Word to the wise: when claiming your luggage from an airline baggage claim carousel, don’t just check the exterior of your bag for damage, but make sure your personal contents are inside. Sometimes, your bag may look right and feel right, but the contents have been switched and thieves are counting on you not to notice until it is too late.
Why You Should Open Your Luggage Before You Leave Baggage Claim
In retrospect, I was far too harsh yesterday on the woman who flew Air France from Paris to Boston, arriving home to find her bag filled with dog food instead of the Christmas gifts she had purchased while in Europe. She bought her ticket with Delta Air Lines and rather than reach out to Air France to demand compensation, she contacted Delta.
> Read More: Woman Finds Her Luggage Ransacked, Filled With Dog Food After Air France Flight
Delta ignored her at first, but eventually compensated her 75,000 miles. She wants a full refund for the flight and compensation for the lost gifts. While I still think that is a bit much, it isn’t clear how much the gifts were valued at and dealing with Air France customer service is never fun.
But why did the thieves load the bag with items to give it girth and weight? It seems clear to me this was an Air France handler who stole the items and figured Air France would not even talk to the passenger unless she made an immediate claim in the baggage claim area.
Imagine it.
She reaches Air France after she gets home and realizes the problem, but is told, “You left the baggage area and went home so we have no way to confirm that those items were or were not in your bag when transported or what occurred after you left. Claims for missing items must be made immediately at the airport with the baggage department for that reason.”
Claim denied.
That’s a hypothetical construct, but why else would the baggage worker re-load the bag? When Air France doesn’t investigate, he doesn’t get caught…
The solution is to open you bag when you claim it to make sure there is not just some content inside, but your belongings.
By the way, you officially have seven days to file a missing baggage report in writing, per the Montreal Convention.
CONCLUSION
Thieves are becoming bolder and more clever in stealing the contents of your checked baggage. You can better protect yourself by not only checking the exterior of your bag when you pull it off the baggage belt, but checking to make sure the interior contents are all present and accounted for.
image: Air France
The amazing thing is that these are the same people responsible for maintaining the integrity and thus safety of checked baggage for flight. Thankfully, nothing malicious was placed into the bag.
This is probably why in some airports it’s common to see other passengers wrap their luggages with saran wrap. By doing so, baggage handlers will most likely not even open those luggages. And if TSA does open them when it arrives in USA, you can clearly see it was opened when you claim it.
The Montreal Convention requires that a claim be made in writing within seven days. The claimant should tell the airline to F-off and follow the law.
@Mattew: While I don’t disagree with your recommendation, how many times have you done that? If you are traveling international and arriving in the US, opening your luggage before customs only raises a huge red flag and will certainly trigger agents to search your contents. They will wonder why you are opening your bags there. Anyway, I try not to place anything of monetary value on my checked luggage but even if I have an underwear stolen from it I will be very mad. I mentioned yesterday that although it won’t keep thieves from opening my luggage, having an Apple Airtag inside the luggage has been fantastic since I know in real time where my luggage is. Highly recommend.
This is why there is reasonable doubt every time a bag is outside the custody of a person. You take a cab, a cab driver can slip in anything. A screener lifts a bag on camera, he can slip something in with his body obscuring the camera. Stealing as in this case is also another problem. It could be solved with full tracking of bags with air tag type things, full tracking of ramp workers, and full camera monitoring. This is why anything important is carried on.
@ Matthew — WARNING: Never check luggage.
@Gene: agree 100%. You also don’t want to expose the content if your luggage in front of a bunch of people that are around you. In many countries bad people stay in the luggage carrousel area just watching for targets. I heard many stories of people being followed by thieves and being robbed at their hotels or home. I would never open my bags in front of anyone in an airport.
That’s not gonna work for my wife.
This is extremely poor advice. If you try to access the contents your checked baggage in the claim area from an international flight you will almost certainly find yourself facing a lengthy customs interrogation.
Opening the bag, looking inside, and closing it up? Not sure how that would trigger a customs check.
And for most U.S. readers, there is no customs checks after a domestic flight.
Give it a try. It will definitely raise a red flag. I once opened a bag before customs to place a bottle of beverage that I had bought at the duty free. Since I was checking in for a domestic connection and had to go through TSA again I could not take it with me. So, when I walked through customs, Bingo!!! An agent stoped me and asked to check my bags. He asked what I placed on the bag since he saw I opening it and placing something inside. It was not a big deal but it will definitely raise a red flag.
Maybe worth the risk if you are flying Air France and want to make sure your gifts are still inside the bag.
Definitely not worth it if you land in a third world country where thieves are infiltrated inside the airport. Crazy cases of passengers being tracked from the luggage carrousel to their hotels to be robbed when they get there. I would never open my luggages.
Sure, that’s fine, but for most readers who are just flying domestic, there are no customs checks anyway.
The contents of your bag when flying Air France are already covered up to the value of approx. $1800 by the Montreal Convention. You don’t need to file any sort of report at the baggage claim area under that – you have 7 days to do so. There are literally thousands of claims under Montreal made against and paid by airlines worldwide every single day. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel when there is a system that already exists and works.
@Sean I’m curious, if it’s that easy and has no requirement of verification or vetting, what is going to stop thousands of people filing claims every day falsely saying “someone stole Prada Heels and a Hermes bag from my suitcase” and essentially getting more than the cost of the ticket refunded with an $1800 payment. I have never filed a claim so I can’t speak for the ease of these payments, but I have a hard time believing it’s a slam dunk as you seem to imply.
@Stuart – of course there is verification and vetting involved but it is relatively straightforward. A list of items with proof of purchase, or alternatively a notarised/sworn statement with the same information is usually sufficient. It is no different than if you opened your baggage in the arrivals area and found things missing – you would still need to provide evidence of what is missing and how much it cost in order to make a claim. My point is not that you can make spurious Montreal claims at will, but rather that you have 7 days to make a Montreal claim and that opening your baggage to inventory the contents before customs is not the optimal way to protect passenger rights.
@Sean. Again, wording from the Montreal Convention rules as warned by the DOT…
“Airlines often exclude liability for certain categories of items (for example: fragile items, electronics, cash, perishable items, other valuables, etc.). These exclusions are typically listed in the airlines’ contracts of carriage.”
That’s a pretty open protection for denying anything within a bag unless the bag itself is lost.
There is much more ability to present your case and evidence in person at the airport. As well, to file a police report when it’s something blatantly criminal as this particular case is. I hope there is a follow up on this case as I imagine Air France is going to tell her to suck wind in the end.
@ Santastico. I can speak as someone who opens my suitcase ALL THE TIME at baggage claim prior to going through customs. I am often flying between climates and either carry a coat from my departure city or pack it for arrival. I either put into my suitcase if arriving at a warm area or get it out if arriving to a cold city. No one looks at me funny. No one has ever questioned me. And yes, even in places like Brazil, Russia, Japan and Australia that have notorious customs inspections. This is way over reacting. There is nothing preventing someone from opening their suitcase for a minute to check things. No one cares.
@Stuart: we all know you are special.
@Santastico. Well, thank you! 🙂
Interesting, since I’ve done it a few times in Int’l airports (HKG Pre-riot, ICN, TPE.) Sometimes I need to put a jacket back in the suitcase, I don’t even think twice about it. Maybe because those place aren’t/weren’t run by savages.
This is why we need to support that woman. Idiots of a certain party hate unions but it is very hard to go against a big corporation by yourself. We need to support that woman against delta. If she paid money to delta, delta should make it right. Doesnt matter who delta outsources it service to. Delta is on the hook.
Can you imagine the chaos if everyone opened all their bags at bag claim to see everything came through? How many dildos do you want to see in early morning.
Had it before many years ago in Europe – cigarettes (a gift) and my new trainers removed. Didn’t notice until I got home. Now I rarely check bags and if I do I always zip tie them. That way I immediately know they’ve been opened and can open them and investigate why whilst in reclaim.
No point using one of those TSA locks – very easy to obtain a set of keys on ebay
Interesting story on what happened with the TSA locks. Apparently the Washington Post published high resolution photos of the keys for some story and that’s all it took 3D printed copies to be made.
That being said, there is quite some ingenuity in how the theft was made meaning that “ballast” was available for the thief to put in, they knew which bag to hit so my guess it’s an inside job at CDG airport, probably someone or a group who has access to the X-ray machine AND ability to handle the bag in some privacy.
The baggage materials appear to be French so I’d guess this happened at CDG so Delta and/or AF should request an investigation there.
Wonder if the victim had a TSA lock on her bag zippers? I am not blaming her, but I know those are hard to open without the key
I don’t think checking one’s bag will stop the victim-blaming on behalf of the airlines. For example, what’s to stop AF from claiming that the person had nothing to begin with but said pet-food cans? What would the next advice be, take photos of your bag before you close? Then the airlines will stay *that* was staged… I think it’s fair to say that people don’t open their luggage, especially after a long flight or a flight with multiple legs, until they reach their destination. AF is just trying to get out of it, and that’s just not OK.
Because no one can exactly duplicate weight. If the person was at the airport and filed the claim there, and was questioned, she could demand they weigh the bag for comparison. The weight will inevitably be different than what is logged into the system at check-in. The thief is not that good to match it, he/she was just trying to have it not noticed by the victim until they returned home.
For those arguing the absurdity of the Montreal Convention covering the contents of your bag the following is the loophole that every airline will use, this from the DOT.
“Airlines often exclude liability for certain categories of items (for example: fragile items, electronics, cash, perishable items, other valuables, etc.). These exclusions are typically listed in the airlines’ contracts of carriage.”
Basically, everything.
If your bag is lost, you are covered. If your bag is visibly damaged, you are covered. If items go amiss and you return home to discover it, you are screwed. Period.
If there is any hope it is as Matthew suggested, check your bag upon arrival and look for anything suspicious. You stand a much better chance arguing your case if you are present and can show proof, as in what this lady had occur. They are still not, according to the rules of the Montreal Convention, required to compensate for lost valuables, but it certainly increases your odds in being a bit more on the spot. As well, you can file a police report at the airport if the airline refuses to acknowledge it which will help with other insurance claims.
I have fortunately never had anything stolen from my luggage, but I have to say that the “you have a stronger case if you’re present” line strikes me as something straight out of the nineties.
Nowadays, when approaching the ground handling agent to report a missing or damaged bag, the response tends to something be along the lines of ‘here’s a leaflet with all the information you need, go on the website [of the airline,the handling agent, or even the contractor that fixes stuff for them] to report it, upload proof of purchase and associated evidence and arrange redelivery/repair/replacement/reimbursement’.
I am obviously talking outstations here, if the arrival airport is the home base/a major hub of the carrier, the old-school advice may still be valid.
My experience has been different the few times (recently) I had a bag not show up. They did do the leg work there in entering it all into the system. Further, they often had a real time look (in both cases seeing it was on the next flight in). That was the point they handed me information on where to call or see online for further information and updates. These were all outstations.
My point being that something as criminal as stolen items and replacing them with weighted trash should be witnessed by other staff at the place discovered. Especially when potentially dealing with someone like Air France that is notoriously defensive about everything. It also gives you the immediate flexibility to have the police there file a report (which tends to get more attention from others). As well, any questioning by staff and the bag could be weighed there and compared to the check in weight.
I agree, a damaged bag or simple claim is not worth hanging around and pressing. But this was a criminal act that even given the Montreal Convention rules will be otherwise ignored. The end result, the thieves keep doing it.
Ah, I see the logic- filing a police report should focus the minds of those who tend not to take things seriously. Still, the vast majority of bags safely reach their destination with all the contents inside, so opening and checking the contents of luggage only seems worthwhile when carrying something extremely important and/or valuable that cannot be taken onboard.
If you’re planning on traveling with expensive items in checked luggage, use a tamper evident seal. There are breakaway locks, tape, and all sorts of homemade tricks you could use. That way you’ll instantly know if your bag has been opened. Sure, it could have been security opening your bag. Conspicuous tamper evident seals would discourage any would be thief.
“Conspicuous tamper evident seals would discourage any would be thief.”
Well… not necessarily. On the contrary: Locks/seals themselves are indicators of value which encourages attention from thieves. Tamper evidence seals are useful for the scenario described here: To alert the passenger to file a claim while at the airport so it would probably be best for a James Bond approach for a seal evident only to himself. I would use a colored zip-tie in that it comes across as something only to keep the bag from coming open (not evidence of value) and a thief wouldn’t bother to match the colors if putting it back together.
Hopefully, after press coverage like this, AF or DL will take care of her. It shouldn’t take press coverage, but the squeaky wheel gets the grease. After 40+ years of international flying, I’ve been lucky and nothing has disappeared from my checked bags. Perhaps its because my luggage is about 20 years old, and looks it. (Briggs and Stratton gives you a lifetime warranty, but you won’t need it). One time, we found a notice inside the bag that TSA had inspected the contents . I was a bit annoyed that they didn’t re-engage the lock.
Maybe someone could devise a tamper-evident strap that looks like one of the ribbons that people put on their luggage to flag it a baggage claim. That might not attract would-be thieves. Some credit cards include luggage coverage, but do they cover stolen contents, or just lost/delayed bags?