Originally Posted by
G-CIVC
OT but would really appreciate a response - we have around 3.5 hours in between for our connection. I've heard so many things about JNB luggage theft, am I setting myself for trouble if I reclaim my bags, wrap them and recheck with SA and head to the lounge right away?
No.
I think I've only ever had a bag wrapped once, and that was when it was full of things of enormous sentimental value for someone else (albeit of zero monetary value), and I would never have forgiven myself if they had been avoidably damaged or stolen. Other than that, there's never anything in my bags which would cause me anything more than irritation if they were stolen. Although I know it may happen one day, I haven't yet had any trouble! And that includes the time when we dropped four bags at JNB more than four hours before a flight to LHR, and JNB didn't load any of them. They were sitting around there for more than 24 hours, neither wrapped nor molested.
So I do think that one should not over-worry. If you get your bags wrapped, you've already put in place the most visible thing that will persuade any thief to move on to the next target - and that is all that you need to do.