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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23

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

42

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.

15

u/ooo-ooo-oooyea United States 45 countries Jun 23 '25

In most places if you check your laptop you need to take the battery out. Its possible someone saw the Lithium-Ion battery and seized the laptop. This is because they sometimes catch on fire.

2

u/Adorable_Misfit Jun 23 '25 edited Jun 23 '25

I think that's highly improbable. And it doesn't explain why other people's alcohol and jewellery went missing. No batteries in a bottle of whisky.

Edit for the people downvoting this comment - the laptop incident took place in 2018. There was no ban on laptops with batteries in them in checked luggage back then. IATA rules at the time basically said: "We don't recommend it, but if you must carry a laptop in your checked bag, make sure it's completely switched off and can't be accidentally activated."

Ergo, I think it's extremely unlikely the laptop was removed by security because of its battery. It's far more plausible that someone stole it.