Safety is a main concern among many travellers in today’s world.  Luggage gets stolen everyday and yes, while it can be prevented, a lot of people can’t help it.  Recently, I had heard on the news about a ring of thieves that would sit around the baggage carousel and steal luggage and proceed to sell the bags on eBay, etc.

When it comes down to securing your luggage, there are some things that you can do to prevent it from happening.  If your luggage gets lost, it’s hard to prevent that but 99% of the time, the airlines will reimburse you.

Try and bring on carry-on only

If you’re going on a short trip, you should be able to do this but if you’re going to be gone for longer than 4-5 days, you may not be able to do this and it’s understandable.  If you’re able to carry-on your luggage, then by all means, do it.  You’re going to save on those pesky carry-on fees and you’ll also be able to keep your eyes on your bags at all times.

Always lock your bags with a TSA lock

If your bags don’t have a lock on it, get a lock but make sure you get a TSA approved lock so that if the agents want to look through your bags, they can get into it.  When thieves are looking to steal, they are looking for bags that don’t have locks, this is going to be easy access for them and that’s why I recommend them.

Never keep valuables in your bag

When checking in your bags, never leave valuables in there like electronics, jewelry and other things that are worth value.  Instead, you should only leave your clothes and other items that you can afford to lose if it does happen.  Clothes really have a value so at least you’ll know they won’t get much out of your luggage.

Get to the baggage claim as soon as you can

Once you get off the plane, go straight to the baggage claim and wait for your bags to come down.  You’ll usually get there before the bags do and when you do get there, watch every bag go down.  Once you spot your bag, keep your eye on it and grab it right away.  The ones that generally get stolen are the ones that are left behind for a while afterwards. 

It’s not hard to keep your luggage secure and it just takes common sense.  Use some of these tips above and let’s hope that your baggage doesn’t get stolen anytime soon.