Newly Bought Clothes Mysteriously Escape Your Luggage And Return Themselves
Ah yes, the Philadelphia Airport. You'll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. A baggage handler has been charged with two counts of theft after a woman noticed that $550 worth of clothes (with the price tags still on) had mysteriously wandered out of her luggage.
The Philadelphia Inquirer says the woman searched her condo and then called Nordstrom, who told her that the items had meandered all the way to the King of Prussia mall where they returned themselves. How very, very unusual...
American Airlines reviewed the surveillance tapes and pointed the finger at their baggage crew chief, who was then arrested by the Philadelphia police.
Airport baggage handler charged with theft [Philadelphia Inquirer]
(Photo:benh57)
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Win one for the little guy. Theft was a rampant problem even when you were allowed to lock your luggage. Now that it is forbidden (either outright, or by a penalty of a third inspection line to check-in luggages bearing TSA approved locks) I am surprised anything but used underwear makes it through to the other side of the trip.
If it wasn't for the security camera evidence, the PHL International baggage handlers would be the last ones I'd suspect going to all the trouble of taking the clothes back to the KOP mall. Such effort is atypical of them.
We're going on vacation on Monday, and I was still tenatively clinging to the idea of actually checking a bag for the 3-day trip. Now I don't think that'll happen. Sigh.
@rpm773: it's Nordstrom though.
Another shady thing was that Nordstrom would give cash for the return even without a receipt...I guess the details weren't provided (was the receipt with the clothes, did they get cash or a gift card?).
And how would they have known that that bag had clothes with tags on them? Think of all the bags they must go through...
@snowburnt: A Coach bag goes through, and even for their small brains they know it's probably not filled with FTL underwear soaked in beer and skid-marks.
@snowburnt: Nordstrom is so low hassle, I'm pretty sure that they'd give cash for no receipt. It keeps their prices high
Hmm. If the items were returned without a receipt (as I'm assuming they were), how would Nordstrom be able to trace the clothing back to the woman? I mean, I know Nordstrom is fairly upscale, but I imagine many people return many purchases on a daily basis.
@summerbee: Nordstrom probably has security cameras as well, and could access those and crossreference the time stamp with the list of items returned, which are probably cataloged in the system. And they could then match the description of the person returning them with that of the baggage handler.
However, the article doesn't state this, so I'm just guessing that's one of the ways they could have done it.
@snowburnt: You don't need a receipt to get cash for returns at Nordstroms... one of their stellar customer service policies.
As a Philadelphia native, you really won't find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy than that airport. Or at least that's what you'll think until you step outside of it.
Consumerist, I just emailed a very similar story to this, but involving very expensive electronics and some bull crap about "too many carry-ons". Please take a look and see if its post worthy. I personally just don't trust any airport personnel, and if they wanna check in my bag of electronics they can kiss my ass, as I'm not letting that out of my sight.
@pecan 3.14159265: I'd imagine they track high end items on a per-item basis (I know Needless Markup does it that way).
@christoj879: Which is why I always travel with my wife's Coach bag.
Oh, the look on their faces....
@Zeniq: You can lock it, but it has to be a TSA approved lock. These TSA approved locks will work with a master "skeleton key" by the agents for easy bag searches.
I used to just use a plastic zip tie, more to keep the zippers from pulling open accidentally during being knocked around than to prevent theft. I never leave valuables in my luggage, I bring them on carry on.
On my last trip, the TSA cut off my zip tie and put a sticker on my luggage declaring that because I used an "unapproved lock" it was cut off for a luggage search.
Despite my putting a handful of unused zip ties in the side pocket of my suitcase with a large note taped on that said "TSA, extra zip ties in this pocket. Please replace if you cut." No one bothered to put another back on. The zippers worked their way open and some of my clothes fell out. Luckily it was nothing fancy.
I guess I should get one of those TSA locks, too.
@jdmba:
My girlfriend had her used underwear granny panties taken out of her suitcase flying Frontier airlines either at PDX , DEN or DAY.
@h3llc4t: Go get yourself a good carry-on. It's a good investment in this atmosphere.
I bought shoulder bag last summer that gets me about 4 - 5 days worth of casual clothing, plus room for my notebook PC. It easily fits in the overhead, except when American sends those regional jets to PHL. But then I just valet it.
Instead of jail, the penalty for these guys should be to sit on a chair on a raised platform in the middle of the passenger terminal under a large sign that reads: "this baggage handler stole from passengers' luggage". "Feel free to tell him how you feel".
twelve hours per day minus bathroom and one meal break.
Great education for little kids and other baggage handlers.
I had a problem at this airport, too.
I was going through security, and I took my rings off and put them in my shoe so I could go through the metal detector. While I was doing that, the bag x-ray person moved all of my stuff around and effectively dumped all my three of rings on the floor.
She then got INDIGNANT when I told her what happened, looked for them for 1 minute, only found 2, refused to keep looking, and REFUSED to let me search around the bag x-ray area for them. I just stood there in disbelief. Obviously the last ring couldn't have gone very far, but she just completely blew me off, and no one else stepped in to help.
I had to file a claim with TSA, and it look me almost a year and a half to get reimbursed. But, you know, no amount of money can replace the sentimental value that was lost with that ring because a TSA employee was too lazy/stuck up/dickish to correct her own mistake.
I'm so glad I live in Seattle now and don't have to use that airport anymore.
When you check out at nordstrom every item gets a little sticker on the tag. This way you dont need a receipt or have to worry about gift receipts and just need the time with the tags. So maybe the guy said oh my wife got this as a gift and wants to return it.
Baggage crew chief. Wonderful.
I wonder how well that particular crew chief was monitoring his crew(s) so that they weren't stealing stuff.
You should start tagging these stories with "TSA thieves".
@dohtem: Gate-check it. You bring it through security, but then you ask the gate agent if you can gate check your bag. They give you a tag, and you bring it down the jetway with you. Then it's there when you get off the plane.
I like carrying on better, but when you get stuck on a small plane or crowded flight, it's a fallback.
When you buy something at nordstrom, they put little "return" stickers on the tags they scan when you pay. These stickers are scannable (or at least have a code) that links to your receipt. This way a) you can easily return clothing (with the tags still on) without a receipt and b) the returns could be linked with the receipt that presumably the woman had in her wallet or something so they could track the return. If the receipt was with the clothing in her luggage (which is possible, if it's a bunch of clothing with the tags still attached), then one suspects the woman's credit card could be used to find her past purchases and then returns in the system.
@Corbin123: Is that sarcasm? I could see it both ways, yes good customer service for not hassling the customer, but at the same time it offers terrible security for cases like this.
@dohtem: On the smaller "puddle jumper" flights (think walking on the tarmac out to the plane, not on an air bridge), if you carry on a bag that won't fit in the very limited space, they will take it from you as you board and give you a ticket. When you land, your luggage will be waiting for you on a cart plane side where you can claim it.
Actually quite nice, really. Since you have control of you bag up until you physically get on the plane it has less chance of getting "misplaced". Then since it is last on, it's first off and waiting. No need to go wait at the baggage claim.
@rpm773: I have a decent sized bag that would work, I just hate schlepping 3+ days of clothes (including a nice dress and shoes for going out to dinner) around through an airport. My boyfriend is insistent on only doing carryon and brings the absolute bare minimum when he travels. I really hope this flight isn't packed; your suggestion of gate-checking is new to me, I'll have to check it out.
@Danielle Booth: Sounds like a serious case of personnel issues if no one around her stepped in to do anything. I mean, all she had to do was look for your ring. Sigh. This is one of the reasons why I just don't trust TSA people. Whenever I go through security and have to take off my ring, I put it inside one of my bag pockets because if they're going to steal it, they have to actually dig through the front of my bag pockets...and I never carry anything in my carryon that they particularly would have reason to look at.
Next time you go through security, try putting them in a plastic baggie with a good closure and then putting that in your shoe. I hate that it's come down to this kind of preventative measure, but if you can't reason with TSA agents, you have to limit their access to any ways they can screw you over.
@ADismalScience: I'm framing that quote.
I've long been wary of Philly after dealing with several Eagle and Flyer fans.
@pecan 3.14159265: For the moment, it isn't clear they are either of them. Let's work on the functional part first.
@h3llc4t: I just got back from a week in Italy where I traveled with just this one bag:
I purchased it from Samsonite for about $100
Check out 'boarding bags' at Samsonite's website
I think we have our answer to why PHL has the worst rate of lost luggage.
The TSA is apparently accountable to no one. At least the baggage handler at PHL was accountable to the police.
@h3llc4t: For the record, mine is a Victorinox "Standard Issue". It's a little on the pricey side, and there are probably some knock-offs that do just as well for less $, but it's the best bag I've ever bought.
@Danielle Booth:
I've never had to take jewelry off, but I don't wear very much of it. Some secure ideas: tie it/them to your shoelace, put it on your keys (i guess this only really works if you have a carabiner), zip it into the change pocket of your wallet or carry-on.
@knyghtryda: There was a guy who always checked his expensive photography equipment along with his declared starter pistol (like for foot races). The pistol was supposed to be legal in all US states. I remember him writing that since the pistol had to be in a locked case plus declared to the nth degree he said that he never had a problem with theft...
You may want to investigate that angle.
Ah crap, i messed up...
rpm773, I was going to ask you where you got your carryon bag. I've been looking for one that will hold all that stuff and still fit. And won't fall apart, that is.
I shouldn't be typing when I'm sick.
@maxx22:
Skip the meal break and I'm on board (no pun intended). No food/drinks for us in flight, I think the perp should suffer the same fate.
@edwardso: No, some airports have the metal detectors set higher or lower than others due to security or speed requirements.
Here in Nashville, they always have the detectors set mega high. (My though is that is due to the number of former Iraqi Kurds living here- about 8,000 or so of them).
One time I got zapped at BNA because of a metal Cross brand pen on my shirt collar. On the return flight from Tampa I deliberately put the pen on my collar again and it set nothing off...
And this is why I try to never check luggage. I'm surprised we haven't seen a case of a baggage handler replacing a stolen item with a stack of tiles or something.