Oh wow, sorry for your loss.

I've had situations where when checking in, my cabin luggage was expanded and was fine, but, it suddenly wasn't when getting on domestic after returning to the States. Hindsight is 20/20, but, as others have suggested, you probably would have been better off removing the purse (or, even throwing away the box, if necessary) and just hung on to it during your flight. Or, exploring your CC's theft protection is also very good advice. I know Amex and probably Visa/MCs offer protection up to $10K for 90 days? I'd just file a claim, and let them deal with it.

Regardless, good luck. This is a tough situation.

How much does the bag cost? First thing I would do is file a police report. It's not going to get you your bag back, but everyone you deal with will take you a lot more seriously if you have a police report.

Your available options for reimbursement may be one or a combination of:
1) the credit card you purchased the item with;
2) the credit card you purchased the plane ticket with;
3) potentially the credit card you purchased some other means of common carrier transportation with (for example, you took a train from the hotel to the airport - do not overlook this avenue because you think it's not the ticket where the theft occurred, you may still be covered);
4) homeowner's/renter's insurance;
5) Delta;
6) TSA/Customs, though, you know how that would go;
7) some other type of travel insurance you have or purchased;
8) or probably other things I'm not thinking of.

wow didn’t realize purchase protection from theft was so high, excellent find! Hope this helps op

Yes, but many unfortunately exclude items in the control of a common carrier, but not all of them, so OP should definitely check.

I don't know if it's "victim blaming" as much as trying to make helpful suggestions. Also, you seem very irritated about the "forced checking" concept, when it's fairly routine on a smaller plane. Yes, potentially inconvenient, but common. You also seem very focused on Delta, but the better route may well be to file a claim with your credit card company.

These threads don't just serve as advice for you, but as a tool to help others on the site, so look at it from that perspective.

Nobody likes to get their stuff stolen.

On our way back from Hawaii in April our flight was late so we were running to the ATL connection. The gate agent refused to allow us to bring on our carry ons (within size) because her computer said there wasn't room even when I argued that we were comfort with dedicated overhead space. I opened up my suitcase and took out everything with value and carried it in my arms and argued with them that it was happening. my kid unfortunately didn't take anything out of his carryon and had cash and an iPod stolen, the kid didn't think to put cash in pocket before handing bag over. We will not gate check carryons anymore in comfort because of course once we boarded there was plenty of room as we had insisted. It was a lesson learned, especially for my kid.

Based on that story, I think you should change your screenname lol

All jokes aside, you can try to insist as much as you want. I've seen people try it, then immediately fold when the gate agent barks that they are not boarding the flight unless they gate-check it.

To the original poster: Quelle horreur. So sorry, you had to experience that. I'd probably file a police complaint, and complaint with some other administrative agencies to perhaps help find the culprit.

Overhead space above C+ isn't guaranteed, especially later in boarding, so that isn't a given. However, you could have ripped the tag off the bag and just brought it on the plane. Or you could have turned around and retrieved the bag once you saw there was space.

This. Dontargue just take the tag. If it fits, great. If it doesn't it's tagged. Note that if it does fit, you need to give tag to FA. Otherwise nah handlers will think a bag is missing as count will be off.

For future reference, my insurance is an AirTag i shove in checked baggage. I caught a theft ring in Denver - even though they turned off an iPad they didn’t see an AirTag in the case. Scumbags lived within spitting distance of the runway in Commerce City.

Of course that wouldn't have helped with a purse that was stolen FROM the bag, unless one had placed it inside the purse. And if you were going to do that, you'd likely carry it on to the plan.

Still, I like the idea of catching the thieves, and that's a great way to do it.

Yup I bought a ton of air tags after that and now put one in every carry on just in case!

As funny as it sounds, to protect a $500 purse (I'm guessing here - sorry since the most expensive bag I own is $39.99) a reusable $20-something AirTag isn't a bad idea
MODERATOR NOTE: Deleted reference to a commercial website

Paris is one of the crime capitals of the world now
 

[Glad you made this post as it is unfortunately totally correct. Hi and measures many others I know Have stopped going to Paris completely. Theft on all means of transport and especially on the Paris metro are constantly taking place. The police will do nothing even they know exactly who the perpetrators are. They obviously participate as do many others. My close friend was robbed on the Paris metro by a group of 3. He saw them the next day on the metro and told a police officer who refused to get involved. .









QUOTE=DLATL777;34619468]Are you sure it didnt happen in France/Paris? This is a generalization and a hypothesis but Ive never seen/experienced the level of theft in Northern Europe since 2020. I had all my belongings stolen from directly above my head on a Thalys train in First Class in France while fully awake. Every item I own. Not even storing luggage at the end of the car but DIRECTLY above my head. They pulled from behind and ran at an intermediate stop. According to French and Belgian authorities they have never seen theft the way its been happening. They say almost every single train has the same story now and theft around Paris is at an all time high. Apparently they work in a team-even Uber drivers will help as spotters which I believe is what happened to me. If it can happen at that level im sure it can infiltrate the CDG baggage ring (haha).

All my colleagues in France and Italy echo this sentiment, irrespective of medium (train/bus/etc).[/QUOTE]

I see people promoting these tags and similar - how on earth does it help you to know that your stolen items are near a particular address in another city?
Even for lost bags - will you call the airline and tell them your bag shows up in terminal D of airport ABC? Do you think that will be helpful?