FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Does having Expensive Checked Luggage increase chance of it being stolen??
Old Aug 10, 2020, 6:23 am
  #21  
Spanish
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: CMH
Programs: BA Gold, AA Plat, NK $9 fare club
Posts: 666
Originally Posted by AndyL1506
I typically travel with two standard size Tumi carry on bags. These bags are on the higher end of Tumi and they look it. One was $1,295 and the other was $1,499. If for some reason I do check either of these bags they ALWAYS end up with the TSA inspection sticker on the bag tag alerting me that they’ve been opened. The more expensive bag doesn’t have zippers and uses metal latches to close it. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve been paged at the gate because TSA couldn’t figure out how to re close the bag. Every time I’ve asked why it was opened to begin with I’ve been given the same “it was random” line which is total BS. I travel with my brother often who uses a much less expensive Samsonite bag that has never once been opened. Looking back I wish I had purchased less expensive bags but I needed the quality. It’s the TSA employees more than fellow passengers we need to worry about when it comes stealing. TSA clearly can spot an expensive bag and absolutely has the opportunity to open them at will and in some cases take what they want. In my opinion it’s the physical bag they target and has nothing to do with what kind of priority tag it’s labelled with.
Sometimes, it's what you pack. I have a particular pair of shoe trees that makes a bag much more likely to be TSA checked, whether packing it as carry-on luggage or checked luggage.

Expensive luggage doesn't always mean expensive goods. Then again, I suppose thieves could be selling the luggage itself for a high listing price.

Bummer that you're having the issue, though.

Do you have a photograph of your luggages? Perhaps that'll providing some relevant informations...
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