While I agree that theft in checked baggage seems to go…um, unchecked, and that is definitely wrong and should be addressed by airport security, I have no sympathy. This was stupidity on top of willful ignorance piled on top more willful ignorance.
Some questions for the OP:
What the hell were you thinking, taking valuable property from the state and failing to protect that property?
Why the hell did you have water and hair gel with you when it’s well known those are forbidden?
Why would you check this valuable piece of equipment when it is well known that theft is common at airports?
(supplemental) Do you live in an underground cave with no electricity?
And going from this line of thought: this is why the airlines say they aren’t liable for theft, because - hey, what do you know, I had a $500 camera stolen too! And… and a really nice gold and diamond bracelet! Now pay me, airline!
When packing, assume they’re going to throw your bag onto the airplane, and drop it from a height, because this probably will happen at some point. Now, reconsider your packing options and choice of luggage/what will get put in the checked bag.
I’ve had my luggage searched 3 times; my husband had his searched once. We use these plastic break-away “locks” by MasterLock and each time they’ve been broken, there has been a TSA “we searched your luggage” note inside, and the bags have been fine, all contents intact. (Once when my husband packed in a hurry and just threw his clothes into a huge duffel bag, he found that the inspector had neatly folded his clothes up for him!) Typically when we also include a twist-tie around a zipper pull, they’ve replaced the lock with a twist tie to hold the zipper pulls together, as we’d intended.
Oh yeah, just so no one criticizes me for giving the employees a pass - bad, bad thieves! I’m sure you feel so guilty now.
I’m quite sure that you’re not genuinely interested in answers, since I’ve already provided most of the information you seek, but here ya go:
As I left work late Thurs. night before my flight I thought it might be nice to take some pictures of my friend before she moves to France. I had to be at the airport early the next morning and I had access to my work camera so I decided to use that one. I was not thinking “Hmm… maybe I should take valuable property from the state and fail to protect it”. I made a huge error in judgement which I’ve owned up to numerous times and will continue to own up to as long posters feel the need to come in and berate me for it, even though this pitting is not about that but rather about the fact that a Delta employee went through my bag and took something that didn’t belong to him.
They aren’t forbidden, just not allowed to be carried on. I had fully intended to check them in my bag.
Despite this knowledge that you and many others in this particular thread feel is so common, the truth is that there are actually some people who don’t fly often and aren’t aware that when you place your baggage in the hands of a major airline, they are expected to go through it and take what they want.
Yes, but I’d bet there are far more people in the world down here, also ignorant to such common knowledge, than there are enlightened, electricity-using surface-dwellers.
That would only be compounding the problem. The new item would have to have the identical model number and serial number to cover up the theft of government property.
A couple of things that impressed me on my trip early this month to Hong Kong and back to South Korea:
[ol][li]The security checkers in South Korea had to go through my backpack and after they were through, specifically asked me to verify that everything I had brought with me was still there.[/li][li]I had the identical experience when going through the security check at the airport in Hong Kong for my return trip.[/ol][/li]
Someone upthread mentioned something about lost luggage insurance. Doesn’t that only cover your own property or stuff you’re actually authorized by the owner to be toting all over?
Someone also mentioned the possibility of the water bottle coming open and thus ruining the camera. What about the possibility of the bag coming open and the camera falling out?
Look at your OP – it seems to indicate that the one reason you had to check the knapsack rather than carry it on was that it contained hair gel and water.
But you intended to **check ** the bag all along??
Then why in Bob Dobbs’ Name would you not bring the camera with you as carry-on? They are allowed!
Common sense, dude. If I’m taking along on the trip a piece of very expensive equipment belonging to my employer, I will retain it with my person at all possible times.
Bingo!
I think many of us are reacting to the OP’s extremely casual attitude towards his employer’s property.
I’m not saying he is the first person to ever inappropriately “borrow” their employer’s resources. But I think that most sentient beings would exercise incredible care when doing so. Any desire I might have to borrow my employer’s expensive camera (instead of stopping off at any drug/convenience store for a disposable) would be outweighed by my near-certainty that disaster would strike somehow or another, with the camera being lost, damaged, or destroyed.
So far, your sole explanation is that you “made a huge error in judgment.” $500 would be a pretty cheap lesson if it were successful in dissuading you from committing such errors in the future. I would expect you to face disciplinary action in addition to reimbursement costs. You haven’t told us yet how that conversation with your boss went.
Feel free to misappropriate your employer’s property. But do so acknoledging that such behavior carries potential costs, and don’t try to share the blame with anyone when you are presented with the bill.
Moe, as you are learning, the SDMB is populated mostly by people with great foresight who never slap themselves in the head and think, “I shouldn’t have done that!”, and with rare exception, these are people of the sternest moral fiber, the kind of people who would never even take a paper clip from the office. The rest of the world, however, lives by the axion “Hindsight is 20/20”. You screwed up, you realize it - don’t let all the Saints here get to you. In no way does that absolve the thieves nor does it absolve the lack of security around passengers’ possessions left in the care of any airline.
People keep saying that the airlines say they’re not liable for theft from checked baggage, and while I have no doubt that that’s true, the legalese quoted in post #16 doesn’t quite say that. Does anyone have a more solid cite?
Get with the program: it’s the customers that are presumed to be potential criminals…
And of course every one of us has made boneheaded decisions in the past and (since we are here) lived through the consequences. But generally we try to NOT draw extra attention to said bonehead moves.
And Gadarene, it is true, there are certain circumstances in which they will assume limited liability. But the case described in the OP is one in which they assume none.
Oh yes, but under the various intenrational agreements on this sort of thing, their liability is usually capped at $25 or thereabouts per kilo of luggage. So if your grandmothers antique diamond tiara goes missing, you get about $3. Neat, huh?
But only because the OP didn’t notify the airline beforehand of the presence of the camera in his checked luggage. Or is there something else I’m missing?
slaphead:
Like I said, I’m sure the airline tries to escape liability as much as humanly possible. I just don’t think it’s accurate to say, as many have in this thread, that airlines are automatically indemnified from all theft of property from passengers’ checked bags.
A friend of mine once had his baritone saxophone ruined by American Airlines.
He had stowed all of his other instruments on his person to carry on (flute, clarinet, alto sax - he’s a big guy), but the baritone saxophone was a bit too big for that.
So he called ahead and told them he was checking his sax. He packed it to within an inch of its life, wrapped it in clothes and foam and duct tape and everything he could think of to ensure it would survive a drop from fifty feet onto the ground. He covered it in “FRAGILE” stickers and told everyone he saw that it was a saxophone and to please do their best not to break it, as he was flying to a gig on a cruise ship and needed the horn to do his job.
Upon his arrival, it was in pieces. He says the only way he could imagine that result was if they had opened it all up, unwrapped it, dropped it from the plane, and driven a car over it.
Their response? ‘We can’t be held responsible for fragile items.’
So he wondered, if he hadn’t told them it was fragile, it would have been fine?
I think what people are reacting to is the cavalier attitude and post-rationalisation of his actions. All this about not wanting to check in the bag, then having to, then intending to all along screams of trying to justify a bona-fide error. So does the meaningless response to Gangster Octopus along the lines of “he’s saved us money in the past so the fact the taxpayer’s lost out because of his (at best) daft behaviour is ok”. The world rarely works that way!
Not to defend the airlines, but any job where you have a large number of minimum wage employees handling expensive merchandise, you will see theft. You could start a similar thread on people who have had things stolen from their hotel room by maids, or out of their car by car wash jockeys, etc. It’s a reflection on society, not the airlines. They really can’t be responsible for the shitty morals of Joe Baggage Handler, no matter what honest people think. They would have to pay a hell of a lot more than they do to get some semblance of assurance that the people they hire are reasonably honset, which would drive up ticket prices, which the public would bitch about, etc.
Except that baggage handlers aren’t paid even close to Minimum wage:
Average= $13.03/hr which is well more than twice Fed min Wage of $5.15/hour. And they get decent benefits (the travel benfits are very nice). The airlines pay enough so that the baggage handlers shouldn’t be expected to steal. Mind you it’s not exactly my dream job.
I know you’re a Guest here, but we want to stop Ignorance, not spread it.
Wait a minute.
Like I said, I’m sure the airline tries to escape liability as much as humanly possible. I just don’t think it’s accurate to say, as many have in this thread, that airlines are automatically indemnified from all theft of property from passengers’ checked bags.