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It was a Doonesbury cartoon. Or are you saying you don’t think he’d stoop to such a low joke? I did see it with my own eyes, but gosh, I don’t have a cite, and I’m not gonna go back to 1991 or 1992 to look for it!
FWIW, I was a young soldier in those days, so I hadn’t heard the wheelbarrow joke. I still haven’t, but I can already hear it just based on what you said about it.
I actually saw someone loading my baggage onto his cart, whether accidentally, I don’t know, but I had to argue in order to retrieve it.
In numerous airports that I have flown in/out of, you have to show your baggage ticket to an inspector stationed at the exit. They compare it to the ticket on the baggage itself. Hobby Airport in Houston comes to mind as one such place.
Security at Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta used to check luggage claim tags quite consistently – as in every single time (I can think of only two instances out of dozens when they didn’t check). It was the only airport I flew through regularly where they checked. That changed after 9/11, however; I don’t recall having claim tags checked even once since then – the security staff seem to have other things to keep them busy these days.
Recenty activity:
[ul]
[li]Orlando: nothing checked ever.[/li][li]Hermosillo, MX (Commercial): Never, except a single time when my wife was coming in from Leon by herself. Just a couple of weeks ago, in fact. Haven’t gotten the red light yet.[/li][li]Hermosillo, MX (Private): Never, but they don’t care and everyone knows everyone else.[/li][li]Leon, MX: Never, even when getting the red light.[/li][li]Detroit (Commercial): Never.[/li][li]Detroit (Private): Heh. They just toss 'em on the sidewalk in front. But again, we all know each other.[/li][li]Phoenix: nope.[/li][li]Dallas: Nope.[/li][/ul]
Been a slow travel year.
*In Mexico, if you get a “red light” when you push the button, you’re targeted for random inspection by customs.
Thanks for all the comments.
From the replies, I gather that while a small handful of airports do implement ticket-checking, most do not care about your baggage at all?
Okay, fair enough. I’ll be sure to keep valuables with me instead of checking them in, then. Yeah, maybe the thieves don’t find my stuff all that valuable, but I do. No point risking it.
What about the second part of the question – suppose I do get something stolen. Will the airline be willing to help out / reimburse the contents, or is it just too bad for me? Are there different policies for lost vs. stolen luggage? How would I prove to them that the luggage was stolen (or, basically, what would I have to go through to get help)?
I always pack a bomb in my luggage that only I can defuse. Thus if someone steals my bag, he’ll be justly punished for it.
Of course once I post this, I don’t expect I’ll be flying anytime soon…
The one time I was ever on an airplane, I used my mom’s ancient neon pink luggage.
(She insisted I not spend good money on new stuff when her old stuff was perfectly useable.)
I was hoping somebody would steal it.
The only time I’ve ever had my tags checked was at the Madison, WI airport. I had flown into O’Hare on a Sunday night getting back from spring break. Fog canceled my short hop to MSN and I had to get back to Madison, so I bussed back to town without my bag (naturally they couldn’t pull my bag out). The next day I drove to the airport. My bag was one among many that had gotten stuck in Chicago the previous night and there was a security guard checking everyone who pulled a bag from that pile. Thankfully I had thought to bring my ticket jacket…
They weren’t too long - certainly not even as long as the luggage tags they stick on there, so hopefully I’m okay. Now I’m just nervous because I’m on a 14 hour layover and didn’t have to pick up my luggage between flights. I’m just hoping my luggage will be there when I am.
I’ve had to show luggage tags at two different airports: Albuquerque (several times, actually), and Knoxville, Tennessee. Apparently, there’s a correlation between ‘smallness of the airport’ and ‘how much they care’, or something.
Think about it. What are the odds of grabbing a suitcase with anything valuable versus a suitcase full of clothes and souveniers.
Why would the thief have to take a cab? Why not drive a car?
On domestic flights, the airline baggage liability is capped at $2,800 per person. For international flights, the limit is $9.07 per pound (or $20 per kilogram) for checked baggage, and $400 per person for carry-on baggage.
Or drugs. Seriously, why anybody would want to risk taking somebody else’s bag through customs is totally beyond me.
Even on a domestic flight, I’d not want to try any funny business. Airports are not places you want to do this sort of stuff. Especially not these days.
Wrong.
Local flights have little baggage pickup security, in America.
I think we established early in the thread that US (or even most intermational) airports have minimal security actually protecting passengers’ luggage on the carousel.
But you’re trying to tell me that you’d have no problem (after having left the carousel) with wandering through an airport with an unknown suitcase in your hand? Surely, I’m not the only one a wee bit reluctant to try that on.
Dude, I worked AP security, remember?
The baggage carosel is 30 feet from an (unguarded) exit.
If anybody complains about the actions of a guard at the carosel, that guard is fired, to protect the private security firm from lawsuit.
So, guards don’t call anybody out on bag ownership.
You do the math. :rolleyes:
Dude, no I didn’t remember. But you try it on if you like (more power to ya), I’m not willing to take the chance. And as I said, I’m not the only one. Internal US airports are not the only ones with carousels.
Although, my perspective may well be coloured by today’s local news.
I am more worried about losing things at the start of a flight . I am not talking about checked baggage, but the pre-flight security checks. In most airports you have to but your carry-on luggage plus coat , mobile phone and loose change through the x-ray machine. For a woman this includes their handbag ( purse) . For a minute or so you lose sight of all this stuff while you walk through the metal detector and are possibly frisked. There seems to be nothing in place to prevent anyone just walking off with your possessions as it emerges from the x-ray conveyor belt.