Ever had anything stolen in flight?

[donlee]

Thank you all for bringing up this very pertinent topic. I've been lucky thus far but you can never be too sure. Yet another thing I've learnt since joining AFF! Cheers.

 

[MatF]

Haven't had anything stolen yet, touch wood. I usually take a messenger bag on board, which is difficult if not impossible to lock, unfortunately. At least it normally only has my work laptop, and not a personal one in it

I always put my carryon in the overhead on the other side of the aisle, instead of above me. Gives at least a chance of seeing someone rifling through it, whereas there's no way of knowing which bag someone is looking through if it's above you. Of course that doesn't help if I'm asleep.

 

[ashleyn]

Recently watched a woman in the row in front of me stow her bag in the overhead locker. On arrival, she insisted that was not her bag and thought someone had taken her bag, she was quite frantic. I got down the bag I knew was hers and she said "oh yes that's it". Lesson, be careful about assuming your bag/whatever has been stolen, could have just moved or been moved or you forgot where you put it.

 

[beentheredonethat]

Had all my cash stolen from my handbag on a domestic flight whe I went to the toilet. Didn't discover it till I tried to get my car out of the car park.

 

[Simo]

I haven't had anything stolen in flight but I had heard a story about a FA in business stealing stuff from jackets that where being placed so they did not get crushed mid flight.

Now lounges are a different story.

 

[conventdweller]

I haven't had anything stolen but Ms Paranoid is my name Nothing is left to chance and sadly I trust no one, personal and valuable items and documents are connected to my person during any flight where I sleep, I guess not too difficult in BC as one has more room. Little or nothing goes in the overhead lockers and if you notify your seat preference as window, in BC there is usually a large locker beside the seat for personal items. I'm not too worried about what others think and dread the thought of being stranded in a country where English is not the native tongue without money, passport or mobile phone. As for leaving luggage by the seat in the BC lounge, I suggest always choose a seat that can be seen from the servery.

 

[Rocket88]

There are a couple points i must make about this story.
1. If there is a gang of thieves on Singapore Air they must need to steal enough to cover all their airfares at least in economy otherwise it would be uneconomical for them. Stolen property is only worth a fraction of its shelf price. Just a bit cynical of the story i guess. Unless, of course, it is an inside job.
2. I always try to put my bag in the overhead locker opposite my seat , not above my seat so i can keep an eye on it most of the time.
3. I saw an interesting event a few months ago when somebody went to take somebody else's bag out of the overhead locker and move it to a far locker so they could get all their baggage in the one overhead locker. For a moment it looked blood would be spilt. If the second person did not see this person removing their baggage then it would appear their items were stolen. Extremely bad manners on the part of the first person removing somebody else's baggage.
4. Since when can a MBA purchased for 1500 dollars or whatever when most of us have to pay thousands, sacrifice a lot of time and study time to get a real MBA. Typical of the pretentiousness of apple owners.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Uhmm MBA = MacBook Air...

Though I agree on anti-apple sentiment

 

[blackcat20]

I must be very trusting; on long haul flights I leave my bag under the seat when i visit the bathroom. Though I do tend to make friendly with the person sitting next to me and get a good sense of their trustworthiness. I've also left carry on bags with someone I've met at the gate while I visit the bathroom, though I take my handbag with me.

 

[jetlagger]

I'm not surprised if this were starting to become more prevelant.

On an aside, when I was travelling with family in India a while ago (15+yrs ago but equally applicable now) on an overnight bus out of Bangalore out to the rural areas...my cousin found that her suitcase, kept in the overhead storage rack, had been broken into, had valuables removed, and the suspected thieves quietly alighted at some point in the night. From this incident Ive always taken to the habit of locking my bags, even carry ons on flights where I'll be asleep - SYD-PER included.

Similar scenario.. locked up my bag with a huge chain & monster padlock whenever I went to toilet/ buy food or slept on the Indian trains.. It was a challenge.. I was solo & trusted nobody, - so many 'befriending types" all with an ulterior motive - Thieving is so very rampant.. :evil:

 

[k_sheep]

I'm a bit paranoid, so carry on and checked baggage are always locked. When travelling through dodgy areas, my money belt has passport copy (original left at hotel or hostel), credit cards and large cash (keep ~$10 in my wallet or pocket). In train trips, bag is locked to a post or other immovable object. Fingers crossed, been okay so far (had stuff stolen from locket hotel rooms though!).

 

[harvyk]

As someone who only infrequently visits lounges, I've always been fascinated at people freely leaving their belongings at a table.

I suppose there isn't much choice when travelling solo though, can't do the roll on, food plate (or two ) and drink!

Yes I have always found it amusing that at anywhere else in the airport, if you left your belongs sitting there unattended, they would most likely evacuate the airport and call the bomb squad, and yet in the lounges people leave bags and valuables sitting there completely unattended without anyone as much as raising an eyebrow.

I suppose in someway it's slightly more difficult to enter a lounge than the rest of the airport and thus we assume the riff raff have been turned away at the door.

 

[cmon0005]

I usually travel with a small roller bag (Qantas branded of course have always been a bit paranoid (probably for good reason I guess), so I always keep my passport/wallet/phone on me at all times. My bag only contains some spare clothes, phone chargers, pen and other misc stuff that I made need for the flight and after the flight.

Even when I am flying in J, and sleeping on a flat bed I still keep my passport in my pocket, although uncomfortable I can rest easy knowing my important stuff is with me.

When I fly Y, it is so uncomfortable anyway can't get proper sleep and am a light sleeper as it is, so even the quietest foot steps or locker opening awakes me and I always open my eyes to see what is happening!

 

[Canny man]

I've had the opposite experience. I've left something of value on the seat when exiting and had a fellow pax point it out.
Nevertheless, I never leave anything in a jacket that's going in to a communal cupboard, and like other posters keep my passport and wallet on my person when sleeping.

As to lounges, there have been a couple of times in the last year (BNE and Perth) when I've seen police in the lounge after announcements of a missing bag. Equally, I left a pair of Boses in the Perth lounge last year and they turned up at lost property thanks to a random honest stranger.