[lori_arizona]

This e-mail is being sent to tell people to check their luggage carefully after flying with Southwest Airlines. I took a flight with them last week. My luggage did not have an inspection notice in it, it was not damaged or opened in any way, and it was a direct flight to my destination. When I reached my destination I discovered that two pieces of my under clothing were missing. I was sure I'd packed them, but decided to wait to call them until I got home to make sure I'd not left them at my home. I had not.....

I called Southwest and was told that I need to call their long distance claims dept.number. I was then told by their claims dept. that the claim would be denied by them because
1.) More than 4 hours had passed since I received my luggage,
and 2.) there was no visible damage to my luggage.

So, my assumption is that because their employees know this policy, they are taking small items that won't be missed immediately. Now I'm wondering about those earrings that have been "lost" on a prior trip.

So, my advice is to either not fly Southwest Airlines or to make a complete inventory of what you packed so that you can check to make sure nothing is missing. Include it with a big note inside your luggage to discourage anyone that might be thinking of pilfering through your belongings.
--
Lori in Arizona

[dobergirl22]

I keep most liquids in plastic bags but I was short one coming home from SF. But the liquid was Head and Shoulders shampoo and it has a good clasp, firm and strong. When I got home, shampoo was all over my hair dryer, curling iron, and all the other stuff. The top, (clasp) had been ripped off and was lying in the bottom of my case in a lake of shampoo. Nothing else was broken or harmed in any way so the case hadn't been slammed or dropped. Just the clasp on the shampoo was twisted off. I imagine it took some amount of strength to do it.

I guess it was a joke. "What fun! Look at the sloppy mess this poor flea bag will have to clean up."

I mention in passing, too, that I had a bag of Basil's delicious coffee candies in the front zippered pocket on my overnight bag and that was gone. But that was the least of it. The shampoo mess is my real complaint. My hair dryer is in bad shape. I hope I can restore it.

I see your baggage section has had other complaints. Maybe you should do some spying and get them to quit this childishness.

Disappointed in SW.

Phyllis

[Silent Bob]

Lori - please note that before your bag gets to the SW agents, TSA goes through it first, so you may wanna start there. Just recently a TSA agent was arrested for stealing expensive items out of bags (http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/107092). Also inventorying your items is a good idea, but leaving the inventory sheet inside your bag won't discourage thieves because they can just toss it away, true?

[[email protected]]

Great, a complaint regarding theft from luggage and then a case for plausible deniability, it could have been the TSA. I recently flew on Southwest flt 766 and when I arrived found some items missing from my bag. I just read where we only have four hours to check our stuff or they simply disregard any complaints. Well it was long after four hours so I can forget that. I like Southwest and am satisfied with most of their performance. But I don't like excuses like it could have been TSA. Sure but if there is a thief either Southwest or TSA should have a process in place to protect the public from common place pillfering. TSA and Southwest, there is a thief in one of your organizations between Denver Colorado and San Diego CA, do something about it. If I talk about travel to anyone in the future I'm going to be frank and say either Southwest or TSA in Denver or San Diego have a thief on thier staff.

Joe from Colorado Springs

[Christina]

My boyfriend took a trip from Reno to Oakland to find that his medication was missing. He called me to complain that I had forgotten to pack it. I knew I had so called the Reno airport. The Southwest Airlines manager informed me that they had a big problem with medication, it was very popular on the black market and to never pack it in your luggage! As it was, the medication was found -in a side zip pocket. But good to know it can be stolen.

[justme]

The problem with complaints like this are that it could have been ANYONE or ANYTHING between when you dropped it off and when you picked it up. All the automation systems that aren't exactly gentle with bags, zippers come open, handles come off, bags get crushed, stuff falls out, TSA opens it and doesn't close it properly, TSA opens it and finds something you would never dream of that is prohibited. Obviously undergarments and medication are not prohibited items, but the idea is that there are things that are not allowed that passengers have no idea about. Did you know that peanut butter looks the same as plastic explosives to the scanners? On a good day at a hub airport there are a minimum of 6-7 people that touch the bag before it is even on the airplane. Not to mention the 6-7 transfers from one belt to another, or from a belt to a cart, from the cart to the plane etc. So, between the time you drop it off at the counted and pick it up at the claim belt there have been 12-15 people that have touched it, and it has been transfered 10-15 times. Airlines are doing their best to streamline this process, but there's only a certain number of steps you can cut out. The lesson to be learned here is do not put anything in your bag other than clothes and your toothbrush. Carry everything else with you if you don't want it to potentially be damaged, lost, or missing.

[Gromit801]

One thing you can do, it use a TSA lock. These locks are available at travel stores, and sometimes at the check in counter. The TSA have a special key that can unlock the bag if they need to get into it. If anything is then missing, you don't have to look far to point a finger (providing the bag wasn't forced open). Even if TSA made some lame excuse such as a stolen key, they're still responsible for those keys.

[oh my]

2 things:

1. To phyllis, that you think people are going to waste their time and effort to rifle through your (possibly) dirty laundry, just to bust your shampoo, and potentially ruin your hair dryer, is just silly. i've worked for an airline for 9 years, upstairs and downstairs, and i have never known anyone that does this for "fun." If someone's gonna go through your potentially funky stuff, they're going to take something as their reward. And hopefully get fired for it.

2. To christina, WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOUR BOYFRIEND (or anyone else for that matter) CHECK MEDICATION?!?!?!?!

[Jetliner]

Originally Posted by oh my

To phyllis, that you think people are going to waste their time and effort to rifle through your (possibly) dirty laundry, just to bust your shampoo, and potentially ruin your hair dryer, is just silly.

Not so fast. We had problems with the TSA doing just this. The bags would come down to the bagroom soaking wet. We would open the bag, and find a bottle of you name it - shampoo, body spray, hair spray, etc, with the cap removed and the bottle put back into the bag. Our system was one where the screening was done on the way to the bagroom, so in other words, the passenger does not carry their bag over to TSA, the ticket counter agent puts the bag on the belt.

Now, I know that the ticket counter agent was not the one doing this, as they would not be able to open the bag like that in front of the passengers, and not get noticed, and it would arrive like that to the bagroom. The only ones in between to touch the bag is the TSA. The problem is the TSA management would never cooperate and investigate.

[justme]

Jetliner, I agree whole-heartedly that TSA is a major contributer to this problem. The way I read oh my's post was to mean the baggage handlers on the ramp don't have time, and quite simply don't care enuf to do something so trivial and useless. I do not deny that it has happened, as I am sure that it has somewhere, but I don't think it's as rampant as people are lead to believe.

[PHXFlyer]

Originally Posted by justme

Jetliner, I agree whole-heartedly that TSA is a major contributer to this problem. The way I read oh my's post was to mean the baggage handlers on the ramp don't have time, and quite simply don't care enuf to do something so trivial and useless. I do not deny that it has happened, as I am sure that it has somewhere, but I don't think it's as rampant as people are lead to believe.

Well, there was the case of the baggage handlers at Newark. But the theft there was mostly from cargo, not the trivial pickings from passenger bags.

[justme]

Just last week they caught 2 guys theiving in JFK. It was a TSA agent that was actually doing the stealing, and the baggage agent was "looking on", whatever that means. Here's the story.

[Gromit801]

Now if they would do that regularly at all airports.