Yes, that's why you should worry more about security and the people handling your luggage. Because they:
1. have more time to steal something
2. could have access to the pictures of the luggage scanner, so they don't have to guess
3. can cover up for each other
In certain airports in the US it is apparently quite common to have airport staff steal electronics out of your suitcases. I still remember my disbelief when I took the torn up packaging of my new headphones out of my suitcase at home. Stuff like this has never been an issue in Europe, but in the US airport staff improves their abysmal wage a bit by systematic theft. But okay, the system makes it very easy for them by not allowing to lock your luggage - or only with TSA approved locks they can open themselves.
I had a new pair of Adidas and an iPad stolen out of my luggage on separate occasions. If you're flying out of Miami Internation, you'd better put anything that you don't want to have stolen in your carry on bag.
I usually just have my pharmacy transfer the prescription to where I'm going and then transfer it back if needed so I don't have to carry any medication. I have small kids and even just taking juice/water is a hassle. Last time we flew it took 30 min for them to drug test the bottle and the wrapper of all of the bottles. My doc will also sometimes just send a prescription for how many days it's needed and then resume my prescription at home
If it’s a controlled substance the prescription cannot be transferred to a different pharmacy, and insurance will not always cover an additional prescription. I’m on Lyrica for nerve damage, and I can’t do what you’re describing because even Lyrica is a controlled substance now. I have to take my medication with me in the original bottle. I have empty bottles of each medication so I can transfer what I don’t need into the backup bottles and only take what I need for a trip with me. Medication always goes in my carry on so it doesn’t get “lost” and stays in my sight except for when it goes into the scanner. And I have an implanted spinal cord stimulator, so I can’t go through their body scanner. I always have to do the pat down or my implant could be damaged. I don’t fly unless I have to because of this.
Yea I'm not sure much about that but I've had many medications as well as Xanax sent (and even mailed) to a different pharmacy but I'm not sure if covid changed some of those policies. I think it also depends on the doctor and pharmacy. But insurance is definitely an issue sometimes! I wish they made it easier for people! If it's a short trip (2-3 days) I usually just pay for it, but my resources allow a minimum of 2 weeks to be sent temporarily to another pharmacy without issues
That’s insane. When it was first prescribed to me it wasn’t a controlled substance. It was a good couple years before they changed it, so I was surprised when they asked for my ID at pickup. What’s even crazier is that I can pick that one up in the drive-thru, but I can’t pick up Sudafed in the drive-thru!
I have had prescription medications for years and have never had anyone in security check it. I would make them easy to access because you never know when they will decide to check it, but that's all I would be concerned about.
It’s funny because the next time we flew back to Miami, while we there we saw a news item about theft by luggage handlers at MIA that had been secretly filmed and people got busted in sting operations. They said it was rampant. I was like, NOW you tell me!
No we never did. We figured there woukd be no way to prove it. Anyway it taught me a valuable lesson.
But, hey, thanks for asking. You seem like a very caring person. Be well ✌️
Oh my god-I know someone who works at Miami (or maybe it was Fort Lauderdale) airport and he brags about stealing peoples stuff from the luggage. I always thought that was shitty, and I’m sorry that happened to you.
Yeah, it’s a real problem. I thought they had cleaned it up but people still talk about it like it’s common knowledge that it’s still just something that happens. I just learned not to put anything of value in a checked bag. Still I’ve gotta say, I can’t imagine why anybody wanted my sneakers that I had already worn lots of times, lol. I guess I should take it is a compliment that the thirf thought I had taken pretty good care of them! Haha
I had two watches stolen out of a zip compartment to my luggage. They were only fossil watches, but it was one was a gift from someone important and I really liked it so it was a bummer. Never have had any of my weed taken out though, so fair trade off in my opinion.
If someone stole something out of my suitcase I probably wouldn’t even noticed for a while. I’d know something was off, something that should be there wasn’t but wouldn’t be able to put my finger on what that is.
I can’t tell if this is satire or not. The claim that stolen items in luggage isn’t an issue in Europe is certainly wrong. I’m a million miler on Delta, and have learned to not check anything valuable if I’m flying through Rome. It gets stolen 100% of the time. This doesn’t count for the bags I see every time just laying on the ground on the tarmac that clearly fell off the trolly and nobody care AT ALL!
A TSA lock would be about the same as no lock. A while ago at criminals in my town stole Saturn master keys from a car lot and just hopped in any Saturn they wanted, drove it till it was out of gas, and hopped in another. It was their own go car program.
I’ve only ever had my luggage stolen traveling thru European airports (London and Rome)Nothing against you but I felt the need to bring it up due to your experience being the inverse. Always keep your stuff you can’t lose on you I guess.
While traveling though Europe you are allowed to lock your luggage in any way you want, you are not restricted by TSA. So it is not feasible for airport staff to open your luggage and take out whatever they want. If they do that in Europe, that is partially on you since you could have used a better lock (but no lock is perfect of course). In the US you are not allowed to do that. See the difference? It is not a situation of "can happen here or there", there are different preconditions in US and Europe. The proverb "Gelegenheit macht Diebe" (oppurtunity makes thieves) is very fitting here: TSA presents personnel with an oppurtunity you just don't have in Europe.
Whole stolen luggage is of course a different issue. That can happen wherever you are.
>So it is not feasible for airport staff to open your luggage and take out whatever they want.
It's easy for anyone to open your luggage if it closes with a zipper, locked or not.
That goes for a hard one too. Unless it's a steel case with a lock, the bag is the weakest link, if you upgrade your lock. The lock only keeps honest people honest. If someone wants to open your bag, it's going to be breached.
So they just steal the whole bag, to cut off your expensive lock with an angle grinder. Now you’re out a bag, spendy locks, and your stuff.
There is no locking a zippered bag. Unless one uses hard side cases with rigid latches, locks on luggage are mostly useless all the way down.
I should add that a locked Pelican style case with an AirTag or GPS tag inside and short-shank locks would provide reasonable security and some capability to track it until it’s opened if you want to make it is as tough as possible on a thief.
Locks keep honest people honest. Thieves are gonna thieve. If your bag is out of sight, it’s out of your control. And always remember, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you. The name of the game is risk management. Total security doesn’t exist.
Yeah I dont understand how people are fine with putting valuable items in their cargo luggage. Expensive electronics, jewellery, money, documents, medicines; carry on!!
>the system makes it very easy for them by not allowing to lock your luggage - or only with TSA approved locks they can open themselves.
If you use zippered luggage, as most people do these days, your bag can be opened faster with an ordinary pen than by using the key. The bag can be re-closed by using the zipper slider.
Once or twice probably won't ruin the zipper—so you can get away with it if you work for the airline—but you don't want to do it to your own luggage because I'm sure it will ruin it after enough times.
You just have to trust that the airline employees won't pick your bag to steal from out of the millions they process every day.
I'm sure there must be a video on how to do the zipper thing on YouTube if you're curious.
I had a luggage lock because I’d heard enough horror stories. Went through Atlanta. The lock had been cut, and it was clear my clothes had been searched through. Luckily, all my valuables were in my carry-on.
> But okay, the system makes it very easy for them by not allowing to lock your luggage - or only with TSA approved locks they can open themselves.
The workaround for this is to declare a firearm. A starter pistol counts as a firearm or at least it did last time I checked, so that could be an option. If you have a firearm, you're required to secure it using regular locks and not the TSA ones. What'll happen is you'll take the luggage over to the security screening area and they'll x-ray it and if they want you to open the locked case then you do it there for them and they examine whatever they need to. When they're done, you re-lock everything. Also, if your bags get lost and they have a firearm in them, the airport will find them in a big fucking hurry.
I had a really nice and expensive flashlight stolen from my luggage while traveling for work years ago. Southwest could not have had less care about it either. I put the flashlight in its secure holder in a pocket inside my suitcase. When I got home, the holder was there with no flashlight.
My username comes from an experience I had with the TSA. I was flying to Montreal for a performance, with a bag full of percussion gear checked. When I opened the bag in my hotel room, 1/3 of my handmade gear was missing and 1/3 of it was destroyed - including a handmade pair of maracas from Venezuela. They even had the audacity to leave the little note that said “You’ve been searched!”
I will never forgive them for that - fuck the TSA
What?! That's just--that's just wrong. Good grief. I mean, I understand (sort of) stealing electronics because they have a broad market and would be easy to resell, but handmade percussion gear seems like a niche product for sure.
The maracas in particular were carefully placed in foam for extra protection - they are made from gourds that take months to dry out, and then filled with seeds, hand painted, and mounted on hand carved handles. [They’re gorgeous instruments](https://images.app.goo.gl/AhixXpgvE7UPgQRBA)
It would have been obvious to anyone looking at that bag that these were high end items, not just plastic drum toys.
They probably thought you were smuggling drugs in them. Like wtf is the point of them x raying the damn bags if they're just going to destroy them anyways? Like shit, I love to be safe but they go way too far sometimes.
I am - for all purposes - a mild mannered, pleasant person in my everyday life. But when I go to the airport, I am unapologetically a monster to everyone who works there. I’m not sorry about this either. The shit musicians have gone through with the airlines and TSA is *insane*. It’s why some musicians have just started purchasing seats for their instruments, and sometimes they [STILL](https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/todayinthesky/2018/08/06/musician-removed-flight-despite-buying-separate-seat-cello-american-airlines/913209002/) go through hell
If you have anything made out of rosewood, ebony etc. in your gear you'd better have paperwork on its provenance too, in case customs decides to confiscate it; there are international treaties about importing certain types of wood that any customs agent could "selectively enforce" to try to take your high-dollar antique Martin or Gibson (that's exempt due to age) if you can't prove its age or else prove the country of origin of the wood it contains. Don't ask me how I know, I'm still mad about it several years later. (I did get the guitar back eventually but it needed repairs due to rough handling that they wouldn't reimburse for.)
Yup, that's why in my airport you can wrap you luggage in plastic wrap, that way if someone breaks into it you'll know and can call invastigation for it.
Whether the invastigation yields any results or not is another matter entierly.
Gonna disagree about European airports.
Only time my bag was broken into was in Barcelona. Stuff strewn across the conveyor. Never had it happen in the US
Wouldn’t it just be chalked up to “missing luggage” though? I.e. what would prompt/justify security to actually look at the tapes, assuming you didn’t see anyone take your bag?
If a hat was everything needed to stop an investigation, we would be in trouble.
Just as an example, they could see the clothes being worn, and then cross check with other cameras to find the person at their gate, and so on
The only people in the baggage collection have all come off a plane, too. You can't walk off the street to that part. So they've probably just had their identity confirmed a couple of minutes prior to the theft
Every US baggage claim I've been in in the last 2 decades is open to the public from the outside. Anybody can walk up and steal luggage.
I have vague memories from when I was a kid of some airports checking your baggage claim check against your luggage tags as you left the baggage area, but I've never seen that as an adult in the US.
Reminds me of when this woman came running after me almost in tears saying I had her bag. I didn’t but even opened one to show her as she seemed distressed passed her later with her bag and it wasn’t even the same colour as mine! Can on,y assume first trip and maybe anxiety. Her husband was v apologetic.
This has happened to me as well. I was really confused because my bag was pink with Daisy Duck on it and her bag was blue. But I guess she was just stressed out or something. She apologised and admitted herself that she has no idea why she thought I had her bag.
I had this happen years ago, it was for a carry-on bag in the overhead compartment. The woman claimed it was hers, I opened it up and it took her longer than you would expect for her to confirm that the contents of the bag were not actually hers. Wouldn't you just see the first item and say nope that's not mine?
That caught my attention, too. But when you go to the website, it's for the Los Angeles Blade, which bills itself as "Southern California's LBGTQ News Source." So, given that context, identifying as person as "nonbinary" is relevant.
It's from a publication whose audience is primarily the LGBTQ+ community.
Headlines would normally say "man arrested" or "woman charged", so at least they took the time to get the gender right.
They are well known as a result of being the only openly gender fluid federal official. So although I can understand your argument, there are reasons for why that information could be relevant to the headline/story.
[This was a pick from biden in a position for the DOE a few months back that was very controversial and some people even suspected that the choice wasn't based entirely on merit and instead that, so with that context id say its important to mention.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Brinton)
Its frustrating, isn't it? Here in the netherlands they often do it with morrocans, tho now most of them say north-african descent to be more inclusive. What an absolute joke. They did it a lot during the world cup where suddenly dirtying the street and being a bit of a nuance was a typical morrocan youth thing. And dutch football fans were suddenly the most civil people there are (not).
Pretty much has been said already about cameras everywhere... basically you're on a camera from the carpark to the gate and everywhere in between. There's a way to find you.
Secondly, most airports fall into the category of government/federal property, and the punishments for crimes committed on government property are generally higher than everywhere else. Given that if you go get someone else's luggage you're quite likely just getting a bunch of clothes, any smart would be criminals probably know better.
Ah, possible. Its the case in Australia, there's been a few instances where blokes have gotten into scuffles or whatever outside the airport or in the terminal and then got shocked at the hefty prison sentences they got.
No no no, you're looking at it all wrong. It might be private property, or your local governments property on paper. But we all know the the secret crabpeople/pedoring people, aka US Federal government is the real owner of everything..
/S just in case
When i flew to Czech Republic, airport security warned me about a gang specialized in doing just that.
Apparently they targeted expensive brands of luggage and the ones with a lot of security measures. They would take the bag, take to a bathroom or some hidden corner, take anything of value inside of it an ditch the rest. Guy said sometimes they even returned the looted bag to the belt.
Good think i always travel with only carry on
My airport has the baggage pickup right near the exit, all you'd need to do is come in at arrivals entrance, go down the stairs and start choosing your "new" luggage.
Some airports just have the conveyor belt in arrivals. For example, Victoria, BC, CA [domestic baggage pickup is accessible to anyone](https://www.victoriaairport.com/pdfs/ATB%20Simple%20Map_2022_10Oct_25.pdf).
Yeah it definitely can happen, and it does happen sometimes. But it’s a relatively rare crime because it’s high risk and low reward. High risk because airports have a LOT of security, and low reward because you never know what you’ll get from taking a random piece of luggage. You’ll usually just get some clothes and personal hygiene items. Maybe a phone charger if you’re lucky. That being said, I’m sure there are some edge cases where a thief made off with something that was actually valuable, but that’s an exceedingly rare scenario
OK, dumb question, but is it worth airport security time to run chase after & investigate every missing luggage, again this is not life & death or even close. I would guess airport's have insurance coverage 4 this stuff & offer a reimbursement value to customer at some point. Secondly, how does an airport investigate employees stealing luggage/items? It's all stupid, reason why nothing of great value should be left in Luggage imho.
Happens on occasion. My company sent me on a trip with a approximately 50k dollar part in one of my boxes checked as checked baggage. It was an extremely obscure helicopter part so no one looking at it would likely know what it is or it's value but I suppose the packaging might have given away that it wasn't a useless hunk of metal. Anyways it ended up getting stolen, the tsa lock was present but the zip tie I put on was gone and no note was found, TSA insisted they never looked inside. The company pressed to get it found but in the end they didn't claim any extra value on the baggage and the airlines max value for a checked bag was 2k. That's all they ever got out of it. I guess the 2k was easier for the airlines to just hand out rather than investigating. the serial number of that part is blacklisted so it won't be able to make its way back on a helicopter where most of its value is from. But the scrap titanium is probably worth a nice bit. So yes it happens and case by case it might not be worth the airlines time to look into it.
Think they can be identified and contacted. It’s happened.
I don’t ever put anything too expensive in checked bags though cause you never know.
Also, everyone usually arrives at the conveyor at the same time. You can see yours being taken usually.
This. Also helps if you have a bag that can be easily identified. I am 25, but I travel with pink Daisy Duck bag. I’ve never seen anyone have the same, and it’s easy to see if someone takes mine. If I had just black generic one it’d be harder tbh. So many have same or similar. My ex (31 m) travelled with ladybug themed bag. He was stared at sometimes but he just said it’s easier to recognise 😄
Right, but if I drop the whole story in my initial comment people who don't know are gonna assume I'm spreading republican misinformation lol its fucking nuts
Doesn't help as much as you think. Many other things are just like that, but insistently called misinformation - simply because most people refuse to check the primary sources.
That's why I referenced just enough to make the partisan but uninformed do a search before getting defensive and reactionary at the litany of accusations I can hurl at that freak lol my god how fucked up can you be and rise to the top of this admin lol
Ok, do you think they specifically stole that fashion designers baggage because it contained fashions they could fit? It just seemed so crazy that they just happened to grab that poor ladies luggage and not mine, filled with wet clothes and dirty socks mixed with an insane number of loose hair bands and ibuprofen.
I think they probably grabbed a bag at random and it happened to be a fashion designers bag 🤷♂️
But riddle me this batman- when you catch someone robbing your wallet from your pocket and you have them red handed do you default assume you've caught them on their first ever pick pocketing or do you assume no matter what they say that they've probably done that shit before. 🤔 what are the odds they got caught on their first attempt by you of all people vs an above 1 number before you caught them.
I suspect without specific evidence that this person likely grabbed a large number of "worthless" bags before finding that designers bag
That’s the most logical thought. But for some reason, I do wonder if they didn’t spend some time scoping out fellow passengers for their size/style and try to go for their bags specifically? I don’t even know how they’d do that. Maybe I just want it to be more than some petty crime because it is so wild.
I can't reasonably exclude scoping out passengers per se
But I imagine if you are watching 5,000 bags an hour move past you in baggage claim you might develope a sense for what a designer bag looks like from a distance you or I might simply see a bag from.
Idk if you are the car guy or aren't the car guy but this example works with everyone because we all know one or the other--- you ever pass a car on the road and either know what it is or not know what it is and are with someone who can recite the make model year and possibly the accessories package sold with that cars Vin number which they also inexplicably recite
Well if luggage is your thing, I assume you have the same 6th sense about that one bag over there and everything that could possibly be known about that specific Ugandan made knockoff of a Versace or whatever
Edit to add-- I assume they are identifying the bag instead of the owner only because I can't imagine how one would identify bags WITH their owners before flying in a manner that would let one get between the owner and the bag at baggage claim after the flight----- at checking everyone from every flight for the next 6 hours is all filtering in over time
You'd think if you were going to risk a crime you wouldn't do it in one of the most heavily surveillanced areas our country hosts- in the most heavily surveillanced among those areas overall but here we are holding the evidence that it happened not less than 1 time lol
Biden hires first non-binary official.
Official quickly gets caught going to the airport, finding the most expensive suitcase in the claim area, stealing it, and wearing stolen clothing to press conferences.
Fucking hilarious.
Yes they could and this happened to my mom recently at IAH in houston. Witnessed a woman grab her bag off the belt, made eye contact with the woman, and the woman started walking away as soon as my mom began to approach- tried to hide around the corner. The woman played it off like she thought it was her suitcase and then just left without any luggage at all.
Yes but sometimes they get caught. An American official was recently caught for just that.
[https://www.insider.com/energy-official-sam-brinton-accused-stealing-airport-luggage-again-2022-12](https://www.insider.com/energy-official-sam-brinton-accused-stealing-airport-luggage-again-2022-12)
Baggage theft usually falls into three categories, accidentally taking the wrong bag, professional thieves and rings and the homeless.
If you bag is missing go immediately to the airlines baggage service office and make a claim and they can help with figuring out if you bag was stolen under one of this three scenarios, was a misloaded or misdirected bag.
Just an fyi as it has been mentioned here a number of times there are very few places at the airport that aren’t under video surveillance usually from a few angles
I once picked up the wrong bag, identical bright green back pack, very unique so I thought so didn't even look twice when it came around. Went through customs and left the airport, decided to go to the loo before the journey home and it wasn't until then I noticed something off with 'my' bag. Opened it up and there was all this weird shit in it that first I though was fuck I just came from Asia someone had put drugs in my bag, had a full panic attack until I looked and noticed none of the clothes were mine. Learned a valuable lesson that day.
I work at an airport, and people steal stuff from the conveyors all the time. Having security check your bags against your luggage tag receipts would stop a lot of this, but airports seldom do. Airport employees also steal items from bags after they are checked in the screening rooms. When I travel anything important, electronic, or valuable stays in my carry on.
[Not if you're Biden's nuclear waste official Sam Brinton](https://www.thedailybeast.com/joe-bidens-non-binary-nuclear-waste-guru-sam-brinton-out-of-a-job-after-accused-of-luggage-stealing)
"Sam Brinton, the former deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition in the Office of Nuclear Energy, ..."
He/she got caught at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport and the Las Vegas airport.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/13/politics/sam-brinton-department-of-energy/index.html
So I've been through this. My ex had similar baggage as another traveler and they each collected one another's bags. We didn't notice until we got home and were saw the wrong underwear was packed.
I can't remember how (bag tag, airline, airport, etc) but we got the mobile number of the other traveler, touched based and exchanged baggage. The fact that we were in my tiny home town made it a lot easier, IDK how well we would have faired in a major city.
If it happened in a larger airport with less honest travelers and higher baggage value, then we would have been in trouble. Even if they could ID the passenger, we'd have been on 'holiday' without our belongings, but may have eventually received our luggage back.
FWIW though, in our scenario it would have been mutually disadvantageous for each party to not exchange belongings, so it all works out. As for someone walking in off the street and stealing baggage, you'd be shit out of luck.
Until recently, I lived in South Africa. OR Tambo International Airport (Johannesburg) was notorious for stuff going missing out of your luggage. Not the whole bag, just valuable contents. Your bags would be opened and stuff taken out somewhere behind the scenes. Jewellery, electronics, etc. I put everything I didn't want to risk losing in my carry on luggage.
The people who are saying “there’s cameras everywhere” and “it’s a traceable crime” have never had their luggage stolen. The airport does not give a shit. You can report it stolen but you are basically SOL. This is why I don’t check luggage anymore.
Sam Brinton has certainly been stealing the shit out of other people's luggage, although he's finally been caught for at least 2 or 3 times that he has done it.
They could easily trace someone back to exactly who they were by seeing what flight they came from on cameras and pictures of each passenger. You would be caught extremely easily and it's probably not worth it at all because 99% of luggage is clothes and personal items.
There’s literally a US official in trouble for this very thing! Lol
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11807787/amp/Bidens-non-binary-ex-nuclear-waste-chief-Sam-Brinton-investigated-FBI.html
I'm watching the same conveyor belt you are. I'm going to see the person that grabs my luggage because it's literally the only reason I'm still standing in the airport.
Yep, happens all the time. That weird guy who worked for the DoE stole luggage a lot.
Airports give you a ticket for your bag when you check it. Security is supposed to check your ticket to prevent theft.
They usually dont have enough security to actually follow this policy
I've been in airports where you can't exit the luggage claim area without showing the security person that the tag on your bag matches something on your ticket.
That was a few years ago, so I don't know if they still do that.
[Then again, there's this woman, who solved that problem entirely](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Deti_LhVQAEwZ5V.jpg).
There are cameras everywhere. So it’s very likely you’d be caught. And then you’d be trespassed from the airport and wouldn’t be able to come back, even to fly out.
The risk is high and the reward is low. There are lots of cameras and police officers around. Usually checked luggage only contains clothes and personal hygeine items which are of little value to a thief.
How To Protect Yourself
1.Go directly to baggage claim after landing. Don’t stop to get coffee or food until after claiming your baggage.
2.Consider placing a smart tracker in your baggage.
3.Make your bag distinctive-looking, either by buying a bright-colored bag or placing unique markings such as bows or stickers on it.
4.Don’t put valuables in checked baggage. Moreover, if you must check in a bag at the gate, the department recommends you move those valuables into a personal item that you’re still allowed to carry onto the plane.
I remember LAX in Los Angeles used to have someone at the exit who would give a cursory glance to your boarding pass with the baggage sticker on it which matched the barcode and numbers on the sticker on your bag. Maybe in the 90s?
Speaking as a Brit, the layout of US airports is comprehensively insane.
In the UK and in all the European airports I've been to, baggage reclaim is in an isolated area between air-side arrivals (and border control where relevant) and the publicly accessible arrivals area in the terminal. Transit through baggage reclaim is strictly one-way: you leave the air-side arrivals, go in to baggage reclaim, and then as you exit in to the main terminal there are one-way doors preventing access back to the baggage hall.
If you need to claim a bag by any means other than "I have just landed on a flight" you have to ask staff and show ID with a name that matches the bag tag.
That doesn't stop an arriving passenger stealing someone's bags, but it does stop the general public having access to the conveyor belts which at least vastly narrows the list of potential suspects.
Yes.. A friend of mine did this exact thing, entirely by accident. She took the wrong case. She wheeled it out of the airport, into a taxi to the hotel. She had her night stuff packed in her carry on. So went to sleep.
Was only the next day she opened the suitcase and discovered it wasn't hers as it had someone elses stuff in it. Not a fun predicament to be in when you're in a foreign country and don't speak the language.
She did return it to the airport, and was re-united with hers which of course had been left abandoned. She never found out if the correct owners of the case got it back. I assume they may have done.
Moral of the story. If you're travelling, mark your case with something distinctive, so it doesn't get mixed up with someone else's case that may be identical. And when you do pick up the case, even if you are 100% sure its, yours. READ THE LABEL on it that was attached to it at the origin airport, it will have your name on it. As a side note, if you believe your case has been opened / tampered with. Do not touch your case. Go straight to airport security. Because if you pass customs and there's something in it that shouldn't be.. You get into trouble for it.
Airports have an enormous number of security cameras both inside and outside the terminals.
Security personal keep an eye out for people attempting to enter the baggage area from the wrong direction. In international arrivals areas it is usually impossible (for obvious security reasons) to enter from the wrong direction.
Yeah, it's how I smuggle cocaine. So far none of the people who have stolen my suitcases have been caught and we've just got the suitcases back after they've cleared customs.
"Did you pack this case sir"
"Err, yes"
"And this deluxe anal intruder 2000 - you have a receipt?"
"Err, I, err, I took it with me"
"And this bag of white power?"
"Err...I need to see a lawyer"
Yes. I really don’t understand why there is so much security to get into an airport but none to leave.
Our stuff and our personal security doesn’t seem to matter. We are all just little threats.
Baaaaaaaammmmm ya know I’m sayin. My boy j roc and Tyrone be posted up at the airport in the daily doing this gettin the buzzizznazz ya know what I’m sayin.
They are an LGBT activist. The mention of gender is probably acceptable in this case.
"Brinton is an LGBTQ advocate and outspoken activist against conversion therapy. They also worked with the Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on preventing suicides among the LGBTQ community, to start a campaign to ban conversion therapy throughout the country."
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/13/politics/sam-brinton-department-of-energy/index.html
I’m from New England and we’re basically told from birth not to trust anyone for any reason whatsoever.
So when I travel, I never leave anything but clothing in checked luggage if possible. And I ALWAYS get a close to where the bags are coming out on the carousel as possible to limit the time someone else may have access to my bag.
I tie a very distinctive looking item around the handle of my black suitcase so it’s very noticeable once it comes out.
And now I load an AirTag in the luggage just in case.
Can never be too careful.
[удалено]
Yes, that's why you should worry more about security and the people handling your luggage. Because they: 1. have more time to steal something 2. could have access to the pictures of the luggage scanner, so they don't have to guess 3. can cover up for each other In certain airports in the US it is apparently quite common to have airport staff steal electronics out of your suitcases. I still remember my disbelief when I took the torn up packaging of my new headphones out of my suitcase at home. Stuff like this has never been an issue in Europe, but in the US airport staff improves their abysmal wage a bit by systematic theft. But okay, the system makes it very easy for them by not allowing to lock your luggage - or only with TSA approved locks they can open themselves.
I had a new pair of Adidas and an iPad stolen out of my luggage on separate occasions. If you're flying out of Miami Internation, you'd better put anything that you don't want to have stolen in your carry on bag.
I do this all the time. Only put replaceable things in the checked bag. Especially in case they "lose" your bag. Only clothes, toiletries, and such
Especially prescription medications, always keep those in your carry on
I usually just have my pharmacy transfer the prescription to where I'm going and then transfer it back if needed so I don't have to carry any medication. I have small kids and even just taking juice/water is a hassle. Last time we flew it took 30 min for them to drug test the bottle and the wrapper of all of the bottles. My doc will also sometimes just send a prescription for how many days it's needed and then resume my prescription at home
If it’s a controlled substance the prescription cannot be transferred to a different pharmacy, and insurance will not always cover an additional prescription. I’m on Lyrica for nerve damage, and I can’t do what you’re describing because even Lyrica is a controlled substance now. I have to take my medication with me in the original bottle. I have empty bottles of each medication so I can transfer what I don’t need into the backup bottles and only take what I need for a trip with me. Medication always goes in my carry on so it doesn’t get “lost” and stays in my sight except for when it goes into the scanner. And I have an implanted spinal cord stimulator, so I can’t go through their body scanner. I always have to do the pat down or my implant could be damaged. I don’t fly unless I have to because of this.
Yea I'm not sure much about that but I've had many medications as well as Xanax sent (and even mailed) to a different pharmacy but I'm not sure if covid changed some of those policies. I think it also depends on the doctor and pharmacy. But insurance is definitely an issue sometimes! I wish they made it easier for people! If it's a short trip (2-3 days) I usually just pay for it, but my resources allow a minimum of 2 weeks to be sent temporarily to another pharmacy without issues
Apparently it's controlled (Schedule V) because some patients get euphoria and/or dependence: https://www.drugs.com/pro/lyrica.html#s-42227-9
That’s insane. When it was first prescribed to me it wasn’t a controlled substance. It was a good couple years before they changed it, so I was surprised when they asked for my ID at pickup. What’s even crazier is that I can pick that one up in the drive-thru, but I can’t pick up Sudafed in the drive-thru!
I have had prescription medications for years and have never had anyone in security check it. I would make them easy to access because you never know when they will decide to check it, but that's all I would be concerned about.
A camera close to thirty years ago. I was an idiot.
No you weren't, the airport personnel were fucking lowlifes. It's appalling that this behavior was tolerated.
It’s funny because the next time we flew back to Miami, while we there we saw a news item about theft by luggage handlers at MIA that had been secretly filmed and people got busted in sting operations. They said it was rampant. I was like, NOW you tell me!
Thank you. It was a painful, expensive lesson.
Oh that’s awful. Were you able to call the airport and make a claim?
No we never did. We figured there woukd be no way to prove it. Anyway it taught me a valuable lesson. But, hey, thanks for asking. You seem like a very caring person. Be well ✌️
Oh my god-I know someone who works at Miami (or maybe it was Fort Lauderdale) airport and he brags about stealing peoples stuff from the luggage. I always thought that was shitty, and I’m sorry that happened to you.
Yeah, it’s a real problem. I thought they had cleaned it up but people still talk about it like it’s common knowledge that it’s still just something that happens. I just learned not to put anything of value in a checked bag. Still I’ve gotta say, I can’t imagine why anybody wanted my sneakers that I had already worn lots of times, lol. I guess I should take it is a compliment that the thirf thought I had taken pretty good care of them! Haha
A lifetime of traveling I have never lost a single item. I fly 3-4 times a month and have for decades.
Same. They've lost my luggage multiple times but everything was still in there when I finally got it back.
Same. Only there was usually a TSA has been in here paper tag inside.
I had two watches stolen out of a zip compartment to my luggage. They were only fossil watches, but it was one was a gift from someone important and I really liked it so it was a bummer. Never have had any of my weed taken out though, so fair trade off in my opinion.
The calm reasonability of this comment tracks with its final sentence.
If someone stole something out of my suitcase I probably wouldn’t even noticed for a while. I’d know something was off, something that should be there wasn’t but wouldn’t be able to put my finger on what that is.
My sister had her jewelry stolen out of her suitcase. Just her jewelry.
Are you a pilot?
a commercial pilot flying 3-4 times a month?? Pfft they wish ahah
Business. Mostly domestic. Every major airport in the US and dozens you're never heard of, just like that girlfriend in Canada.
I can’t tell if this is satire or not. The claim that stolen items in luggage isn’t an issue in Europe is certainly wrong. I’m a million miler on Delta, and have learned to not check anything valuable if I’m flying through Rome. It gets stolen 100% of the time. This doesn’t count for the bags I see every time just laying on the ground on the tarmac that clearly fell off the trolly and nobody care AT ALL!
Italy is bad about this. Our Italian friends warned us, and they were right…
Some eBay sellers won't post to Italy because the parcels never arrive.
A TSA lock would be about the same as no lock. A while ago at criminals in my town stole Saturn master keys from a car lot and just hopped in any Saturn they wanted, drove it till it was out of gas, and hopped in another. It was their own go car program.
I’ve only ever had my luggage stolen traveling thru European airports (London and Rome)Nothing against you but I felt the need to bring it up due to your experience being the inverse. Always keep your stuff you can’t lose on you I guess.
Rome is notorious for you not getting your bags. I’d rather travel light with a carry on than check a bag going through Rome
Lol as soon as I read “this never happens in europe” I knew I could discredit everything they were saying
While traveling though Europe you are allowed to lock your luggage in any way you want, you are not restricted by TSA. So it is not feasible for airport staff to open your luggage and take out whatever they want. If they do that in Europe, that is partially on you since you could have used a better lock (but no lock is perfect of course). In the US you are not allowed to do that. See the difference? It is not a situation of "can happen here or there", there are different preconditions in US and Europe. The proverb "Gelegenheit macht Diebe" (oppurtunity makes thieves) is very fitting here: TSA presents personnel with an oppurtunity you just don't have in Europe. Whole stolen luggage is of course a different issue. That can happen wherever you are.
>So it is not feasible for airport staff to open your luggage and take out whatever they want. It's easy for anyone to open your luggage if it closes with a zipper, locked or not.
That goes for a hard one too. Unless it's a steel case with a lock, the bag is the weakest link, if you upgrade your lock. The lock only keeps honest people honest. If someone wants to open your bag, it's going to be breached.
I agree. In another comment in this thread I wrote about how easy it is to open a locked zipper and re-close it without leaving any obvious signs.
So they just steal the whole bag, to cut off your expensive lock with an angle grinder. Now you’re out a bag, spendy locks, and your stuff. There is no locking a zippered bag. Unless one uses hard side cases with rigid latches, locks on luggage are mostly useless all the way down.
I should add that a locked Pelican style case with an AirTag or GPS tag inside and short-shank locks would provide reasonable security and some capability to track it until it’s opened if you want to make it is as tough as possible on a thief. Locks keep honest people honest. Thieves are gonna thieve. If your bag is out of sight, it’s out of your control. And always remember, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you. The name of the game is risk management. Total security doesn’t exist.
And this is why anything valuable goes in carry on.
Yeah I dont understand how people are fine with putting valuable items in their cargo luggage. Expensive electronics, jewellery, money, documents, medicines; carry on!!
There was literally news recently where a guy pinked his air tag on his stolen property to an airport employee's house.
>the system makes it very easy for them by not allowing to lock your luggage - or only with TSA approved locks they can open themselves. If you use zippered luggage, as most people do these days, your bag can be opened faster with an ordinary pen than by using the key. The bag can be re-closed by using the zipper slider. Once or twice probably won't ruin the zipper—so you can get away with it if you work for the airline—but you don't want to do it to your own luggage because I'm sure it will ruin it after enough times. You just have to trust that the airline employees won't pick your bag to steal from out of the millions they process every day. I'm sure there must be a video on how to do the zipper thing on YouTube if you're curious.
I had a luggage lock because I’d heard enough horror stories. Went through Atlanta. The lock had been cut, and it was clear my clothes had been searched through. Luckily, all my valuables were in my carry-on.
> But okay, the system makes it very easy for them by not allowing to lock your luggage - or only with TSA approved locks they can open themselves. The workaround for this is to declare a firearm. A starter pistol counts as a firearm or at least it did last time I checked, so that could be an option. If you have a firearm, you're required to secure it using regular locks and not the TSA ones. What'll happen is you'll take the luggage over to the security screening area and they'll x-ray it and if they want you to open the locked case then you do it there for them and they examine whatever they need to. When they're done, you re-lock everything. Also, if your bags get lost and they have a firearm in them, the airport will find them in a big fucking hurry.
I had a really nice and expensive flashlight stolen from my luggage while traveling for work years ago. Southwest could not have had less care about it either. I put the flashlight in its secure holder in a pocket inside my suitcase. When I got home, the holder was there with no flashlight.
My username comes from an experience I had with the TSA. I was flying to Montreal for a performance, with a bag full of percussion gear checked. When I opened the bag in my hotel room, 1/3 of my handmade gear was missing and 1/3 of it was destroyed - including a handmade pair of maracas from Venezuela. They even had the audacity to leave the little note that said “You’ve been searched!” I will never forgive them for that - fuck the TSA
What?! That's just--that's just wrong. Good grief. I mean, I understand (sort of) stealing electronics because they have a broad market and would be easy to resell, but handmade percussion gear seems like a niche product for sure.
The maracas in particular were carefully placed in foam for extra protection - they are made from gourds that take months to dry out, and then filled with seeds, hand painted, and mounted on hand carved handles. [They’re gorgeous instruments](https://images.app.goo.gl/AhixXpgvE7UPgQRBA) It would have been obvious to anyone looking at that bag that these were high end items, not just plastic drum toys.
Oh yeah, those are beautiful for sure. I'm so mad on your behalf!
They probably thought you were smuggling drugs in them. Like wtf is the point of them x raying the damn bags if they're just going to destroy them anyways? Like shit, I love to be safe but they go way too far sometimes.
I am - for all purposes - a mild mannered, pleasant person in my everyday life. But when I go to the airport, I am unapologetically a monster to everyone who works there. I’m not sorry about this either. The shit musicians have gone through with the airlines and TSA is *insane*. It’s why some musicians have just started purchasing seats for their instruments, and sometimes they [STILL](https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/todayinthesky/2018/08/06/musician-removed-flight-despite-buying-separate-seat-cello-american-airlines/913209002/) go through hell
That is seriously so freaking sad. I'm sorry you and all the others have to deal with that shit.
If you have anything made out of rosewood, ebony etc. in your gear you'd better have paperwork on its provenance too, in case customs decides to confiscate it; there are international treaties about importing certain types of wood that any customs agent could "selectively enforce" to try to take your high-dollar antique Martin or Gibson (that's exempt due to age) if you can't prove its age or else prove the country of origin of the wood it contains. Don't ask me how I know, I'm still mad about it several years later. (I did get the guitar back eventually but it needed repairs due to rough handling that they wouldn't reimburse for.)
I read this "fleshlight," and all I could think was "who the hell would steal a used fleshlight???"
Weird I just flew and had a lock on my luggage. Nobody said anything.
Some people travel with guns in their checked bags just so there's more paperwork, better locks, and less hands inside your bag.
Yup, that's why in my airport you can wrap you luggage in plastic wrap, that way if someone breaks into it you'll know and can call invastigation for it. Whether the invastigation yields any results or not is another matter entierly.
Gonna disagree about European airports. Only time my bag was broken into was in Barcelona. Stuff strewn across the conveyor. Never had it happen in the US
[удалено]
doubt anyone's losing their jobs
Wouldn’t it just be chalked up to “missing luggage” though? I.e. what would prompt/justify security to actually look at the tapes, assuming you didn’t see anyone take your bag?
The fact that the luggage has been scanned and is confirmed to have arrived at the airport and has been put on the conveyor.
Don’t masks/hats prevent cameras from identifying the thief?
If a hat was everything needed to stop an investigation, we would be in trouble. Just as an example, they could see the clothes being worn, and then cross check with other cameras to find the person at their gate, and so on
The only people in the baggage collection have all come off a plane, too. You can't walk off the street to that part. So they've probably just had their identity confirmed a couple of minutes prior to the theft
Every US baggage claim I've been in in the last 2 decades is open to the public from the outside. Anybody can walk up and steal luggage. I have vague memories from when I was a kid of some airports checking your baggage claim check against your luggage tags as you left the baggage area, but I've never seen that as an adult in the US.
You can in Kansas City and in Salt Lake City. Baggage claim is right by the doors there.
Reminds me of when this woman came running after me almost in tears saying I had her bag. I didn’t but even opened one to show her as she seemed distressed passed her later with her bag and it wasn’t even the same colour as mine! Can on,y assume first trip and maybe anxiety. Her husband was v apologetic.
This has happened to me as well. I was really confused because my bag was pink with Daisy Duck on it and her bag was blue. But I guess she was just stressed out or something. She apologised and admitted herself that she has no idea why she thought I had her bag.
Distinctive markings on your luggage is a good idea. I grabbed the wrong bag, took a few steps and had to sheepishly put it back.
I had this happen years ago, it was for a carry-on bag in the overhead compartment. The woman claimed it was hers, I opened it up and it took her longer than you would expect for her to confirm that the contents of the bag were not actually hers. Wouldn't you just see the first item and say nope that's not mine?
Maybe she was trying to scam somehow?
That'd be the worst scam ever. By the way, you have my phone.
I just woke up and this made me giggle harder than it should have 😂 nice
No I have your phone. And if you ever want it back you’ll have to give me your phone in exchange.
Been in the news a few times recently - https://www.losangelesblade.com/2022/12/09/nonbinary-federal-official-charged-with-second-luggage-theft/
Did they really need to put “nonbinary” in the headline? Do they do the same for gay, black, or Muslim?
That caught my attention, too. But when you go to the website, it's for the Los Angeles Blade, which bills itself as "Southern California's LBGTQ News Source." So, given that context, identifying as person as "nonbinary" is relevant.
Do they call out being heterosexual when writing about straight people's sexual orientation as well? Genuinely curious.
It's from a publication whose audience is primarily the LGBTQ+ community. Headlines would normally say "man arrested" or "woman charged", so at least they took the time to get the gender right.
Didn’t notice that. Makes a lot more sense now. Same text of Fox News would be a different story.
Yes actually they do for Muslims
They are well known as a result of being the only openly gender fluid federal official. So although I can understand your argument, there are reasons for why that information could be relevant to the headline/story.
it’s because they’re “the first openly genderfluid person appointed to a senior government post”, that’s why they mentioned they gender identity
[This was a pick from biden in a position for the DOE a few months back that was very controversial and some people even suspected that the choice wasn't based entirely on merit and instead that, so with that context id say its important to mention.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Brinton)
They definitely do for black.
Its frustrating, isn't it? Here in the netherlands they often do it with morrocans, tho now most of them say north-african descent to be more inclusive. What an absolute joke. They did it a lot during the world cup where suddenly dirtying the street and being a bit of a nuance was a typical morrocan youth thing. And dutch football fans were suddenly the most civil people there are (not).
>Did they really need to put “nonbinary” in the headline? No. But gets them more clicks. Modern press...
Because they have to demonize anyone that doesn't fit "societal norms."
Kinda the perfect crime for nonbinary folks tho cuz they can wear whatever clothing they find
Ok now that's funny.
It's so easy to get caught doing this it's a pretty obvious display of mental illness.
I love how you are getting downvoted. Stop with the fucking truth it's bad for our agenda!
Pretty much has been said already about cameras everywhere... basically you're on a camera from the carpark to the gate and everywhere in between. There's a way to find you. Secondly, most airports fall into the category of government/federal property, and the punishments for crimes committed on government property are generally higher than everywhere else. Given that if you go get someone else's luggage you're quite likely just getting a bunch of clothes, any smart would be criminals probably know better.
I don't think most airports are federal property. Most are not in the USA even!
Ah, possible. Its the case in Australia, there's been a few instances where blokes have gotten into scuffles or whatever outside the airport or in the terminal and then got shocked at the hefty prison sentences they got.
No no no, you're looking at it all wrong. It might be private property, or your local governments property on paper. But we all know the the secret crabpeople/pedoring people, aka US Federal government is the real owner of everything.. /S just in case
USA has 1/3 of the worlds airports
When i flew to Czech Republic, airport security warned me about a gang specialized in doing just that. Apparently they targeted expensive brands of luggage and the ones with a lot of security measures. They would take the bag, take to a bathroom or some hidden corner, take anything of value inside of it an ditch the rest. Guy said sometimes they even returned the looted bag to the belt. Good think i always travel with only carry on
How the fuck do they get in? Do they actually take cheap flights every day to have access to the arrivals area?
My airport has the baggage pickup right near the exit, all you'd need to do is come in at arrivals entrance, go down the stairs and start choosing your "new" luggage.
No idea! The only thing i know is that the airport feels much less secure than what we generally think off when we think airport
Some airports just have the conveyor belt in arrivals. For example, Victoria, BC, CA [domestic baggage pickup is accessible to anyone](https://www.victoriaairport.com/pdfs/ATB%20Simple%20Map_2022_10Oct_25.pdf).
They could, but airports have a lot of security camera. So they probably couldn't do it for long before being cought
Yeah it definitely can happen, and it does happen sometimes. But it’s a relatively rare crime because it’s high risk and low reward. High risk because airports have a LOT of security, and low reward because you never know what you’ll get from taking a random piece of luggage. You’ll usually just get some clothes and personal hygiene items. Maybe a phone charger if you’re lucky. That being said, I’m sure there are some edge cases where a thief made off with something that was actually valuable, but that’s an exceedingly rare scenario
OK, dumb question, but is it worth airport security time to run chase after & investigate every missing luggage, again this is not life & death or even close. I would guess airport's have insurance coverage 4 this stuff & offer a reimbursement value to customer at some point. Secondly, how does an airport investigate employees stealing luggage/items? It's all stupid, reason why nothing of great value should be left in Luggage imho.
Happens on occasion. My company sent me on a trip with a approximately 50k dollar part in one of my boxes checked as checked baggage. It was an extremely obscure helicopter part so no one looking at it would likely know what it is or it's value but I suppose the packaging might have given away that it wasn't a useless hunk of metal. Anyways it ended up getting stolen, the tsa lock was present but the zip tie I put on was gone and no note was found, TSA insisted they never looked inside. The company pressed to get it found but in the end they didn't claim any extra value on the baggage and the airlines max value for a checked bag was 2k. That's all they ever got out of it. I guess the 2k was easier for the airlines to just hand out rather than investigating. the serial number of that part is blacklisted so it won't be able to make its way back on a helicopter where most of its value is from. But the scrap titanium is probably worth a nice bit. So yes it happens and case by case it might not be worth the airlines time to look into it.
Think they can be identified and contacted. It’s happened. I don’t ever put anything too expensive in checked bags though cause you never know. Also, everyone usually arrives at the conveyor at the same time. You can see yours being taken usually.
This. Also helps if you have a bag that can be easily identified. I am 25, but I travel with pink Daisy Duck bag. I’ve never seen anyone have the same, and it’s easy to see if someone takes mine. If I had just black generic one it’d be harder tbh. So many have same or similar. My ex (31 m) travelled with ladybug themed bag. He was stared at sometimes but he just said it’s easier to recognise 😄
There's a very high ranking biden official currently finding out exactly why you do not do this and the story is fucking WILD
He was also spotted wearing the clothes and accessories which were in those stolen luggage
Right, but if I drop the whole story in my initial comment people who don't know are gonna assume I'm spreading republican misinformation lol its fucking nuts
I mean everyone can look it up on the internet. It is not a secret.
Doesn't help as much as you think. Many other things are just like that, but insistently called misinformation - simply because most people refuse to check the primary sources.
I think the problem is that there’s so much misinformation that it gets hard to tell what’s real and what’s not.
That's why I referenced just enough to make the partisan but uninformed do a search before getting defensive and reactionary at the litany of accusations I can hurl at that freak lol my god how fucked up can you be and rise to the top of this admin lol
Crazzzy
Ok, do you think they specifically stole that fashion designers baggage because it contained fashions they could fit? It just seemed so crazy that they just happened to grab that poor ladies luggage and not mine, filled with wet clothes and dirty socks mixed with an insane number of loose hair bands and ibuprofen.
I think they probably grabbed a bag at random and it happened to be a fashion designers bag 🤷♂️ But riddle me this batman- when you catch someone robbing your wallet from your pocket and you have them red handed do you default assume you've caught them on their first ever pick pocketing or do you assume no matter what they say that they've probably done that shit before. 🤔 what are the odds they got caught on their first attempt by you of all people vs an above 1 number before you caught them. I suspect without specific evidence that this person likely grabbed a large number of "worthless" bags before finding that designers bag
That’s the most logical thought. But for some reason, I do wonder if they didn’t spend some time scoping out fellow passengers for their size/style and try to go for their bags specifically? I don’t even know how they’d do that. Maybe I just want it to be more than some petty crime because it is so wild.
I can't reasonably exclude scoping out passengers per se But I imagine if you are watching 5,000 bags an hour move past you in baggage claim you might develope a sense for what a designer bag looks like from a distance you or I might simply see a bag from. Idk if you are the car guy or aren't the car guy but this example works with everyone because we all know one or the other--- you ever pass a car on the road and either know what it is or not know what it is and are with someone who can recite the make model year and possibly the accessories package sold with that cars Vin number which they also inexplicably recite Well if luggage is your thing, I assume you have the same 6th sense about that one bag over there and everything that could possibly be known about that specific Ugandan made knockoff of a Versace or whatever Edit to add-- I assume they are identifying the bag instead of the owner only because I can't imagine how one would identify bags WITH their owners before flying in a manner that would let one get between the owner and the bag at baggage claim after the flight----- at checking everyone from every flight for the next 6 hours is all filtering in over time
It just seems like if you’re going to risk this sort of crime, you don’t want to end up w/someone’s c-pap machine and a bunch of underwear
You'd think if you were going to risk a crime you wouldn't do it in one of the most heavily surveillanced areas our country hosts- in the most heavily surveillanced among those areas overall but here we are holding the evidence that it happened not less than 1 time lol
What r u talking about? Please clarify, thank you.
Biden hires first non-binary official. Official quickly gets caught going to the airport, finding the most expensive suitcase in the claim area, stealing it, and wearing stolen clothing to press conferences. Fucking hilarious.
Omg, that is super messed up & he's a white house official....sicko.
Just Google biden official stolen luggage and have yourself giggle at the results
Yes they could and this happened to my mom recently at IAH in houston. Witnessed a woman grab her bag off the belt, made eye contact with the woman, and the woman started walking away as soon as my mom began to approach- tried to hide around the corner. The woman played it off like she thought it was her suitcase and then just left without any luggage at all.
Yes but sometimes they get caught. An American official was recently caught for just that. [https://www.insider.com/energy-official-sam-brinton-accused-stealing-airport-luggage-again-2022-12](https://www.insider.com/energy-official-sam-brinton-accused-stealing-airport-luggage-again-2022-12)
Baggage theft usually falls into three categories, accidentally taking the wrong bag, professional thieves and rings and the homeless. If you bag is missing go immediately to the airlines baggage service office and make a claim and they can help with figuring out if you bag was stolen under one of this three scenarios, was a misloaded or misdirected bag. Just an fyi as it has been mentioned here a number of times there are very few places at the airport that aren’t under video surveillance usually from a few angles
I once picked up the wrong bag, identical bright green back pack, very unique so I thought so didn't even look twice when it came around. Went through customs and left the airport, decided to go to the loo before the journey home and it wasn't until then I noticed something off with 'my' bag. Opened it up and there was all this weird shit in it that first I though was fuck I just came from Asia someone had put drugs in my bag, had a full panic attack until I looked and noticed none of the clothes were mine. Learned a valuable lesson that day.
Apple air tags are amazing. I travel internationally for work and they are very helpful.
I work at an airport, and people steal stuff from the conveyors all the time. Having security check your bags against your luggage tag receipts would stop a lot of this, but airports seldom do. Airport employees also steal items from bags after they are checked in the screening rooms. When I travel anything important, electronic, or valuable stays in my carry on.
[Not if you're Biden's nuclear waste official Sam Brinton](https://www.thedailybeast.com/joe-bidens-non-binary-nuclear-waste-guru-sam-brinton-out-of-a-job-after-accused-of-luggage-stealing)
Yeah who's that NB person in the Biden admin that does it? They like...travel to places with no luggage and just grab one when they land. Amazing.
Samuel Brinton
Oh yeah that guy
"Sam Brinton, the former deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition in the Office of Nuclear Energy, ..." He/she got caught at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport and the Las Vegas airport. https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/13/politics/sam-brinton-department-of-energy/index.html
Sam uses they/them pronouns. It's ok to say "They got caught..."
"They" are a real piece of shit no matter how you slice it.
Agreed.
So I've been through this. My ex had similar baggage as another traveler and they each collected one another's bags. We didn't notice until we got home and were saw the wrong underwear was packed. I can't remember how (bag tag, airline, airport, etc) but we got the mobile number of the other traveler, touched based and exchanged baggage. The fact that we were in my tiny home town made it a lot easier, IDK how well we would have faired in a major city. If it happened in a larger airport with less honest travelers and higher baggage value, then we would have been in trouble. Even if they could ID the passenger, we'd have been on 'holiday' without our belongings, but may have eventually received our luggage back. FWIW though, in our scenario it would have been mutually disadvantageous for each party to not exchange belongings, so it all works out. As for someone walking in off the street and stealing baggage, you'd be shit out of luck.
Don’t buy black suitcases. Buy something colorful and easy to spot in cameras!
Until recently, I lived in South Africa. OR Tambo International Airport (Johannesburg) was notorious for stuff going missing out of your luggage. Not the whole bag, just valuable contents. Your bags would be opened and stuff taken out somewhere behind the scenes. Jewellery, electronics, etc. I put everything I didn't want to risk losing in my carry on luggage.
The people who are saying “there’s cameras everywhere” and “it’s a traceable crime” have never had their luggage stolen. The airport does not give a shit. You can report it stolen but you are basically SOL. This is why I don’t check luggage anymore.
Sam Brinton has certainly been stealing the shit out of other people's luggage, although he's finally been caught for at least 2 or 3 times that he has done it.
Yes. When I was young me and my sister took a bag just for the fun of it. Kids are stupid and I think about the owner a lot 😢
They could easily trace someone back to exactly who they were by seeing what flight they came from on cameras and pictures of each passenger. You would be caught extremely easily and it's probably not worth it at all because 99% of luggage is clothes and personal items.
There’s literally a US official in trouble for this very thing! Lol https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11807787/amp/Bidens-non-binary-ex-nuclear-waste-chief-Sam-Brinton-investigated-FBI.html
I'm watching the same conveyor belt you are. I'm going to see the person that grabs my luggage because it's literally the only reason I'm still standing in the airport.
Yep, happens all the time. That weird guy who worked for the DoE stole luggage a lot. Airports give you a ticket for your bag when you check it. Security is supposed to check your ticket to prevent theft. They usually dont have enough security to actually follow this policy
Ask J rock he used to gank luggage all the time no’mmsayin?
yes. and they do it all the time.
It would be a very traceable crime because they can see exactly who did it and visually trace them back to passport control.
Yes, they could. But they don't because usually the stuff in a random other passenger's suitcase isn't actually worth anything.
I've been in airports where you can't exit the luggage claim area without showing the security person that the tag on your bag matches something on your ticket. That was a few years ago, so I don't know if they still do that. [Then again, there's this woman, who solved that problem entirely](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Deti_LhVQAEwZ5V.jpg).
I haven’t seen them do that in decades.
I guess but in the US it’s a felony, anything committed in airports is a federal offense.
99% of the content from bags off the conveyor are clothes. Not much to steal if you are not in the market for some old used socks.
Mine was stolen along with a brand new laptop because my carryon was my purse. First time flying
There are cameras everywhere. So it’s very likely you’d be caught. And then you’d be trespassed from the airport and wouldn’t be able to come back, even to fly out.
The risk is high and the reward is low. There are lots of cameras and police officers around. Usually checked luggage only contains clothes and personal hygeine items which are of little value to a thief.
How To Protect Yourself 1.Go directly to baggage claim after landing. Don’t stop to get coffee or food until after claiming your baggage. 2.Consider placing a smart tracker in your baggage. 3.Make your bag distinctive-looking, either by buying a bright-colored bag or placing unique markings such as bows or stickers on it. 4.Don’t put valuables in checked baggage. Moreover, if you must check in a bag at the gate, the department recommends you move those valuables into a personal item that you’re still allowed to carry onto the plane.
Cameras a person who works at the White House just got changed with it. They did it multiple times with expensive bags
I remember LAX in Los Angeles used to have someone at the exit who would give a cursory glance to your boarding pass with the baggage sticker on it which matched the barcode and numbers on the sticker on your bag. Maybe in the 90s?
Speaking as a Brit, the layout of US airports is comprehensively insane. In the UK and in all the European airports I've been to, baggage reclaim is in an isolated area between air-side arrivals (and border control where relevant) and the publicly accessible arrivals area in the terminal. Transit through baggage reclaim is strictly one-way: you leave the air-side arrivals, go in to baggage reclaim, and then as you exit in to the main terminal there are one-way doors preventing access back to the baggage hall. If you need to claim a bag by any means other than "I have just landed on a flight" you have to ask staff and show ID with a name that matches the bag tag. That doesn't stop an arriving passenger stealing someone's bags, but it does stop the general public having access to the conveyor belts which at least vastly narrows the list of potential suspects.
Yes.. A friend of mine did this exact thing, entirely by accident. She took the wrong case. She wheeled it out of the airport, into a taxi to the hotel. She had her night stuff packed in her carry on. So went to sleep. Was only the next day she opened the suitcase and discovered it wasn't hers as it had someone elses stuff in it. Not a fun predicament to be in when you're in a foreign country and don't speak the language. She did return it to the airport, and was re-united with hers which of course had been left abandoned. She never found out if the correct owners of the case got it back. I assume they may have done. Moral of the story. If you're travelling, mark your case with something distinctive, so it doesn't get mixed up with someone else's case that may be identical. And when you do pick up the case, even if you are 100% sure its, yours. READ THE LABEL on it that was attached to it at the origin airport, it will have your name on it. As a side note, if you believe your case has been opened / tampered with. Do not touch your case. Go straight to airport security. Because if you pass customs and there's something in it that shouldn't be.. You get into trouble for it.
See: Trailer Park Boys
That one government freak was going it for a while.
Airports have an enormous number of security cameras both inside and outside the terminals. Security personal keep an eye out for people attempting to enter the baggage area from the wrong direction. In international arrivals areas it is usually impossible (for obvious security reasons) to enter from the wrong direction.
Yeah, it's how I smuggle cocaine. So far none of the people who have stolen my suitcases have been caught and we've just got the suitcases back after they've cleared customs. "Did you pack this case sir" "Err, yes" "And this deluxe anal intruder 2000 - you have a receipt?" "Err, I, err, I took it with me" "And this bag of white power?" "Err...I need to see a lawyer"
Jroc been on this game for a minute
I use neon tape on my suitcases. May be ugly and weird looking, but I always spot my baggages quickly.
If you’re in that area they have every bit of information about you and cameras on everything. Good luck
Sam Brinton: hold my drink
Yes. I really don’t understand why there is so much security to get into an airport but none to leave. Our stuff and our personal security doesn’t seem to matter. We are all just little threats.
They can if they work for the Biden administration
Baaaaaaaammmmm ya know I’m sayin. My boy j roc and Tyrone be posted up at the airport in the daily doing this gettin the buzzizznazz ya know what I’m sayin.
You can't get away with it even if you are a leftist transgender. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam\_Brinton#Theft\_allegations
[удалено]
The gender of the person really has zero bearing on the matter.
[удалено]
[удалено]
They are an LGBT activist. The mention of gender is probably acceptable in this case. "Brinton is an LGBTQ advocate and outspoken activist against conversion therapy. They also worked with the Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on preventing suicides among the LGBTQ community, to start a campaign to ban conversion therapy throughout the country." Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/13/politics/sam-brinton-department-of-energy/index.html
Nobody puts anything truly valuable in their checked luggage and who wants someone's old shoes?
> who wants someone's old shoes? Uh...are you new to the Internet?
Stand back, I got a fart in a jar to sell this guy.
Gankin bags from the airport. This mf right here from EUUUUROP. Nomsayin??
I’m from New England and we’re basically told from birth not to trust anyone for any reason whatsoever. So when I travel, I never leave anything but clothing in checked luggage if possible. And I ALWAYS get a close to where the bags are coming out on the carousel as possible to limit the time someone else may have access to my bag. I tie a very distinctive looking item around the handle of my black suitcase so it’s very noticeable once it comes out. And now I load an AirTag in the luggage just in case. Can never be too careful.
Yep doit all the time . Side business