Protect Your Bags and Valuables
Tips, Hacks & Scams so you can have a safe vacation
TIPS: 7
Security asks if your bags are always in sight and under your control. But you can’t control bad baggage handlers and other scammers. Use common sense and other techniques to protect your luggage for a safe trip at the airport and on the cruise ship.
Room and cabin not-so-safes. Safes are a convenient way to secure valuables from hotel and ship guests, visitors, and staff, such as bellhops, housekeepers, and room attendants. But it’s not foolproof. There are always people in security and management who can open your safe. Leave your high-value money and valuables at home, keep them on your person, or use a hard case with heavy lock that you open in front of security.
Truly out-of-sight. Don’t over-rely on TSA or other locks for your checked bags. Bags move a long distance to get from airport check-in to the plane. Thieves can quickly remove a bag from a conveyor belt or cart, use a simple tool to get around luggage locks, and open a zipper in seconds. See the recommendations for safes to be truly safe.
Track your Bag. Bluetooth tracking tags can be useful if your bag is delayed, lost, stolen, or otherwise disappears. The tags pair with your smartphone via an app. When nearby, your phone connects to it, letting you trigger an alert sound or view proximity. If lost further away, they rely on crowd-sourced networks of passing phones to anonymously relay their location. Popular tags include Apple AirTag, Samsung Galaxy SmartTag2, Motorola Moto Tag, Tile, and Chipolo.
Baby onboard. Well, not exactly. But you can request a Priority or Fragile sticker for your luggage. Such luggage is typically loaded last on the plane, which means it’s first to be unloaded and available at baggage claim.
Check-in late. Bags are loaded on the plane as they’re received from arriving passengers. So late passenger luggage is loaded on top. Often, but not always, that results in late bags being first to be unloaded and at baggage claim.
Keep the airport luggage tags. Thieves can take or photograph the white luggage tags tossed in baggage claim garbage bins. You’re safely home with your bag, while the crook retrieves your tag and uses the barcode and info to file a claim that says the bag was lost. Dispose of your tag away from the baggage claim area to stay safe.
Avoid jail and the death penalty. In another luggage tag scam, an airport worker switches the tags. You walk out of the arrival airport oblivious to the switch. A drug runner leaves with their bag of drugs. If he’s stopped, “Oops! I picked up someone else’s bag by mistake.” The luggage tag identifies you as the owner of the drugs and you take the fall, which carries the death penalty in some countries. Don’t want to stay in jail? Take a picture of your checked luggage and its weight.