Do you padlock your suitcase?

claire16c · 14 August 2011 at 4:10PM

In the US they usually ask you if your bag is locked when you are checking it in or at the TSA scanner bit anyway, and if you say yes theyll ask you to remove the lock, unless its a TSA one. You are not supposed to use normal padlocks in the US. So I tend to use cable ties and just ask when I get to the hotel if someone can cut it off for me.

It doesnt matter if your case is locked in regards to travel insurance, because like another poster has said if you loose the whole thing it doesnt matter if it was locked or not. Dont most policies tend to go by weight of clothing anyway when it comes to claiming? Otherwise anyone could make up that they had designer clothes in their bag when actually they had a load of stuff from primark.

elisebutt65 · 14 August 2011 at 5:05PM

claire16c wrote: »

It doesnt matter if your case is locked in regards to travel insurance, because like another poster has said if you loose the whole thing it doesnt matter if it was locked or not. Dont most policies tend to go by weight of clothing anyway when it comes to claiming? Otherwise anyone could make up that they had designer clothes in their bag when actually they had a load of stuff from primark.

But I keep my receipts for my clothes for a good couple of years so I can 'prove' how much they cost. I know most people don't do this but I'm just paranoid and it means my shoe boxes have something else to do:rotfl:

anotherginger · 14 August 2011 at 5:27PM

moonrakerz wrote: »

Of course, if you have an "proper/accepted/recognised" padlock then the crooked baggage handlers won't have a key .........................will they ?

i don't understand what you mean. crooked baggage handlers will obviously do what they want, and legit ones have to get access. sarcasm/wit doesn't across too well on internet forums if thats what you are aiming for!

personally, i don't tend to lock and i travel a lot with no issues to date. i've had bags searched 'behind the scenes' twice and no items missing.

loveabargain13 · 15 August 2011 at 10:46AM

I always padlock my case, got home from vegas to find my case had been searched and a note inside saying they had checked it, I would never have known...everything was packed back so neatly! and padlocked back up.
The thing is to never lock your case with the keys inside! hehe my Mum did!

Olokia · 16 August 2011 at 3:53PM

TSA people and locks are rubbish

I always lock my case so when I went to America I bought an expensive TSA lock so they can open it if they needed to without breaking.

After arriving back in England (while waiting for my partners case to be changed because they damaged his) I noticed that my lock had disappeared. I opened my case and there was a note saying that they had searched it. I then found my TSA lock broken because they couldn't be bothered to go find the keys for it.:mad:

Never going to buy a TSA lock again because they will just break it anyway.