Airline Baggage Theft Not Just Expensive Items
What is the real value of an item?
As a part-time expat, I make the journey to and from Mexico at least twice a year. Whenever I return to Mexico, I try to bring modest gifts for my Mexican friends, who especially seem to like the idea that the item traveled all the way from the U.S. to be with them.
This time for gifts I had chosen a type of jewelry sold in Denver tourist stores - aspen tree leaves dipped in silver or gold. The delicate lacy pendants hang from necklaces or earrings. In two different stores that sold them. I had stood in each store and agonized: would Lupita prefer the gold or the coppery one? Would Estella rather have the necklace or earrings? What about earrings for their daughters? So you see, the items in your suitcase represent more than the $30 dollars you spent. They represented my time and my dreams of making friends happy.
Finally satisfied with my collection, I elected to keep them in their boxes and wrap once in Mexico. Upon my arrival. I eagerly went to my suitcase to retrieve them. One necklace was missing from its box, likely pilfered by a baggage handler. Now I had the hard decision of whom would not be getting a necklace. Even though I could explain what happened, she would be likely to wonder why I selected her as non-recipient. Items represent emotional investment as well as cost.
Petty theft is common
This situation created a good reason to remind you that baggage handlers steal a lot of things, including items worth less than $50. So do, even more alarmingly, TSA employees. We are used to not placing our laptops and electronics and objectively valuable items in our checked baggage. After all these years however, I still make mistakes in not really thinking through what “valuable” means to me when I pack.
The necklaces were not expensive. But I would have happily sacrificed items in my suitcase twice their value for the “irreplaceable” jewelry that was stolen. I didn’t think of risk of theft for such small items, but I guess everyone, including baggage handlers, has a girlfriend, wife, daughter, or mother. Maybe one of them had a birthday that night.
Thieves steal thousands of suitcases every year, even from the belly of the plane, as caught on videos uploaded to YouTube in a number of airport stings. Over 31,000 claims were made over a five year period according to the Transportation Security Administration. Whole suitcases frequently disappear. These do not count thefts like mine, too small to make a claim. It’s not hard to imagine petty thefts would be in the hundreds of thousands, at least.
Difficulty in filing claims
Even with expensive items, undoubtedly, many people do not make claims. It’s easy to see why. Here’s the information American Airlines asks you to provide.
Receipt(s) for excess value claimed
Baggage claim checks
Receipt(s) for excess baggage charges paid
Receipt(s) for all items valued over $150.00
Airline ticket receipts
Original receipts are required for all reimbursement for delay expenses
Clear and legible government issued photo identification for each passenger making a claim
Airlines honor only about a third of their claims, and it takes a very long time to get a response. They take the position that the responsibility is with the airport itself, not the airline. Many people don’t realize anything been stolen until much later, when it’s too late to make a claim. Likely, you will not receive anything at all unless the whole suitcase is gone.
Since you will not recover any money at all for small yet sentimental objects like souvenirs and gifts, it’s worth reviewing the steps you can take to prevent this kind of thing from happening.
Precautions to take
Foremost, Do not check anything of value, sentimental or otherwise. Either carry it in a purse or travel bag, or in your carry-on suitcase.
Make your luggage distinctive to make it easier to spot for you, and more awkward for a thief to simply say he thought it was his. You can tie a brightly colored cloth (or even, as an former boyfriend of mine did, spray paint a bright yellow X on your duffle bag. Even thieves wouldn’t go near that).
Keep and eye on luggage even as it goes through the metal detectors.
Make haste to baggage. Do not linger. You want to be there to grab your suitcase as it comes down the chute.
Part-time life in Mexico does require electronics you might not carry on a vacation, such as a laptop. I usually take two laptops and and old phone. Although unlikely to be necessary, the consequences are far graver when these things are stolen, lost or break in Mexico. Fortunately, they can all be fit into a carry-on.
Beyond the obvious, make sure you look beyond the price tag value of items you are packing in your carry-on to the emotional consequences of their going missing.
Related links:
A few ideas of what to bring for an extended stay in Mexico. Not the same as a vacation - Ventanas Mexico.
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About the author:
Kerry Baker is the author of several books. The second book is “If Only I Had a Place,” giving you the benefits, pitfalls and opportunities of renting long-term in Mexico. The Mexico Solution: How to save your money, sanity and quality of life through part-time life in Mexico, is the cumulation of all I know, love and want to teach you about part-time expat life.
Her most recent book, “The Lazy Expat: Healthy Recipes That Translate in Mexico” is a cookbook for travelers, snowbirds and expats. (spoiler: to maintain a healthy diet in Mexico, you must cook.)