/en-us/

This spring standing waiting for my bag. I first see what looks like my bag. Almost grab it before pulling back it was one size too large. Right colour. Right brand (Samsonite). Right product line. Wait 30 seconds almost grab a bag before pulling back. It was one size too small. Right blah blah blah.

I'm thinking of tying a balloon to mine.

I put a nice green colored duct tape racing stripe around my black generic-looking bag. Unmistakeable.

I've never had anything stolen from a luggage carousel nor know anyone who has, but I do know individuals who have had things stolen from their bags onboard an aircraft, perhaps whilst sleeping and someone helps themselves to your things in the overhead or if a bag is left on or by your seat whilst you go to the bathroom. Another place vunerable to theft is at security, where your things might go thru the x ray machine before you do and someone else picks up your laptop/wallet etc from the tray.

Slightly off topic but a couple of comment on this thread reminded me of a humorous incident that happens to us 20+ years ago. We bought new luggage which was black in color. When we arrive at the first luggage carrousel almost every bag that came off the conveyor belt was black - there we were checking every bag to see which was ours. Ever since then I’ve put some distance colored tape a a few of of the hard surfaces of our luggage and never again had a problem identifying them.

Actually friends of ours were waiting for their luggage in BKK and she noticed someone leaving with what she thought was their luggage. Her hubby didn't believe her. As it turned out they never got their luggage so perhaps she was right.

This brings us to another topic, travelers insurance. They had it and were fully reimbursed.

I've seen only one airport where you had to show your luggage claim stubs before exiting and that was years ago in SJ, PR. I dont know if this is still the practice.

Which is why I am so annoyed about no longer being able to wear my money belt through security, at least in the US.

Sounds like "probably" not "perhaps" to me. Pity she didn't just challenge them herself. I'm a solo traveler, and I would have done. ("Excuse me, are you sure that's your luggage? It looks so much like mine.") Waiting for my luggage to appear is one of the worst parts of travel.

I recall at one airport, I had to show my luggage stub to to an agent before exiting. I wish I remembered what airport it was.

I try to have unique luggage and don't think the brand I buy is expensive (Ricardo Beverly hills) . One time with my new luggage, someone else checking to go home had it. So brown luggage with pink piping wasn't all that unique at the time. Now my luggage is turquoise paisley print.

My sister always has black luggage and for a while she had a huge bright pink letter M tag. Someone tried taking off with it. She ran after them scolding them saying didn't they see the letter M? She now uses bright pink ribbons I gave her to wrap and tie around her luggage.

My dad tied a red plastic bag that the newspaper comes in on my moms luggage. At check in once, they made her remove it. They said it would get caught in the conveyer. It hadn't before and went right back on after she made it home.

So I think doing what you can to make your luggage unique helps. Not much more you can if you can't be there right away to watch closely or if it gets taken before the conveyor.

Gee, I never even heard of Rimowa, so I guess I'm clearly not into high end luggage. I try to avoid black luggage, but when I did use luggage that was black, years and years ago, I'd sew (or paste) on country and city badges I'd collected in my travels. Did the same thing when I had my 2 wheeler Victorinox 22" even though the color was a shocking blue. I have a few badges on my latest 20" Victorinox that I purchased in a muted green Khaki color. I also found you can use acrylic paint on the outside if you are artistically inclined . . . well, even if you aren't. But they help ID a bag well coming off the conveyor.

And yes, I'm always at the front of the conveyor belt "just in case".

Our friends’ luggage was stolen off the belt at EWR. Ours was taken once by a very confused elderly woman and it was later returned to us. She was angry that someone had put a lock on it!
I remember when you always had to show your bag claim ticket to leave the secured bag area in NY airports with luggage. I wonder why they did away with that prectice? Probably due to cost.

Our luggage is medium gray so pretty nondescript but we have ribbons on the handles and bright colored tags as well.

HappyTrvlr I am curious about your friend's luggage as EWR is one of my home airports. Its the same airport someone tried to take my sister's. Did they get any compensation?

I bought Rimowa several years ago when my DH had back surgery and I became the shirpa ! It was the lightest luggage around, at that time, and has served us well for many years. Colorful ties, etc., do seem to make identification easier - especially at very hectic airports.

Many years ago when I started doing more business travel, I went out and bought myself the Delsey luggage that the flight attendants and pilots used. It came in black or grey. I bought the grey. As you can imagine, they was a lot of it coming off the conveyor belts. I didn't want any stickers on my luggage, but on our first international trip after I bought the luggage, I went to the hotel lobby to check out and there was a bellman carefully adhering a sticker to my new suitcase. I decided it was fated.

I had two subsequent experiences of seeing "my" luggage come off the conveyor belt and watched as some else picked it up - each time I looked closely and found that the luggage was the same, the stickers were the same, but it wasn't my suitcase (once in Hong Kong, once at Dulles). I've never had anyone walk off with my luggage.

I still run into places that do check luggage tags against luggage receipts, usually in a foreign airport, but periodically they do tag matches at SeaTac, my home airport.

I don't check bags (except on small commuter planes where gate checking is mandatory) but one of my best friends does and I gave her a tag similar to this one as a sort of joke Christmas gift. She loved it.

That’s so neat. Almost makes me want to check luggage more often.

Just this week. Arriving Mexico. They did not actually steal it but a woman picked up my suitcase off the carousel and was rolling away with it, then put it back.

The joke of this story is... my suitcase is a 26" IT bag, a wildly patterned black/grey/white herringbone print, with bright cobalt blue wheels and trim, a wide red Samsonite luggage strap around it, and an over-sized Hawaiian print luggage tag :-) She really thought it was hers???? -haha-

I just now googled Rimowa - $1,700 for a suitcase? Yikes.

Does that include the flight,hotel and meals? :(