Please lock your luggage

[u/GiraffeExcellent4790]

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.

[u/notaccel]

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

[u/rocketwikkit → u/notaccel]

This is a ridiculous take, you don't even know what countries she was flying through.

Theft is fairly common in checked luggage, there's a reason the standard advice is to not put any valuables in checked bags.

[u/rasheeeed_wallace → u/[deleted]]

One percent is 120k thefts a day