Expensive luggage target for theft?
 

I am trying to decide which luggage to buy. I have read through many threads and I'm still not sure what to do. TJ MAXX has two Tumi pieces in green, a 24" suitcase ($300) and a nice sized expandable duffle bag ($200) to match. Marshall's has a 24" Victorinox NXT expandable ($144-clearance) in black and a 21" duffle ($50-clearance) to match. Marshall's also has Briggs & Riley Baseline 24" expandable in Crystal (light colored silver/grey) for $130 and matching 17" duffle ($60) and shopping tote ($48). After reading through many posts and articles online I still don't know which one to pick! The B & R is light colored and I'm afraid it will get dirty very easily but it's a great brand. The Tumi is also a great brand. I've always wanted one but I'm worried aobut it being a target for theft. An important issue that people don't think about as much when buying luggage until it happens to them. Any Tumi owners out there have any problems with theft? The Victorinox seems like the most practical of the group, but least fun. If anyone has any advice I would appreciate it!! Thanks!

personally, if I were a thief, I would assume that expensive luggage carries more expensive belongings...on the other hand...perhaps the owner of the suitcase just cares about appearances and what's on the outside? and is a cheaper piece of luggage a decoy for some expensive belongings?

Bottom line, I don't think it matters, buy what you feel will be sturdy enough to get through baggage handling and what fits your purpose.

samantha - the B & R lifetime unconditional guarantee is what swayed us. It IS heavy which concerns some. We have not regretted our decision.

I know people who worry about theft but I am not one.... We are insured and there are enough things to worry about - like what restaurant to go to for dinner.

I look at it this way, if I were a thief, which bag would I choose? One time I read here that someone made their luggage look like it was owned by a child, who would want to steal a child's luggage with toys and kid's clothes?

You have to find a lightweight bag that will still hold up and be easy to manage, good luck.

Where does this theft happen?
- at 30,000 feeet?
- in the baggage facility of your favorite airline? so traceable? with all those cameras?
- at the check-in counter?
- hotel?

Who has had this happen? - please name airline, port of departure, arrival and outcome.

"Investigative Report: 'LAX Theft' - More Joel Grover News Story - KNBC | Los Angeles"

The link:
http://www.knbc.com/moregrover/45089...il.html?taf=la

I don't like any of the more expensive brands because they are too heavy. I'd rather have a lighter weight, less expensive one and replace it more often (although that hasn't proved necessary).

I always assumed fancy luggage could attract unwanted attention, but I have no proof of that.

"It was always very, very difficult" to catch thieves at airports, said Douglas R. Laird, an aviation security consultant and former official at Northwest Airlines. When a bag disappears behind the plastic curtain at the ticket counter, it enters a maze of conveyor belts and passes through many hands, Laird said.

"Many times theft occurs in the belly of the airplane with the baggage handler inside the plane, and it's impossible to see what they're doing," Laird said. "The same is true with TSA."

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...nguage=printer

I had my flea market finds and radio stolen from my (very cheap) suitcase flying to Boston from Paris. Air France. Never recovered.

Well, I recovered, but the old coffee grinder wasn't.

When luggage is delayed or lost by the airline there is a time when it is on its own and could be stolen. I have had my luggage opened by the staff and things stolen out of it. Someone could easily take it off the carousel and exit while you are standing on the otherside of the conveyor belt.

I have had my carryon taken from me at the gate to the plane and when I got it back at the end of the flight it had been opening and a radio removed.

samantha - 2005 and 2003

SeaUrchin - I don't mean anything by this and I don't doubt you but... I can't see it happening
And the person who took it (took it why?) was fired?

Please steal my stuff and send me shopping in Paris!!!

Nikki - me? that old coffee grinder would suddenly become a lot more valuable... LOL

You mean at the gate to the plane? Two employees standing at the passenger doors to the plane told me my carry on was too big. They took it, put a tag on it and told me it would be given back to me at landing. I think this is common practice, some other people had to give up theirs and there were about four or five bags already confiscated.

At the end of the flight at the end of the exit ramp I did get it back and my (designer bag) had the lock cut off and later I realized some $$$ perfume was missing. I doubt if a Dora The Explorer child's bag would have been riffled. (This was before the no liquid rules).

Who knows for sure, just seems logical not to flaunt designer stuff when you aren't around to protect it.

SeaUrchin - I am fascinated by this story. What was the airline?
You were travelling from ? to ?.
What ever happened? When you described the guys, what did they say? What did the police do? How much was your claim?

I would say only sometypes of expensive lugage are targets - ie the designer variety which is designed more for fashion than purpose.

If you buy "expensive because it's the best at it's job" then I suspect theft rates are lower

The cheapest bag I own is also the lightest. That's the one I take. Hefting around even just a couple pounds more makes a difference when you're a 97 lb weakling like me. (Well, the 97 lb part is a bald-faced lie, but the weakling part isn't.)

I fly pretty often so I can't remember which airline I was using. I have had my luggage taken from me at the gate a number of times. Such as a the last time I flew from Paris to Nice in Oct. 06.

I just asked my friend who was traveling with me and she remembers the radio incident too but we can't remember the airline. We think it was returning to LAX from Calgary. I remember calling the airline but nothing happened.

The perfume was taken from a bag that was taken from me either flying from Budapest to London or from there to NYC. A friend of my friend was a high muckymuck at TWA (we were flying TWA) and he got compensation for me but I think it was by pulling strings, nothing official.

After this I decided to take more generic luggage.