sannmann

Who actually travels with expensive jewelry like this?

http://wtop.com/national/2016/09/united-airlines-employee-stole-130k-worth-of-passengers-jewelry/

Flyer1M

And checks it.......

dkc715

From Aspen to Denver, you would be surprised. Doesn't strike me as unusual given the local wealth. It wasn't in checked luggage, which would have been crazy. Kudos to the Aspen UA folks. They are the best.

(I am assuming "fallen from the suitcase" means it was in her carry on bag. Hard to fall out of a zipped case.)

oblisk

I guess it depends where you are. I regularly see people with 100k+ jewelry walking on the streets of New York. So imagining someone travelling with a few different sets of jewlery seems quite reasonable.

milepig

There was a case in Chicago a year or so ago where a woman claimed she'd been robbed of the jewelry she was wearing while entering Saks. Things about her story started to add up and it later can out that there was no jewelry, it was all part of an insurance fraud.

SkiAdcock

Agree. Aspen's got a lot of wealth. I assumed carry on bag, or she might have had a tote or the cosmetic case attached to the carry on & it fell off/disconnected.

Not one of my smarter moves, but one time years ago when I was coming back from Vail I stuffed my fur coat inside my ski bag & checked the skis & boots back to LA. It all arrived, but afterwards I thought how lucky I was & never did it again.

Cheers.

JVPhoto

I bought a Swatch to wear in Thailand for fear that my Breguet or Glashutte would get me stuck up...then I realized everyone probably assume's your Rolex in SE Asia is one of the shopping mall fakes & now I don't have a problem traveling with either of them (on my wrist).

When I was in South Africa (part of a larger trip) I had my watches but kept them locked up and didn't wear them on the streets. Part of the trip I was staying at The Table Bay Hotel and I went out to get a hat for safari. I came back and tried to open the safe and I kept getting the error code for the pin I always use. I eventually called up the front desk who put me through to security who came to the room with some electronic device. Apparently he actually came and locked the safe because when housekeeping was in the room they noticed it wasn't actually closed and there were contents inside. He said their M.O. is to leave the room and call security who locks it. He waited while I confirmed everything was there and then went on his way.

My Mom travels with probably $25-30k worth of jewelry (diamond/gold earrings/bracelets/necklaces) but if its not in the hotel safe it's on her or while on the plane in a small travel jewelry bag in the bottom of her purse.

COSPILOT

I'm not suggesting your mom shouldn't do this, but what is the point of traveling with expensive items like jewelry? My nicer items stay home when I travel, even with regard to which watch I take. I intentionally even wear lower quality shoes, because a watch and even shoes can be a tip for crooks to assume you might have money. I want people to think I'm a nobody when I travel. And since I'm a true nobody, this isn't difficult for me to pull off.

Loren Pechtel

Sounds like a gate check of a rollaboard, not normal checked baggage.

Doc Savage

Neither of those activities seems reasonable to me.

If they want to act stupidly, they need to purchase insurance or face the consequences.

bigbuy

Totally agree. When I travel, the only thing that I wear is a $10 watch. Everything else is at home in a safe. I met a very very rich lady one time on a Seabourn cruise. My GF remarked how beautiful her diamonds were. She said, "You like them? Thanks for the compliment. They are all fake. My real diamonds are at home. I only wear this fake stuff when I'm traveling".
Frankly, I would not want the worry associated with traveling with expensive stuff.

SkiAdcock

The philosophical part (why wear or travel w/ real jewelry) should probably go to TravelBuzz or Omni, but I'll bite.

I own real jewelry (and yes, a fur coat, aka see my UA ski bag example above), nice clothes & shoes. There are plenty of people who own more expensive stuff than me, but that's neither here nor there. I wear what I own because I enjoy it. I don't buy it to put it into vaults/safes or let it sit in the closet. One can be robbed in the US (obviously) just as much as overseas. The nicer stuff I own doesn't make me a somebody, just as wearing stuff not quite as nice doesn't make me a nobody. Sometimes I travel w/ the fake jewelry; sometimes I travel w/ the real stuff.

Getting back on topic & wrt United. Other than the aforementioned ski bag experience on UA, I don't check valuables. I do tend to hide the jewelry (and electronics) in my carry-on & put it in the bin across from my seat, not directly above it, so I have a better view of who's accessing the bin & possibly my belongings. I realize that posting that now makes me a target for anyone who knows me & is on the same UA flight/general seat area as me I should say that I also use the hotel safes in rooms for jewelry, electronics, cash, credit cards & passport. I may at times travel w/ expensive stuff but I'm not an idiot.

Cheers.

SkiAdcock

Given it's Aspen I'd say you're right.

What makes you think they didn't have insurance? The article didn't mention it, and I would hazard a guess that anyone walking around w/ $25K-$100K of jewelry does have insurance.

Cheers.

mahasamatman

I don't own any jewelry other than my wedding ring, but what's the point in bringing a nice camera when you can use an Instamatic or a disposable camera (OK, I've just dated myself with those references)? Why bring your smartphone when you can bring an old flip phone? Why take a laptop when you can bring a pad of paper and a pencil?

I don't treat travel to another country any differently than I treat travelling to work. I don't live my life in fear of what might happen.

That's the point.

ssh

"Expensive" is relative. For some, $130k is relative pocket change. Many such people have homes in Aspen. It's not actually too surprising. When I see Maseratis driving around Boulder, it's the same. They can't drive any faster than my old Subaru, but they sure are beautiful, and if the funds are available, I can understand those who would enjoy using them in that way.

Stealing? Always wrong. And these days, with cameras everywhere, more and more a no-win situation.