Anon

On a recent trip, my travelling companions locked their suitcases while in transit and in the hotel rooms. They had nothing of particular value in them, but they said they were worried the bags would be opened and rifled. I have never locked my suitcase because I figured it would mislead thieves into thinking something valuable was inside, which is not the case. Besides, I am terrified I would lose the key or forget the combination, and then where would I be? <BR> <BR>So what is the best strategy? To lock or not to lock? Has anyone had their luggage rifled while checked or in the hotel room, and is this common?

howard

YOu're probably going to get answers from both sides on this one. I'm on the "not locking" side. In the first place, you shouldn't leave anything of value (i.e., money, air tickets, jewelry, passport, credit cards) in a suitcase in your hotel room. That's what hotel safes are for. <BR>And further, as you said, a locked suitcase usually indicates something of value inside. I'd rather have the thief rifle through my suitcase and see that there's nothing of value in there (chances are that the thief is not going to steal your clothes), rather than assume that there is something of value and take the whole suitcase. <BR>En route, it usually wouldn't make a difference (i.e., in a station, the airport or on the street). A thief isn't going to take the time to see whether your suitcase is locked or not before he takes it! <BR>En route, it usually

Karen

We don't bother to lock, but have purchased the wide straps that lock around the suitcase. We feel confident that our bags would not pried open at the airport or in our hotel rooms.

Donna

Like you, if my suitcase were locked, I'd be the one unable to get into it.

Bob

This depends on the type of suitcase you have. If you use soft side don't lock it as it only takes about 30 seconds to get into the bag. We were on a cruise a few years ago and carried one soft side bag filled with only clothes. The bag was rifled enroute and on the return....locks broken, etc. Three other couples had the same experience. The bag handlers simply place a sharp point into the zipper mechanism and the rest is history. Try it yourself. We now use only hard sided luggage. Granted, it is heavier, but everything gets there as it was supposed to because the baggage crooks have too much juicy soft sided stuff to choose from. Room safes are the best solution for anything you are worried about although we have never had anything stolen from our room. Bottom line: If you are that worried about any one item, leave it at home and take a cheaper version with you to Europe. My plastic watch gets the job done while my nice watch sits home waiting for my return.

John

Although, no guarantee, I would opt for locks under the premise that it is more of a deterrant than no locks. I use combination locks to eliminate losing keys and the combination (I select) is not especially difficult to remember. I watched a tv special once about airport security and they showed films of baggage loaders rifling bags which were unlocked and bypassing those that were locked.

Lori

I think it's a toss up .. someone on this board just had a locked suitcase stolen from their hotel room in Paris while the unlocked one was left alone. That sort of indicates to me that the bad guys assume something of value is in a locked bag, so why mess around with opening it, just take the whole thing. The unlocked one probably got a quick look-through. On our trip from London this past spring two of our suitcases appeared to have been tampered with as the locks were broken. Nothing was missing so we are not sure if they looked and saw we only had clothes (mostly dirty by that time) or they didn't have time to go through the bags. This was the first time in all our many years of traveling this has happened. We normally leave our luggage unlocked in hotel rooms, but again our "valuables" are with us or in the safe. As for leaving you good stuff at home (jewelry, etc.) that's fine as long as you but it in a safe deposit box -- don't leave it in the house for burglers. Personally I always wear my rings and a watch no matter where I go.

Dave

I don't lock my suitcases because I don't want to carry a key, and I am also concerned that it would indicate something of value. <BR> <BR>What I do when I fly is put two safety pins in the zipper tabs to hold them together. I feel that it makes it a little more difficult for some airline worker to open it in passing. I am not sure if it helps, or if it just makes me feel better, but I have never had a problem with luggage.