Easy Ways To Guard Against Airport Luggage Theft
We’ve all seen it in the movies: luggage is moving round a carousel and the bad guys step in and take the bag belonging to the good guy (or vice versa) and walk straight out of the airport to examine the contents at their leisure. But as the luggage thefts at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport show, that doesn’t just happen in the movies.
On my recent trips, I’ve often thought about the security of my luggage. Years ago, my bags were so nondescript that it would have been easy for another traveler to walk off with them without being noticed. That was something I considered, particularly back in 2001/2002 when your bags had to be left for scanning without a secure area to leave them in. But a travel accident gave me the solution – and yes, it should have been obvious.
A Cost Effective Protection Solution
A few years ago, I was taking a trip to somewhere hot. When my bag arrived it had a big rip along the side, very annoying as it was a relatively new case. When I checked the price of cases in the area, I decided that I wasn’t going to pay exorbitant tourist trap prices for a replacement. The solution I found was to use some heavy duty tape – which just happened to be bright orange.
On the trip home, I could spot my luggage from a mile off and my husband and I soon decided to mark every case with the bright orange tape. Since that time, our cases have always had special markings, and I’ve noticed other people doing the same – there were special tags, ribbons and furbelows on about half of the cases I saw on my last trip.
Other Ways To Keep Your Luggage Safe
Of course, that’s just one way to keep your luggage safe. Others include:
- traveling light so you don’t have to check your bags at all
- keeping all valuables with you so if worst comes to worst you only lose clothes
- making it hard for others to grab your bags by standing as close to the carousel exit as possible
If all that fails, there’s one more protection you can put in place to ease the pain of lost or stolen luggage – travel insurance. The airline’s standard cover will only apply if THEY lose your bags. For all other circumstances, you need your own.
(Photo: http://morguefile.com/archive/display/137464)
Tags: luggage, security, travel, Travel Tips
November 12th, 2009 at 9:54 am
I have been pretty good about traveling light. I dread having to check bags. I have only had a checked bag lost once in 1992, but since then have only checked a bag 2-3 times.
SWMBO, on the other hand…
So with her checked bags, we always make it to the carousel before it starts moving. I don’t think my eyes leave the entry point once it starts to move. She’s had too many bags lost not to be paranoid about it.
It really is too easy for anyone to just grab a bag after it’s made a lap on the treadmill. I can’t remember the last time anyone verified that any bags being taken out of the baggage claim areas were ours. It is not a secured area at all.
At least if you are diligent about it like you say, if a bag is lost, it’s narrowed down to airport personnel being responsible.
Don’t even get me started on how often prescription drugs mysteriously go missing from checked bags.
November 12th, 2009 at 10:02 am
You just never know who’s actually grabbed a bag, James. I’ve never lost a bag, though occasionally they have failed to arrive with me (that’s another story); but then, I am paranoid, so I take every precaution. I’ve also considered getting Trace Me luggage trackers for each bag, but that might be overkill.
November 18th, 2009 at 10:44 am
havn’t heard about the Trace Me Luggage trackers… good to know!!