Following up on the UK comment, it comes down to intent and the period of time.

The police might not get a person on a theft charge if they return the item or if they intended to keep it but changed their mind quickly & returned it, but they can usually get them on a conversion charge and unlawful taking charge under s12.

All the more reason to keep anything of value in a small "personal item" that goes under the seat in front. With my feet on or around that bag, nobody is likely to mess with it. The rollaboard up in the bin is full of soiled laundry, books and such, and personal hygiene kit. If somebody wants to paw through that, more power to them. Ok, joking. I keep an eye on that as well.

The comment about locks is well taken. Sure the screeners want bags unlocked but there is nothing to stop a person from taking a couple of locks along and put them on after security.

How do you get your stuff out?

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I always lock my bags before putting them on the x-ray belt. If anyone wants to look through them they have to get me to unlock them, that way I can supervise and be reasonably sure they aren't stealing my stuff. Yeah, they can use their master key, but I've never had that happen out of my presence. I stash my own key buried in an unlocked small pocket or use combo locks.

In the US, attempting something illegal like theft but being unsuccessful at it is still illegal.

Might that just be because Singapore is not the USA? Just a suggestion

Yep, it is called 'conspiracy to commit crime'.

And just to come back to topic for a moment...

I had theft of my carry-on, not theft from it.

The culprit was apprehended before he left the airport and I got my expensive luggage back. My angel? The BA purser, who used her initiative and actually found and approached the thief herself. If she's here, thank you! I did of course write to BA to ensure she got recognised for this.

Moral of the story - no matter how busy the flight is, do not allow your carry-on to be placed in a location away from your seat.

For a thief to consider this (although they're not usually the Most intelligent bunch) they'd have to see a situation where a passenger is forced to separate themselves from their bag. Then, it's an easy target. I can't imagine a thief just randomly stealing bags - surely that wouldn't work....

I can easily imagine it.

1) There are plenty of people (complained about on FT constantly) who drop their carry-on in the first available overhead when they board, then move to their seat, which might be much farther back in the cabin than where they dumped their bags. So, some people don't have to be "forced" to separate themselves from their bags.

2) Certain bags are far more likely to contain valuable items than others. It's readily apparent in many cases from the bag's brand that it's a camera bag, a laptop bag, or a camera/laptop combo bag. Not only that, but certain brands of luggage are quite valuable, regardless of their contents. And of course, let's not forget that many folks will open their bags, showing the contentst to all around them, either at the gate or in flight. So, no randomness is needed; a thief can see potentially lucrative targets and limit his operations to those most likely to net him a profit.

3) You're right, thieves are not generally the brightest bulbs in the box. However, there is an overabundance of chronic stupidity in the human race, so no matter how dumb a thief might be, there are always dumber people around who make inviting and easy targets for them.

You'd also be driving without insurance (Your insurance would not cover you since you would not have owner consent, and the owner's insurance would not cover it).

I was waiting to board at MAN for a LUX-MAN-DUB flight. Someone had just discovered her handbag was missing from the overhead where she had placed it, and a search could not find it on the plane, presumed stolen by a passenger leaving at MAN. Grabbing a handbag might seem to have a better chance of getting some valuables

Pack it in the front, unpack in the rear.