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Lost luggage gets opened and inventoried and tracked in a computer system. This should be easy to track down if they care. What seems to have likely happened

Lost luggage gets opened and inventoried and tracked in a computer system. This should be easy to track down if they care. What seems to have likely happened here is when the bag was on the way out of the lost stuff storage area someone noticed it had valuables and being one of the last people in the line of steps they took the valuables and put crap nobody would miss in its place. Such a substitution must happen early, before the bag gets inventoried, or late when it's on its way out, because validating claims of what's in the bag is a key part in the process of how lost luggage is returned. It's less the bag would have gotten back to her if the substitution happened early because "hey I'm looking for a bag full of shoes" doesn't result in any hits when the shoes have been sub'd out for garbage. Furthermore, there's decent video and paper trailer for handling of baggage because otherwise it's a smuggling/theft/crime vector and the airports sell lost luggage in bulk so they don't want the good stuff going missing. The audit trail is less good for lost baggage exiting the system to its rightful owner because it was already subject to scrutiny on entry. It is likely that this does ultimately get tracked down because lost luggage, at least in the US, is handled mostly by the airports themselves so the airline and airports will want to point the finger at each other and the truth should eventually come out. I'm sure when all the dust settles they'll fire a line employee and offer her $500 worth of air miles or some other completely unsatisfactory outome like that.

OJFord 1y ago
> Lost luggage gets opened and inventoried and tracked in a computer system. This should be easy to track down if they care. Lol. It also gets just left in the open. I came through YYZ from LHR a couple of days after my father in law from DEL, I was to ask someone about his lost bag but just happened to notice it amongst a bunch of others neatly to the side in baggage reclaim; so I just picked it up and walked out. Could've taken anyone else's too. But then how bad is that anyway, because I can do the same thing at the carousel when it comes out without it ever being lost. Kind of wild there's no checks on it really.
- toast0 1y ago
  > Kind of wild there's no checks on it really. Luggage collection is already slow enough. Adding a correlation check would make it even slower. Plus a good number of people immediately lose their luggage slip once their bag is tagged... I wouldn't necessarily trust people having a matching slip anyway because you could just scan and print one... So then you're checking IDs and everyone who has a bag in their name needs to be present at baggage claim instead of splitting up some someone can get the rental car. That said, I think they did do ID based baggage claim when I went on a cruise... You'd find your bag and wave down an attendant and point. Needed a lot more space and labor.
  - OJFord 1y ago
    Why an extra slip? Just link it to passport/travel document or boarding pass (it already is). It could be something like a cable that clasps a handle and is attached to the carousel, a few points around it have a scanner, once you see your bag you scan and it releases. I don't know how big a problem theft actually is and I'm not really suggesting it necessarily, I just think compared to the rest of life and travel it's quite surprising that that's the way it is.
- fxtentacle 1y ago
  "Kind of wild there's no checks on it really." In some countries, there are. At the customs gate, they'll ask to see your tickets and then check them against the luggage tags.

OJFord 1y ago

> Lost luggage gets opened and inventoried and tracked in a computer system. This should be easy to track down if they care. Lol. It also gets just left in the open. I came through YYZ from LHR a couple of days after my father in law from DEL, I was to ask someone about his lost bag but just happened to notice it amongst a bunch of others neatly to the side in baggage reclaim; so I just picked it up and walked out. Could've taken anyone else's too. But then how bad is that anyway, because I can do the same thing at the carousel when it comes out without it ever being lost. Kind of wild there's no checks on it really.

toast0 1y ago
> Kind of wild there's no checks on it really. Luggage collection is already slow enough. Adding a correlation check would make it even slower. Plus a good number of people immediately lose their luggage slip once their bag is tagged... I wouldn't necessarily trust people having a matching slip anyway because you could just scan and print one... So then you're checking IDs and everyone who has a bag in their name needs to be present at baggage claim instead of splitting up some someone can get the rental car. That said, I think they did do ID based baggage claim when I went on a cruise... You'd find your bag and wave down an attendant and point. Needed a lot more space and labor.
- OJFord 1y ago
  Why an extra slip? Just link it to passport/travel document or boarding pass (it already is). It could be something like a cable that clasps a handle and is attached to the carousel, a few points around it have a scanner, once you see your bag you scan and it releases. I don't know how big a problem theft actually is and I'm not really suggesting it necessarily, I just think compared to the rest of life and travel it's quite surprising that that's the way it is.
fxtentacle 1y ago
"Kind of wild there's no checks on it really." In some countries, there are. At the customs gate, they'll ask to see your tickets and then check them against the luggage tags.