goods taken from suitcases

Sonia_G

Hello everyone,
we have just returned from Malta flying Air Malta to Exeter and discovered on opening our case that half our allowance of cigeretees & tobacco had been taken/stolen This had not been done by customs & no other items had been taken. Exeter airport do not want to know as "we had left the airport". So they will not provide us with a property irragularity report which is needed for insurance claim.
Air Malta are much more helpful & are conducting an investigation and have issued us with a report which hopefully will be accepted by our insurance company.
According to Exeter there are notices about checking baggage at the airport. I personally have not seen any neither have I seen people at the carousell opening their cases.

However as it has happened to us (& several others on that flight) we want to safeguard ourselves for the future.
Any hints & tips therefore would be appreciated.

Sonia

jpsartre

Best tip in this respect is to not travel with valuables in your checked luggage.

Saint_Chris

something similar happened to us,

on return from majorca, on our flight, my mums case didn't arrive, she filled in a missing form, and 3 days later got a call, to say that the case would be with her, seems it went to finland, then finland sent it via ryanair to dublin, then sent back to liverpool.

when she opened the case she noticed that there was only 1 packet of cigs, she'd put 10 packs in that she'd bought. So someone had helped themselves to 9 sleves.

Nobody wanted to know, and couldn't give us a answer as it had been in so many peoples hands.
In the end the airport gave us a letter and we claimed off the insurance, but we could only do this, because we still had the receipt from the shop that we bought the cigs from.

Like said i now do not put anything valuable in the case, not even my ghd hair straighteners.

alanrowell

Never put anything valuable or essential (eg medicines) in checked luggage. Most insurance companies won't cover you if something is stolen

Mr_Wang

Had it happen to me recently in Egypt when flying from Egypt. Thieving fu***rs stole some nivea face cream and a couple of chargers. They even zipped the pouch on my bag back up!

Bob_the_Saver

Losing those fags those might have just saved your life.

Enterprise_1701C

Use tie-wraps on your case either instead of or as well as padlocks, may be harder for someone to get off if they are armed with only skeleton keys or lock picking equipment, or at the very least you would see the case has been tampered with immediately you collected it.

Sonia_G

thank you for your replies - Enterprise, that is a really good idea & one I'll certainly try.

phatbear

I, and i assume baggage handlers, can get in and out of the vast majority of bags regardless of lock/cable ties etc without any trace.

However im a firm believer that if you can slow a thief down they are less inclined to bother with your bag.

Guess the theory is either dont fut anything in your bag you dont want to lose or make sure you check your contents before you the leave the arrivals hall

Voyager2002

Personally, I travel with old and shabby-looking suitcases and never lock them. I have never lost anything from checked baggage.

gfplux

As cigarettes are so light why not carry them on the plane with you next time.