Checked baggage pilferage claim denied — any options?
May 23, 2018, 12:56 pm
#16
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold / OW Emerald
Posts: 753
I presume that it is the claimant's burden. I am not certain that I want BA or any carrier to spend at the level likely required to track bags and match them to CCTV images. The technology is certainly there and would only require an RFID chip in every bag tag as well as camera coverage from the hold to the carousel.
But, the reality is that relatively few bags go missing and even fewer of those suffer thefts of anything one would consider valuable.
Everything costs something and the better question is how many people want to pay appreciably higher ticket prices in order to make this happen. Far better to let passengers who want to store valuables in their checked luggage pay a special fee which would have the bag off-loaded and accountably handled to a location where it would be signed for by the passenger on arrival. This might well cost a lot of money, but for those who insist on checking a laptop, so be it.
But, the reality is that relatively few bags go missing and even fewer of those suffer thefts of anything one would consider valuable.
Everything costs something and the better question is how many people want to pay appreciably higher ticket prices in order to make this happen. Far better to let passengers who want to store valuables in their checked luggage pay a special fee which would have the bag off-loaded and accountably handled to a location where it would be signed for by the passenger on arrival. This might well cost a lot of money, but for those who insist on checking a laptop, so be it.
May 23, 2018, 1:15 pm
#17
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Canada, USA, Europe
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 31,452
Not explicitly, but the reason personal electronics are specifically excluded is that these tend to be more valuable. With expensive clothes you just have to accept that the carrier’s liability is limited. We had someone on here not let my ago moaning that BA spilled something on his LV carry-on....
May 23, 2018, 4:58 pm
#20
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: LCY / LHR / ZRH / JNB
Programs: BA
Posts: 120
Isn’t it a puzzle that this can happen at all.
Presuming the bag is not somehow left outside the secured area, items cannot be stolen by any passer-by. Which leads to the depressing idea that it is the airlines own staff, or the staff of their contractors, actively stealing from their customers. How mean-spirited to go out of your way to steal from someone’s personal possessions.
Perhaps a naive view, but I find it so hard to picture what a person like this could look like or be like. I am sure they cannot simply be intrinsically ‘bad’ people, for I have never met one of those. They must have friends, relatives, even partners, and cannot live in complete isolation from others. I wonder if they tell their friends, relatives and partners when they get home, what they have done?
I suppose that is a bigger question than one of just airline baggage. Airlines do appear to be astonishingly blasé about it, though. I would be absolutely appalled if I learned that one of my colleagues was stealing from a customer, rather than considering it par for the course.
Presuming the bag is not somehow left outside the secured area, items cannot be stolen by any passer-by. Which leads to the depressing idea that it is the airlines own staff, or the staff of their contractors, actively stealing from their customers. How mean-spirited to go out of your way to steal from someone’s personal possessions.
Perhaps a naive view, but I find it so hard to picture what a person like this could look like or be like. I am sure they cannot simply be intrinsically ‘bad’ people, for I have never met one of those. They must have friends, relatives, even partners, and cannot live in complete isolation from others. I wonder if they tell their friends, relatives and partners when they get home, what they have done?
I suppose that is a bigger question than one of just airline baggage. Airlines do appear to be astonishingly blasé about it, though. I would be absolutely appalled if I learned that one of my colleagues was stealing from a customer, rather than considering it par for the course.
May 23, 2018, 5:52 pm
#21
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Somewhere between SFO and LAX...FYI aka FAT
Programs: BAEC - back to lowly blue. Marriott - Lifetime Platinum
Posts: 465
Isn’t it a puzzle that this can happen at all.
Presuming the bag is not somehow left outside the secured area, items cannot be stolen by any passer-by. Which leads to the depressing idea that it is the airlines own staff, or the staff of their contractors, actively stealing from their customers. How mean-spirited to go out of your way to steal from someone’s personal possessions....
Presuming the bag is not somehow left outside the secured area, items cannot be stolen by any passer-by. Which leads to the depressing idea that it is the airlines own staff, or the staff of their contractors, actively stealing from their customers. How mean-spirited to go out of your way to steal from someone’s personal possessions....
May 23, 2018, 7:11 pm
#22
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: All over the place often South Wales and Lake District
Programs: BA Gold for Life Accor Platinum
Posts: 4,552
Am I missing the sarcasm? I can't count the number of times our checked luggage has been rifled through. Nothing taken because we don't put any valuables there but zippers were broken and fasteners cut in order for them to get access. They took the shoe mitt off one of a new pair of shoes and "lost" it but fortunately put the shoes back in, just to show how much time they were able to spend going through our things. Very disconcerting to open up your bag and see that everything is completely tossed. We had a heck of a time getting the airline to fix the zippers (maiden voyage of new luggage.)
May 23, 2018, 7:14 pm
#23
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: All over the place often South Wales and Lake District
Programs: BA Gold for Life Accor Platinum
Posts: 4,552
May 23, 2018, 7:39 pm
#24
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Somewhere between SFO and LAX...FYI aka FAT
Programs: BAEC - back to lowly blue. Marriott - Lifetime Platinum
Posts: 465
To get back to the OP's issue, I do occasionally hear about electronics and certain medications being stolen from checked bags and wonder how it is that the thieves know which bags to rifle through, or are they going through so many bags that they are bound to hit pay dirt from time to time... law of averages type of thing?
May 23, 2018, 7:55 pm
#26
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: All over the place often South Wales and Lake District
Programs: BA Gold for Life Accor Platinum
Posts: 4,552
The particular incident I was thinking of occurred in '97, before TSA was going through everything. Additionally I believe that TSA will leave a note inside and I can't imagine that they leave things inside an absolute mess. I had everything neatly folded and when I got it back it was in a complete upheaval. It was obvious someone had thrown everything around in there. Several people in my (family) group traveling on the same flights had their bags rifled through at that same airport.
To get back to the OP's issue, I do occasionally hear about electronics and certain medications being stolen from checked bags and wonder how it is that the thieves know which bags to rifle through, or are they going through so many bags that they are bound to hit pay dirt from time to time... law of averages type of thing?
To get back to the OP's issue, I do occasionally hear about electronics and certain medications being stolen from checked bags and wonder how it is that the thieves know which bags to rifle through, or are they going through so many bags that they are bound to hit pay dirt from time to time... law of averages type of thing?
May 23, 2018, 8:17 pm
#27
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Somewhere between SFO and LAX...FYI aka FAT
Programs: BAEC - back to lowly blue. Marriott - Lifetime Platinum
Posts: 465
Yes, and I was responding to someone who seemed to be in disbelief that some people (perhaps an extremely small number, but it only takes a few) who work behind the scenes at airports are capable of and do routinely steal from checked luggage. There is a reason they tell you not to check valuables. It happened to a number of my family members traveling at the same time and was a poignant reminder. It's easy to become complaisant. My husband had been considering packing his video recorder for that flight but decided against it.
May 23, 2018, 8:33 pm
#28
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: All over the place often South Wales and Lake District
Programs: BA Gold for Life Accor Platinum
Posts: 4,552
Yes, and I was responding to someone who seemed to be in disbelief that some people (perhaps an extremely small number, but it only takes a few) who work behind the scenes at airports are capable of and do routinely steal from checked luggage. There is a reason they tell you not to check valuables. It happened to a number of my family members traveling at the same time and was a poignant reminder. It's easy to become complaisant. My husband had been considering packing his video recorder for that flight but decided against it.
May 23, 2018, 8:40 pm
#29
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Somewhere between SFO and LAX...FYI aka FAT
Programs: BAEC - back to lowly blue. Marriott - Lifetime Platinum
Posts: 465
May 23, 2018, 8:53 pm
#30
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: All over the place often South Wales and Lake District
Programs: BA Gold for Life Accor Platinum
Posts: 4,552
Yes insurance companies tell you that they generally won't cover valuables checked in to the hold, but that is part of their profiteering. They want you to pay for insurance as well as you managing their risk for them.
