spunky46

When I used to fly a long time ago I frequently checked a few bags. Upon arrival at my destination I waited by the luggage carousel, picked up my bags, have an airline agent check that my ticket matched the bags I picked up and then exited the terminal.
For the past 20 years there is no agent there to check if you picked up the correct bag. You can just pick up any bag and leave the airport. Why did they remove the agent? Has there been an increase in luggage theft since they removed the agent?

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Randyk47

There might be some still doing luggage checks but the majority of airports have dropped checks. Can't put an exact date when they stopped checking but I'd say it's been 10-15+ years at the airports (LAS, SEA, DFW, DCA, IAD, ATL, SAT) we frequently transit. Probably all done in the name of cost savings. Increase in theft? Again probably and there have been a few local and national news reports on luggage theft. I think I remember a report a few years ago of a ring of baggage thieves in the Phoenix area that were caught with hundreds of stolen bags found on an isolated ranch. Anyhow we now, and actually have for years, get to the claim area pretty much as fast as we can. It's not that we have valuable items in our luggage as it is the pain in the backside of not having clothing on a vacation or business trip.

Often1

If you look at the list of exclusions from coverage for thefts from luggage, you will see why it's not a particularly useful thing to steal people's dirty laundry. Some stations such as LGA still routinely check tags and others do it on a roving basis.

But, it is expensive and it delays passengers and passengers hate delays.

If you look at the list of exclusions from coverage, you will see that carriers, certainly on domestic services, don't cover a long list of valuables. So, stealing dirty laundry is a bit foolish. I'm not sure what the point of expensive luggage is. For international, for the most part, that is coming off a belt before Customs, so harder for a thief to reach (although pre-cleared flights do arrive into domestic terminals).

wrp96

They do check tags at LGA and I've seen at least two threads in the last few months complaining about the delay to leave there and how dare they ask thus info etc, etc, etc. For most airports, the cost of employing someone to check tags is probably a lot more than the amount of baggage being lost there.

Loren Pechtel

Bag matching costs money. The rules make them not liable for any substantial amount if the bag is stolen, it's not worth it for them to check.

YVR Cockroach

+1

I used to live in PHL and fly out of there years (20+) ago. Being a non-U.S. flyer previously, I was surprised that no one checked bags though the claim area was open to all. There was a case of some guy (sometime in the very early '90s) just taking bags off the belt and loading it into his car. Apparently it went on for some time before he was busted (think it was because some passenger saw him taking his/her bag) and tag checking was (re)implemented for a while. A little bit later in that era, BUR did check tags but no other U.S. airport that I flown into since did/does so.

A quick internet search reveals that this type of crime is still prevalent.

Secondary tip: Don't use black bags. They're common and easier for a thief to offer the excuse of mistaken bag.

exerda

A lot more passengers travel today, and thus the manpower costs and delays to passengers to check all of them make it prohibitive to implement.

I have seen at most major airports that once the baggage staff remove bags from the carousel and take them to the unclaimed baggage office, even if they're just sitting around outside the office, someone almost always is on hand to check the claim check. I've run into this at IAD, LAS, SNA, TPA, and several other places in just the past year (obviously, I have had horrid luck in bags arriving with me on a flight, but that's a UA issue, not an airport one).

televisor

As a European I was hugely surprised to see that bag claims are open to all. OTOH I've heard more complaints about bag-wait times in the US, so maybe the two are related: you can at least meet people who are picking you up while you're waiting for your bags.

The only place I've seen tag-checking was in China, that was at an international arrival carrousel which was before customs, I've got no idea whether domestic arrivals let everyone into the bag-claim or not.

(In Europe you usually first exit from the secured area to the bag claim, then from there go via "customs" to the public area. For intra-EU flights there's technically no customs so you exit via a separate EU channel - but all bags still go to the same claim.)

spunky46

So you would be a fool to place a $1,000 camera or laptop in checked baggage. Just put shirts , and other every-day clothing in checked baggage. Thanks for the info.

YVR Cockroach

Even if there were tag checks, security and baggage handlers have ample time and opportunity to rifle through your bags. I'd wager there's a greater chance of this than bags being stolen from the baggage carousel.

84fiero

As noted below, one would be foolish to put anything valuable in checked bags, even with bag checks at the arrival carousel. However people still do it - occasionally there will be a thread on FT and other forums with someone who had some valuable item stolen from their checked bag and wants help on what to do.

Loren Pechtel

Long ago they checked our tags in China but they haven't for many years.

televisor

This might be airport dependent. I was arriving at a "smaller" town where no US airlines fly, and was told by my acquaintances there that I shouldn't lose my bag tag since they get theirs checked.