Don't assume that just because where you live you need a million dollar just to get a 500 square foot flat, everywhere else must be the same.

Pop the zipper with a pen, steal what you want, use the zipper pull to slide back down and reseal the zipper and nobody can tell it was ever open.

Try this trick on your own luggage at home and be prepared to get depressed.

Example: flying into California, Maryland, Hawaii, and many other states. Some forbid guns outside the home, some require a license, some require a license but in practice rarely issue them. It's a legal minefield with felony consequences if you get it wrong.

This is also a problem if your flight is diverted and ends up in one of these states through no fault of your own.

As others have noted, international flying is pretty much out of the question for the most part.

Know the laws and be very careful.

There is a ridiculous limit on the quantity of belongings we're allowed to bring with us on a plane, and then if we bring any sort of electronics they cause everyone in line more of a hassle trying to go through security. I'm not complaining about the security procedures in today's airports, but these restrictions are putting more and more of us at risk for this sort of behavior. Recently when traveling through the SeaTac airport, I was stranded without my baggage which had some allergy medication I needed to take daily, especially when around animals. When I confronted the airline (Alaska Airlines) about somehow getting some money to replace the medication, or trying to reroute my baggage back to me in Seattle (because somehow they were on their way to Anchorage, without me) they only offered that I should have known to keep things of this much importance with me. I then dropped my two overstuffed carry-on bags full of computer equiptment, a personal video game, my cell phone, a change of clothes, a small baggie full of some toiletries, a snack (because now they charge you for any sort of food on a plane), a book, a travel pillow, and my winter jacket for when I did finally arrive to Anchorage's 40-below winter weather. Another bag of pill bottles may not have been a lot to try to fit in, but it just wasn't something I was planning on needing. I know that this is not a unique story, and I was at blame for not thinking of it. Still, how much are we being asked to carry with us at all times because no one else is willing to take on the responsibility for when their employees screw up and lose it, or worse just steal it.

What this means is that airports, TSA, the FAA, and airline companies have to be diligent in making their customers feel secure with their baggage handlers, and that if something shall happen to your belongings, you'll be insured, covered, or at least taken care of. Of course this will mean more fees, higher costs, and probably more hassle. So its a double edged sword. Capitalism in American lately has become how much can we cut out the product to increase our profits, and reduce our costs. Obviously trust worthiness was something that got cut a long time ago.

As far as the origin, I stand corrected.

1) Never check valuables like electronics, money, stocks/certificates, etc. in your luggage. "NEVER" means "NO, NO, NO!"

2) Most TSA and airline employees are honest people trying to make a living. These clowns are the exceptions.

3) I spent over 20 years in the airlines, most of it at ticket counters, gates, security supervision and bagrooms. I NEVER saw ANYTHING remotely worth a Federal rap in anyone's baggage. It's one of the dumbest things anyone can do...

4) Those guys deserve whatever sentence they get. The harsher, the better.

Also, I tend to avoid places that automatically assume the person who's bags they're searching is a criminal/terrorist. Any search in general I feel is a violation of my privacy.

-Handmade silver jewelry (the sort that's $20 at craft fairs)
-Makeup (open and used)
-Designer clothes

I mean, honestly. A dear friend got to O'Hare to find that her makeup case, inside her suitcase, had been opened and the makeup removed. A half-used mascara and lipstick. It's not just the expensive stuff they're after...

@BZMedia:

Bad Idea.

When they pick your lock open, which takes all of five minutes, and then re-lock the truck, you're the one who gets to take the loss.

Better to take inventory and let them use their own lock. It would also be nice if they'd legalize man-traps. I suppose you could invest in some exploding dye packs for your more valuable boxes.

That's what it means. To me, at least.

But then who would screen the screeners of the screeners... and so on.

Plus, for what it's worth, wikipedia, citing the Yale Law Review, suggests that caveat emptor has been around since the late 1800s.

@WorldHarmony: Companies do not spend the time investigating backgrounds and checking resumes for those they hire for lower paid jobs. Those things cost money and it's not always feasable to spend $20k checking out someone making $7/hour.

Also what percentage of felons (the one's that actually get jobs, that is) leave prison and work lower paying jobs? When a company isn't paying much for a position, they can't afford to be very selective.

It's not some class warefare hate the poor argument, it's just reality.

Most ridiculous "blame the consumer" comment EVER.

@Bob Lu: In most places in NY 12$ hr is a poverty wage. If these people work at JFK you can assume that they live on Long Island or within the boroughs of NYC. Livings not cheap there.

Heck 20 years ago was the era of the Compag "luggables" which as I recall would go for $4,000 to $5,000.

Problem is those thieves are also airport workers / airline waorkers / TSA officers (surprise!). They can insist that you have to check certain items (a.k.a. the items they want). and most people don't want to argue with TAS officers / airport security.

I don't know if similar cases have been reported within US, but I'm pretty sure such things happen pretty frequently in India and Europe Cities.

I don't have many of the "essential" stuffs my American friends have. My phone is a prepaid and I can't even use the 1000 minutes up every year (Use Skype whenever you can). My watch is a 35$ Casia G-shock. I cook for myself, using real food. If you know how to cook you will find that the "cheap" "food" those who live on food stamp usually buy is neither cheap nor food.

Many of you may see my life as poverty. But considering I can sleep on a bed under a roof, am never in hunger, and luckily have a pretty good health plan, it IS a good life compare with most of the human being on this planet.

That doesn't help if they cut the bag open.

I'd love to come. Then I could get away from the phone!
'

If I were to move back to the Central Coast, I'd need to be making a lot more than twelve fracking dollars an hour.

I read at the beginning of the year to be "middle class" in NYC meant making 120K a year....

$12 is practically DOUBLE minimum wage. In many areas, if you can budget effectively, you can do fine on $12 an hour. Heck I made just over $10/hr at my last job and didn't have any cash flow issues. It's not about how much you make, it's about living within your means.

Mo' money, mo' problems, man.

@RedwoodFlyer: Any chance you realize that unless he's a complete moron, he wouldn't excercise those options unless they were "in the money"?

@dave_coder: This is a stupid response.

There's no excuse for having employees who steal.

I see what you did there...

@NinaHybris:
It's not a concealed weapon, at least in the legal sense of the word. It's a firearm(of a sort) in a case, in checked luggage. I know of no countries that allow guns that would object to that storage method. You can even fly to Canada with properly declared and registered rifles for hunting purposes.

Due to pre-9/11 federal laws, cases containing guns MUST be locked and only you are to have the key/combo.

Combined with the OMFG THERE'S A LOOSE GUN IN THE AIRPORT AREA!!!! reaction, you're generally safe from theft.

In some airports in other countries, there are machines where you can have your luggage shrink wrapped. Wonder how well that works.

$25k - $30k income was considered "good" (average) by standards in the 80s. Not today. Just because $12 isn't minimum wage, it doesn't mean it's good either. At best, it's low income. At worst, it's poverty.

The issue is, these are the people in charge of our "security" at the airports. They are in a position to seriously screw up your life if they choose. And that scares me. If they were paid a decent wage, (and given some actual training and education prior to putting them out on the floor) maybe they wouldn't be so inclined to rip off gadgets out of baggage.

What do the Walmart workers make again? $7 an hour? $8? Our airport security is worth $5 bucks more than a Walmart receipt checker? McDonalds here is hiring for $12 an hour. A TSA agent is worth no more than an entry level McDonalds grunt?

@BZMedia: So someone Making Minimum wage (about $5 less per hour) would be what? Negative income?

It seems like only yesterday (I have to check, it may have been yesterday) that People were crying about how bad Walmart was paying working the minimum wage. How that low income was very bad. But Slap anouter $5 on top of it and its still no good.

@Δεν βρέθηκαν λέξεις: "It costs more but ship your stuff Fedex, UPS, etc. if you can't carry it on board."

Airline baggage fees maybe closing the gap on shipping...

@mizike: I read about him also and thought the idea brillant...

BTW, I recognize that cap. That would be GCA (FTW).

@katstermonster: @MostlyHarmless: Maybe also because the larger number of employees at the bigger airports allows for more possibility of bad individuals to work together. At a small airport, the rogue TSA employee might only have a few baggage handlers to work with, all of whom are upstanding. At JFK, the numerous bad apples have more opportunity to collude.

Sorry, but yes, that is low income. I made $12 an hour in 1986 with no experience in anything.

@Shivved: Isn't Minimum in NY still $7.50....Many of those MC-Minimum jobs you will not get great (or any) benefits....

I got the impression from reading the article that it is still a misdemeanor... If I was wrong,I stand corrected.

All of the rest of the stuff still goes.

Airlines should set up kiosks for buying luggage insurance, like how you used to be able to buy life insurance before getting on the plane.

@dave_coder: When did Delta become the cheapest?

@HiPwr: They make good money. My Wife was one for a while. $12 an hour plus Good Benefits is not low income.

I lock my luggage with an TSA-unapproved lock AND a colored, numbered tie (the ones they sell for security). The lock slows them down. They have to find cutters. And then they'd have to also account for the tie being gone. To jump through that many hoops would probably make watchers suspicious.

I'm just saying that's how many security mouth breathers think. (I work in a related industry) So your dad shouldn't be too surprised to one day find a few plastic shards, crumpled duct tape, and a TSA inspection notice awaiting him inside a plastic bin at the baggage carousel.

[www.gadling.com]

@Etoiles: I am moving to a private island somewhere to get away from all of the mistrust. Anyone want to join me?

WARNING: If you are a Doctor, Lawyer, car salesman, work in the financial sector, have worked at any retail outlet in the past 15 years, or have ever uttered the words "You Have to Trust Me" at anytime other then when you were watching Jack Bauer and a "24" marathon, you will not be allowed on my island.

His actual salary was ~$650,000.... The CEO of the Red Cross made $675,000. Considering he is in charge of the largest airline in the world, I'm ok with tossing his nickle his way each time I board one of his planes.

(PS, the head of ALPA received more than $2,000,000 in direct cash compensation last year...some food for thought)

Can't trust movers, at all. When we moved six years ago they were putting our stuff in a truck and I told them that the stuff in one of the rooms was not to be touched, at all. It was my personal stuff and dvds and such. I had to go check on a problem to return to the door to that room being open, and half of my dvds were gone.
Accused of racism for being mad about being robbed.

I don't understand why the TSA thieves don't get arrested more often. I mean it's a fairly easy thing to do. They steal things from practically every flight, so getting evidence wouldn't be that hard...all you would have to do is pay attention.

@Adrienne Willis: Baggage handlers and TSA checkers make very little money. If the pay is low, you can expect a certain amount of what you call "scum" to get through the hiring process. Hell, that happens with higher paying jobs too, but it's worse with lower paying jobs.

That being the case, of the thousands (tens of thousands?) of baggage handlers and TSA checkers on the job out there, it would appear to me that this is a not a very common occurance. The majority of them work hard and do their best.

@Snarkysnake: 11:54 AM Make this kind of theft a FELONY

It IS a felony.

It would be a neat trick to somehow make your luggage look like a decoy.

There are just too many hands luggage has to go through to screen everyone. at an average size airport if you transfer to another airline your luggage might pass through 7 or more hands. There are many opportunities to steal luggage. I know first hand, because I have been tempted but never stole anything, but I have seen coworkers steal and get caught.

It costs more but ship your stuff Fedex, UPS, etc. if you can't carry it on board. There is more security with these companies, I work for Fedex, been here 8 years and while people steal stuff here also, things are locked down more,add at least with Fedex you can get insurance on your stuff. The airlines don't care, it is about getting your stuff from point a to b as cheaply as possible.

Back in the day the baggage handlers used to be company employees, you take shit more seriously if your company is going to lose revenue if stuff goes up missing but now it is all done by contractors to save money. So if Joe Blow steals from Delta the contractor doesn't get shit (yeah it sucks) because they are providing a service at a cheap rate and they can just fire the people and get more.

@dave_coder:

In 2008, Richard H. Anderson raked in $17,442,655 in total compensation.* In the previous year the CEO of this company made $359,223. Total CEO compensation has increased by 4756%.

CEO of Delta for 2008.

Stupid consumers trying to find lower prices!! They brought this theft on themselves.

I don't get it. There's no victim to blame!

This is hardly something that applies just to dealing with companies or employees. You also should lock your house, not leave your car parked with the engine running, or wander around the city drunk by yourself at 3am. It would be nice to live in a world where you didn't have to do these things, but that's life.

...'cause TSA steals phones & laptops.

I'm flying to vacation in little over a week, and I refuse to check anything in. EVER.

For a few years now, beyond my whole "must take everything back" mentality of being a college student has worn off, I only take a duffle and backpack. Backpack has all important electronics in it and I throw anything in my pockets into there so TSA doesn't get fingery when I'm waiting for my turn to walk through.

My sister has yet to learn, and after he lost luggage going to NC, I think she'll learn quickly.

very nice idea.

Are these people related to/working for the same agency that wants to take over our health care? The same agency that handled the Katrina disaster? The same parent agency looting the treasury to pay bonuses to investment bankers? The same people taking over the auto industry and as many other industries that are too big to fail? I say, let go of the silly laptop/iPod/camera and let's focus on keeping our money supply from eroding when the treasury wants to print gazillions more dollars and ruin our infrastructure. This is merely a distraction. The poor TSA guy is only doing, on a very small scale, what the leadership is doing, in a much grander scale to all of us. On second thought, throw this dude in jail and toss out the key!

Yep. The more people responsible for something, the less responsible everyone feels. The total responsibility level decreases as you add more people to the mix.

Example: Tenemant apartments with common areas many residents are expected to keep up.

[en.wikipedia.org]

@Yankees368: I laughed a bit when I saw this post came from a Yankees fan. Damn aggressive NYers.

I read an article by a photographer who often travelled with a fair amount of camera equipment. After having some of his equipment stolen and being denied any sort of compensation by every applicable party, he came across what I felt was a pretty genius solution. When flying domestically in the U.S., he now puts a starter's pistol in with his camera equipment and informs the airline employees he will be checking a firearm in his luggage. Bam, instantly they're willing to inventory his luggage in his presence and seal it away from prying eyes in accordance with their firearm procedures. Seems like an extreme step, but really, they won't take responsibility for any loss above $500, there are documented instances of theft by their employees, what are people who need to check something expensive supposed to do? Roll the dice? I don't think so.

Of course, the question then becomes, who set things up so that just two people were accountable for each other, thus allowing such an easy collaboration? TSA management in that at airport is, at the very least, responsible for having created this possibility. If they are security professionals, they had to have known it was a bad idea ... in which case they condoned the theft (implicitly at least). If they were not aware this might happen, then they're obviously not competent enough to be in charge of airport security.

Either way this doesn't look good for them. However, my bet is that no one in TSA management will be disciplined over it ... they'll just ease on through the bureaucracy as though nothing ever happened.

There isn't a time in history where you didn't need to secure your valuables from thieves.

You have something of value? Take care of it.

I am not condoning the thefts by the baggage handlers. Just saying you don't, and never have had, any expectation of absolute security.

@Etoiles: Yeah, very frustrating. It's a pipe dream, but I just wish I didn't have to be distrustful of every company/service/employee, especially when their only task is moving my stuff (and me) from point A to point B.

@rick_in_texas: Statistics. Larger cities = larger airport = more handlers = larger probability for "bad" handlers in the mix = larger probability for theft = larger probability for theft being noticed and reported.

I'll bet it happens proportionally at small airports, too, and we just haven't heard about it. In cases of decoy luggage, it's probably easier and more efficient for them to test at large airports.

Oh by the way ,if anybody at the TSA can read ,fuck you.

People who have access to baggage and airplanes should be subject to higher security, and restrictions. Either have cameras in the rooms or restrict access to the rooms, and make it impossible for workers to store items, so they can't pilfer anything. Not that it works that well, but take for example, the customs officials in Nepal's Kathmandu airport being issued new uniforms with no pockets. No pockets, no bribery. (maybe.)

I mean, what has Consumerist and life experience taught us? You can't put valuables in your luggage. You can only bring so many things in the plane with you. You can't trust: movers, FedEx, DHL, UPS, or the US Postal Service. You can't trust insurance on any of those, or in general.

I'm tired of having whole industries out there whose purpose is to move me and / or my stuff, continuing basically to take an adversarial stance towards me having stuff!

/has moved and traveled a lot in the last 5 years

Hmmmmm....Why does the luggage theft issue always seem to be in the "big" cities? Or is it just me and it happens at all TSA cities?

JFK, Philly, Miami to name a few.

Just wondering out loud.