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Families urged to ship gifts to prevent baggage theft
Associated Press
Many of you will be heading to the airport this weekend, but before you do, consider shipping your gifts for loved ones via UPS or Fed Ex. Baggage theft is on the rise. In today’s article carousal crooks are thinking up clever ways to swipe those gifts from your checked luggage. This post is not intended to inject fear, it is simply FYI.
The Wall Street Journal | Scott McCartney
As travelers get ready for holiday flights, they might want to skip tucking presents into their checked suitcases this year. That’s because baggage theft is on the rise.
This year, Delta Air Lines Inc. baggage handlers were caught rifling through suitcases in the belly of airplanes in Hartford, Conn., pocketing laptops, cameras, iPods, GPS units, jewelry, watches and earrings, according to Lt. J. Paul Vance of the Connecticut State Police.
Authorities also broke up a ring of airline thieves in St. Louis who, according to Lambert Airport Police Chief Paul Mason, were targeting soldier’s bags that were shipping off to war. Baggage handlers pulled soldiers’ duffels off a conveyor belt in a tunnel, stashed loot and then picked it up later, taking it home under their coats or in backpacks. Among the stolen items recovered: laptops, electronic game systems, cameras, cigarettes, battery chargers, sunglasses and firearms. (READ MORE)
By Malena Jackson | December 17, 2009 | Filed Under Baggage Claim, Carry on Luggage, Customs, Family Travel, Flying, Holidays, Travel Issues, Travel Safety
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[...] Families urged to ship gifts to prevent baggage theft - Family Travel Suite [...]
I had a suitcase not show up on the carousel.
I was traveling fro St.Louis to LaGuardia nonstop.
A month later the airline still does not know where the bag is.
I presume it was stolen either by the airline crew or off the carousel in New York.
Although in New York we were right at the carousel when the luggage came off the shoot.
The airline has not been helpful. They have months to respond to my claim.
I don’t understand why workers shouldn’t have to go through the screening
we go through, before the leave work for the day. Retail workers have to carry clear handbags as a deterrent to employee theft.
The airlines should have to give out the numbers of lost and stolen luggage.