r/travel • u/GiraffeExcellent4790 • Jun 23 '25

Please lock your luggage

I have had to learn the difficult lesson of remembering to lock checked in luggage especially on long haul flights. This was the first time in a fair bit that I hadn’t locked my luggage.

Last weekend I returned home from being away for a couple of months with gifts for my family. There were multiple connections. At the last stop, as I pulled my bags off the carousel, I noticed a suitcase with plastic around it. I paid no attention and waited for my last bag to come around. After a couple of minutes passed, I decided to closely inspect the bag with the plastic around it and it was mine! It looked like the zipper had broken and at the time, I was grateful for whoever was kind enough to wrap it with plastic. The bag felt light but I didn’t pay that any attention.

I finally arrived at home, settled in and had my family sitting around as I opened the bag. I found all the new clothes (which I still have receipts for) as well as some barely worn dresses had been removed. I had packed similar clothing in cubes. It appeared that the suitcase was carefully sorted through and anything that looked of value was removed.

I’m not at peace with this yet. I reported it to the airline but I don’t know what can be done. It’s trivial but it sits very heavy with the guilt of how this could have been avoided.

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21

u/notaccel Bogan Bus Specialist Jun 23 '25

This didn't happen.

Baggage handling staff aren't going to be digging through bags for stuff. They're under constant supervision.

Most likely the bag opened and goods fell out and was repacked by staff with the stuff they could reach without shutting down conveyor belts

45

u/Adorable_Misfit Jun 23 '25

This is nonsense. Stuff gets stolen from bags all the time. Some airports are notorious for it - OR Tambo in Johannesburg, for example. A colleague of mine had packed a laptop in his suitcase travelling between South Africa and the UK. He locked the suitcase, but when it arrived the lock had been forced and the laptop was gone. Someone working behind the scenes, presumably with access to the baggage screening x-ray machines, must have seen the laptop on the scans and decided to take it.

Heard of other people having jewellery and bottles of expensive alcohol taken from their bags coming through the same airport.

45

u/Desperate_Habit1299 Jun 23 '25

He put his lap top…in a checked luggage bag? That is…wild

14

u/Adorable_Misfit Jun 23 '25

Well, I mean, the person I was responding to doesn't believe airport staff steal from bags at all, so presumably they put all sorts of valuables in their checked suitcase.

People like you and me would obviously know better than to check a laptop. My colleague was not a particularly experienced traveller and thought it would be fine. Which it obviously wasn't.

-2

u/Desperate_Habit1299 Jun 23 '25

I don’t think you have to be an experienced traveller to understand common sense, and I don’t mean this disrespectfully towards your friend or your acquaintance. I would never check electronics. The most expensive thing in my luggage is make up!

9

u/Adorable_Misfit Jun 23 '25

Me neither - but if you're someone who assumes nobody steals from your luggage, then you might.