Originally Posted by HilFly

They don't. That's my point. They feel that getting it to a luggage carousel fulfils their obligation to return it to the passenger.

We hand our bags over to the an airline to transport them for us. They give us a receipt. And yet anyone can pick up a bag off a luggage carousel and walk off with it.

Where else would that ever happen? And then the airlines throw their hands in the air and say "not our problem - claim on travel insurance!".