How safe is your luggage when you travel in and out if the USA? and other questions

Question

For christmas a piece of jewelry was stolen from my dad's luggage because you cannot lock your luggage anymore. The gift bag and wrapping remained in the luggage but not the gift.

Has anything like this happened to you?

Shouldn't the luggage be checked in front of you and then locked before being put on the plane?

Answer 1

When I was much younger and didn’t have much experience with flying I put my personal CD player in the bag when flying into JFK, New York.  Needless to say it was not there when I picked my bag up at the baggage reclaim.

One other time when I flew into New Orleans I guess they opened my bag to check what was inside and didn’t close it properly and pretty much the entire contents of my bag were spread across the runway! I was left with 1 shoe, 2 t-shirts and a jacket…..it was a pain as I had to go and buy toiletries, make-up, clothing etc and they didn’t reimburse me for 6 months!

I’ve also found leaflets in my bag from the US border control saying they have searched my bag.

I don’t think it is safe at all….I am always very wary with my baggage when traveling in and out of the USA

Answer 2

You didn't mention which country you're in, but you CAN lock your luggage if you're in the US. You simply have to use TSA-approved locks. They allow TSA employees to open them for security checks without damaging the bag, but airline employees cannot open them. You can buy them in luggage stores.

That being said, locks never did much good anyway. Back when you could use regular locks, I took a trip and put two locks on my bag. The luggage handlers simply cut them off and went looking through my luggage anyway.

The ONLY way to ensure that nothing is stolen is to never pack anything worth stealing. They're not interested in your dirty clothes. If you have to carry a gift, keep it with you in your carry-on bag. (Don't wrap it until you get to your destination. You'll be required to unwrap it at the security check.) If it's too large to carry with you, insure it and ship it.

By the way, this problem has nothing to do with going in and out of the US. It can happen anywhere. I've had my bags opened and gone through in the UK and on a domestic US flight. Nothing was stolen because I didn't pack anything worth stealing.