Luggage theft and grabbing the wrong luggage by mistake happen regularly across the globe. My seven immutable luggage laws and other tips will help you prevent luggage loss.
I wrote about luggage theft and loss not that long ago, but just last week, one of my friends had his checked bag mistakenly taken by a passenger on his flight from the luggage carousel. Fortunately, my friend got to baggage claim just in time and yelled, “Stop. You have MY bag!” The other passenger was startled and complied. When he really looked at the bag, he realized it wasn’t his. He was just late and in a hurry and grabbed the first bag that looked like his. He didn’t notice the ribbons on the handles. Now my friend, following my advice, added a bright, neon colored strap around his bag and a large heavy duty embroidered tag with his last name on it. They’re impossible to miss.
Like passengers grabbing the wrong bag from baggage claim carousels, stolen luggage from air travelers is a regular occurrence.
Two stolen luggage incidents at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) were in the news recently. A UCLA student flying back to school returned to campus without her checked bag. She reported the missing bag and she’s now gotten an email from police stating that they’ve made an arrest in her case. She was one of seven air travelers whose luggage was stolen by the same person.
In addition, a West Hollywood resident helped police locate his stolen bag with an embedded Apple AirTag in his luggage. He located the bag inside an abandoned building in Los Angeles. He called the police. When they let him in the building, he saw one of the men there wearing some of his clothes. While he was able to retrieve his suitcase and most of his clothes, at last report, the UCLA student hadn’t gotten her luggage back.
The thefts aren’t isolated. Looking at news reports, it’s easy to find many similar thefts and passengers grabbing the wrong bag at airports across the globe. There are simply too many air travelers leaving airports empty-handed, hoping they’ll eventually be reunited with their checked bags and their belongings.
Use my seven immutable luggage laws to prevent your luggage’s theft and mitigate your loss if your bag is stolen.
To prevent the theft of my checked bags, or at least mitigate the loss of them and their packed belongings, I continue to follow the checked luggage lessons I’ve learned, sometimes the hard way. They include my seven immutable luggage laws for air travelers:
1. If you can’t afford to lose it, don’t take it when you travel. Leave it at home!
Valuables and breakables should never be packed in checked luggage.
2. Never pack anything valuable in your checked luggage. Valuables packed in checked luggage typically aren’t covered for loss by any of the airlines. In addition, cruise lines, for example, have liability rules similar to Royal Caribbean, that state, “Unless negligent, Carrier (RCCL) is neither responsible nor liable for any loss of or damage to passenger’s property, whether contained in luggage or otherwise.”
3. Pack all your valuables, breakables and a change of clothes in your carry-on. That includes cameras, computers, electronics, over-the-counter and prescription medications, etc., along with a full change of clothing.
4. If you can avoid checking luggage, do it. On short trips, pack light enough that you only need carry-on luggage.
5. When you arrive at your destination, carry your carry-on. At hotels or cruise ship terminals, for example, you may be tempted to let the hotel or cruise personnel handle your carry-on. Don’t! Your valuables and presumably a change of clothes are in your carry-on, so don’t chance losing them. A friend who’s a travel agent once allowed a big city hotel bellhop take his carry-on to his room. He never saw his laptop again.
6. Lock your luggage. Yes, luggage locks and seals aren’t hard to break open, but I always lock or seal my luggage anyway, including my carry-ons. There are plenty of airline passengers who will pilfer items from carry-ons in the overhead bins, if given a chance. If you lock your luggage, thieves are more likely to try easier, unlocked targets. Also, when your luggage is locked or sealed, if it falls or drops during transport, it’s more likely to remain closed, keeping your belongings intact.
AirTags, or at least some major electronic tracker, have quickly become de rigueur for travelers. They can locate lost, missing, or stolen luggage to eventually retrieve it.
7. Put an AirTag or other tracker in every piece of luggage you bring on a trip. Due to the sheer size of the Apple “Find My” network and the comprehensive qualities of it, I believe that the Apple AirTag is the best luggage tracking tool available for any traveler. I recommend placing an AirTag in every piece of luggage you’re using for any journey. The AirTag in my checked luggage has enabled me to find my bag in several airports when the airline announced an incorrect baggage carousel. It’s also enabled me to help the crew on a recent cruise find my missing checked bag.
Here are eight additional tips to prevent accidental or purposeful luggage theft.
• Avoid air itineraries with connecting flights, if possible. Every time the airline handles your luggage it’s an opportunity for it to be stolen, mishandled or lost.
• Remove old airline luggage tags before checking in your luggage. You don’t want baggage handlers to send it on the wrong flight or to the wrong airport by reading the wrong tag.
• Use colored tags or other durable methods to make your bags more recognizable. Don’t just put one tag on your luggage. I put a colored ID tag on each handle of my luggage. I put a second colorful tag on each handle, a huge colored, embroidered tag with my name on a handle and a neon colored strap around my bag to set it apart from everyone else’s.
• Get to baggage claim as soon as you are able. You want to be able to prevent someone from walking off with your bag, so beat them to the carousel.
• Put your name on the outside and inside of the bag. On the inside of the bag, also hide your name in case your bag is stolen and then recovered. Make it easy to identify. Put your itinerary in the inside of your bag so it’s easy for the airline, cruise line, hotel, or railway to get it to you quickly.
Over the years, I’ve caught ticket agents affixing a luggage tag with the wrong flight and destination several times. Always look at the tag as they put it on your bag to be sure it’s right.
• When your bag is checked, make sure that the person checking it in puts the correct tag on it. Make sure you get your baggage claim receipt for each bag, too.
• Before you leave, use your digital camera or cell phone to take a picture of each piece of your luggage for identification later, if necessary. In case you have to put in a claim, have an inventory and a photo of what’s in each of your bags.
• If your luggage is missing, damaged, or has something pilfered from it, report it before you leave the airport, hotel, ship, or railway station. Do that to maintain your rights. It will help you put in an insurance claim, too.
If you follow my seven immutable luggage laws and my additional eight tips, it will go a long way to help you find your bag on the luggage carousel when you get there.
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After many years working in corporate America as a chemical engineer, executive and eventually CFO of a multinational manufacturer, Ned founded a tech consulting company and later restarted NSL Photography, his photography business. Before entering the corporate world, Ned worked as a Public Health Engineer for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. As a well known corporate, travel and wildlife photographer, Ned travels the world writing about travel and photography, as well as running photography workshops, seminars and photowalks. Visit Ned’s Photography Blog and Galleries.
