5 ms·

I have never understood is why there is no security around the pickup of bags on arrival. What prevents someone from simply picking up my bag from the carousel,

• dmitriid 7y ago
  It happens on such a small scale that security isn’t needed
  • Tor3 7y ago
    There is, however, a non-zero risk for losing your handluggage or purse while waiting for your checked-in luggage. I know one fairly large (for European standards) airport where, for some reason, pickpockets (or what to call them) are able to get into the (closed) baggage area, and you have to keep an eye on your belongings at all times.
  • gowld 7y ago
    Why doesn't the TSA apply that theory to flight security?
    • wahern 7y ago
      Because like nuclear power people (writ large) have an especially irrational fear of flying; they demand crippling levels of security theatre. Terrorists understand this, too.
• nkrisc 7y ago
  Perhaps there very little to gain. Airport security can ask you at any time to see the corresponding stub for your baggage tag. So you want to steal a bag, what are you risking it for? Some clothes?
• mhb 7y ago
  It seems like the answer to this would be the same as the answer to the other question. The laissez faire baggage claim is refreshingly delightful in contrast to the hell that every other aspect of air travel has become though.
• Plyphon_ 7y ago
  Because overwhelmingly bags are full of clothes and cosmetics. The majority of which will be already used in some capacity. Even the most opportunist thief probably doesn't want someone elses old clothes and half empty tins of hair product. Even worse if it's a return flight - that means the clothes are dirty!
• kijeda 7y ago
  Baggage claim in most airports around the world is behind some kind of one way exit point so you need to have been a traveller on a flight to get access to the baggage carousel. It is also not uncommon in places where petty theft is high for you to have to show your baggage receipt matches the baggage tag before you can take it from the baggage handling area.
  • enjo 7y ago
    This isn’t true of any airport I can think of... and I travel (across the world) quite frequently. The exception is baggage claims for international flights which are usually in a secure area due to the need to pass through customs.
    • hjk05 7y ago
      This is true of literally every single airport i’ve ever traveled through. I guess experiences vary greatly.
      • arkades 7y ago
        This would be a more useful discussion if both of you just named the relevant airports.
      • gambiting 7y ago
        Where were those airports out of curiosity? I've flown hundreds of times in my life, airports across Europe, and I have never ever seen this.
    • matchbok 7y ago
      Every airport in the US I've been to...
      • wahern 7y ago
        I've been to almost every major airport, and several regional ones, in the continental United States and I can't remember a single baggage claim area for domestic flights that wasn't open to the public. Just this past weekend: Boston and San Francisco, both open to the public. My favorite airport was Long Beach; it's been ~9 years, but last time I flew in the baggage claim conveyor belt was literally outside at the curb. (And this is why that place rocked. The expansion has likely since ruined all the little conveniences of LGB.) Once upon a time some baggage areas had security which would spot-check claim tickets before you could leave the baggage area. That was mostly pre-9/11, though, when checking in your bags could be easier than leaving with them. Some major airports have [now] uselessly annoying barriers to baggage claim areas for that purpose.
• snarf21 7y ago
  In some airports they do. I was in Atlanta last month, and a representative was checking bags against ID as everyone picked up their bag. I'm sure it is a function of the frequency of things getting stolen.
  • madcaptenor 7y ago
    I've never seen this on maybe a few dozen flights into Atlanta.
• andyjohnson0 7y ago
  I've wondered this too. Maybe because almost all the people who have access to the carousel area are passengers with luggage. So any potential thief could also be the potential victim of theft - and in some game-theoretic way it is therefore most advantageous for everyone to be honest. Analogous to a Nash equilibrium? Same reason why theft from tents on campsites is not (in my experience) so prevalent. Tents are vulnerable to burglary but most of the potential burglars are other campers and are therefore also vulnerable.
• hjk05 7y ago
  Most the time the fact that you are stranding there right next to the belt waiting. It’s a extreme high risk crime with little reward and no way for the criminal to make sure what they’ll get. They’d have a more profitable time trying to pick wallets from people waiting for their baggage.
  • toper-centage 7y ago
    Pick any discreet bag up, and if the owner comes after you, say oops my bad. Not that hard.
• tjohns 7y ago
  Sometimes there is. I've had security check my claim tag before exiting the carousel area at LAX before. But that's certainly not the norm, even at LAX. I suspect it's risk based. If they have reason to suspect there's ongoing theft, then they add additional layers of security. Outside of that... theft would be extremely risky. There's a good chance the owner is already at the carousel somewhere watching their bag come out, and there's cameras everywhere.
• jon-wood 7y ago
  Many people have pointed out that to get there you need to have flown in (probably losing money on the deal). Another, probably much smaller factor, is that there’s a non-zero chance that you grabbed the bag of someone bringing contraband in - at which point you’re going through airport security with a choice of saying the bag is yours and being arrested, or saying you stole it and being arrested. There are just much easier ways for a thief to make a living.
  • stronglikedan 7y ago
    I cannot recall ever arriving at an airport where any local couldn't have walked in the arrival exit, grabbed a bag off the belt, and walked out without passing any type of security whatsoever. Aren't the belts usually right by the exits? I mean, perhaps security is watching for that type of activity via cameras, but I've never seen a checkpoint to get out after getting my bags.
    • sithadmin 7y ago
      In the US, if you're arriving from an international flight, then baggage claim will be before you clear a final CBP and customs checkpoint. For domestic flights in the US, yes, generally anybody can just waltz up and take a bag if they wished.
• showdead 7y ago
  Nothing. It made the news in 2009 in Phoenix: http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/airport-luggage-theft/ http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/airport-luggage-theft/