If you can, you should use a color photocopy of the jewelry with some kind of proof of appraisal behind it.

At this point, why even do anything but carry on?

Why, oh why, would anyone ever check gold, sapphires, diamonds, or any type of valuable jewelry?! What logical reason could there possibly be? And they were heirlooms?!

@Eldritch: I generally try to travel wearing a few "goes with everything" cheap pieces, less to loose/ have stolen. But I think if I owned really expensive stuff, and I absolutely had to have it on my trip, I'd ship it insured. Less risk of being stolen that checking it, better insured if something does happen than checking it or carrying it on.

See, that's the problem I have with this "We Won't Take Responsibility" BS. If you're going to check my baggage and not let me carry it and load it onto the plane, you DAMN WELL better take responsibility for it. Especially on these airlines that have the balls to make you pay for your checked luggage. I'm not going to say I've never been selfish at times. But the selfishness and lack of care for the consumers that support the airline industry is causing it to destroy itself.

@hillsrovey:

Attempted insurance fraud? That would be my first guess and the person was just stupid enough to not know the exclusions.

@hillsrovey: While it's probably not smart to check these items becuase of the high chance they will get stolen.....

...I also don't think it's completely unreasonable to expect the airline to protect the contents of your checked bags.

Don't the TSA Agents/Bag Checkers go through background checks to work at the airport? Shouldn't they be held to a higher standard?

Plus... You can't tell me there is not one single camera in the assembly lines that take the luggage to the tarmac.

Delta SHOULD be responsible for checking these cameras to make sure there is no internal theft.

Then you had better be willing to stand in line for 8-10 hours every time you fly. That's how long it would take for someone from the airline to go through every piece of luggage and hand verify that the "expensive " jewelry you packed was in fact there.@Jason Renda:

Everytime I fly there seems to be one person in line that appears to have lived in a cave for the previous 5 years. What? I have to take off my shoes? What? I can't wear all this metal jewelry through a metal detector? What? You mean I need to hold onto my boarding pass and can't jam it into the depths of my purse?@Eldritch:

Why don't the airlines actually do background checks on their employees? And investigate when things go missing?

I mean what a great chance for cheap PR.

@idip:

Problem is, could be Delta, could be TSA. Delta's not responsible for TSA, and vice versa.

I'm with Delta here... the exclusions on checking valuables are not exactly obscure, new, or unique to Delta. I would have denied the claim too.

@johnfrombrooklyn:

Also, it could have been TSA, and Delta can't be responsible for them.

@hillsrovey: Maybe it is the mistaken believe that now that the federal government runs "airport security," everything is hunky dory.

I mean, they have cameras everywhere to keep us "safe" from "terrorists," so that should be enough to make sure our baggage is secure, right?

The tuition fees to the School of Hard Knocks can be high, indeed.

I vote for K-Bo's solution as the best (ship it insured) if one *absolutely* had to have one's baubles on the trip.

@Jason Renda: IIRC most of these cases have been the doing of the TSA, not the airlines. The TSA employees are the only people digging through your bag, it would look suspicious for a Delta employee to be rummaging through your things.

@myfakename: Because it was probably the TSA, not Delta.

File this under "duh."

Also, it's a good idea to have personal articles insurance policies on ALL of your very expensive jewelry (anything worth over $1000.)

@sirwired: Shanna, they bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into. I say, let 'em crash!

"We won't take responsibility" really won't hold up in court. You are paying them to get your luggage from point A to point B and they have a legal responsibility to do so.

@idip: IIRC, there isn't. You have to remember that a lot of these jobs are Union, and if the union doesn't want cameras, they don't install cameras. And even if you do, there is always someplace where there is no coverage, like the bathrooms.

Apparently I'm not the only person who carries around a jewelers loupe. Delta baggage throwers do as well.

While they may not be "responsible", a crime has occurred. Whether they were stolen from her house, her handbag or her luggage this is a theft and police should investigate it in that manner.

@idip: You DO know how many times this has happened before, right? Go check out FlyerTalk. Somehow the existence of cameras (if there even ARE cameras) are no deterrent.

They are in possession, they are responsible.

What happens with firearms? I believe they have to be checked but do they get stolen as often?

I'm with hillsrovey on this one. I'm sorry the lady's heirlooms were stolen, but for poop's sake, even a kid ought to know not to leave valuables inside a suitcase that's going to disappear into a behind the scenes netherworld where a baggage handler can take their time riffling through your belongings.

Okay, so we let airlines treat us like cattle in the name of "security" concerns that really are meaningless.

Then we have it proven - repeatedly - that any of the gormless fucks working behind the scenes can get in there and do whatever the hell they want with your luggage, apparently without any supervision or oversight at all.

You can rag on this poor theft victim all you want for checking the jewellery in her luggage, but what if the thief was a terrorist and was putting stuff in there instead of taking it out?

WTF, Home Security?

My rule of thumb when traveling by air has always been, "If it's something you need to see again or really want to see again, carry it on." Otherwise, it's no man's land for checked baggage. Friend of mine's brother had several hundred dollars' worth of DVD's stolen from his checked baggage on a flight home from college. The airline offered $200 of credit with their airline as a replacement. Which of course, you know doesn't replace the DVD's you lost. And of course when you bring up the likely internal theft issue their their employees or the TSA employees, they sat there denying it was possible.

Well then Mr. airline or airport personnel, if your employees aren't the ones taking peoples' stuff, who is? You don't allow people access to their bags once checked, remember? To keep all the "terrorist" action at a minimum. If some outside person is rifling through my bags stealing my shit, then aren't they planting bombs too?

Yeah, they had no good response to that.

I've lugged a lot of expensive stuff in my carry on before from my camera and other electronics, to my wii and games, to my magic the gathering decks and binders. It always gets me extra attention at security, but I don't care. I arrive early, so they I can get through with everything intact. They tried to tell e I should have checked my wii that one time too, and I laughed and said, "do you honestly think it would have still been in my bag when I got to my destination? I highly doubt it. Not when people will pay $450 cash for one." Back when they were impossible to find. The TSA guy tried to say that the employees don't steal. I just rolled my eyes and shook my head.

@bravohotel01: To ship high-priced jewelry (over $500), USPS is the only reasonable option. Registered Mail provides insurance up to $25,000 whereas UPS provides only up to $500 and FedEx up to $100.

@johnfrombrooklyn: You can wear plenty of metal jewelry through a metal detector. It has to be honking HUGE to set them off!

I agree valuables in checked luggage isn't a smart plan. But if it has to be checked, check it with a starter pistol and declare firearm. Getting something stolen out of THAT bag is the kind of thing that gets on CNN. In fact, if I ran a shop at an airport, I'd rent starter pistols complete with prepaid return envelopes. Sorta like netflix for 'firearms' ;)

@computerwiz3491: Could have been Delta, TSA, etc., etc. -- pretty much what everyone has been saying already. Proving who took what, and when, is impossible. You can't, and won't, win in court.

@jwissick: Most of the time, TSA is in possession of your baggage.

I just got back from Philly airport where my teenaged daughter was catching a flight down south to see her dad for a few weeks. She said that her laptop (about 6-7 lbs.) in the bag was too heavy and it was slim enough to put into her suitcase that was going to be checked. I asked her if she ever again wanted to see the new toy that she had to work and pay for herself; if so then it needs to stay in the laptop carrying bag and go on the plane with her and not to EVER go out of her sight at anytime while in the airport or even on the plane. She couldn't believe that airline or security agents would steal stuff from people's luggage. And here I thought my teenager was actually more in touch with the world then even I am (and I've only ever flown twice in my life)!

With a little thought and minor effort the airlines could all but eliminate theft from baggage it wouldn't take much. UPS and Fedex handle several orders of magnitude more packages without this problem. the only difference is the airlines are granted a free pass and virtual monopolies And no your luggage is not really any different than a package from UPS or fedex a large portion of which go on planes the same as your luggage.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Not even slightly true. The jewelry that sets off the walk-through the most is the simple bangle bracelet. Any contiguous circle of metal seems to set it off, assuming that metal is ferrous. For example, unclasping a solid bracelet will usually get you through the metal detector without it going off, but keeping it clasped will ding you every time.

@WarOperationPlanResponse_GitEmSteveDave: And you don't think a baggage handler taking a bag into the bathroom would cause anyone to question exactly what he is doing? The most likely place to rob a bag is right out on the tarmac (there are plenty of camera blindspots) or in the cargo hold, where there are no cameras. In my airport, the baggage handlers are literally feet away when we at the TSA search bags. It would be very easy for them to relay bag descriptions and contents to other workers.

@CharityCaecus: The most likely place to rob a bag is right out on the tarmac (there are plenty of camera blindspots) or in the cargo hold, where there are no cameras. In my airport, the baggage handlers are literally feet away when we at the TSA search bags. It would be very easy for them to relay bag descriptions and contents to other workers.

Of course, it's much easier to just rely on uneducated bias and blame the TSA.

@supercereal: Not true at all. TSA possesses the bags when they are screened. In most airports that means when they pass through a CT scanner. Immediately after that, they are given back to the airlines to be sorted and put into the planes. I might spend five minutes with a bag if it needs to be hand checked, but the airline has it for however long they wait to load the plane. If you check in two hours early, that means the airline has your bag for at least an hour before they even think about putting it into the cargo hold.

@supercereal: I think he is referring it to being a "bailment." Give it a search on wikipedia if you don't know what that is. Courts have often ruled that hotels, parking garages, etc. have created bailments even when their tickets/contracts state that they are not responsible for theft, damage, etc. He doesn't have to prove who took it and when.

@Shivved: I meant the jewelery bag, where the jewelery was inside the main bag. That would allow the time to sort through the stuff and pick the good things out.

@Yurei: It was the man on the wing! He's out there. LOOK!

@computerwiz3491:

Do you think I can cite your opinion when my case goes to court? I was flying on Continental a couple months back and I had the hope diamond in my checked luggage. It was stolen and now I'm suing them for restitution.

@henwy: As Corbin123 pointed out, it is indeed the legal principle of bailment. By taking your luggage and your money, the airline and the TSA agreed to take reasonable precautions in getting luggage from point A to point B. So if you can prove that the hope diamond was in your luggage and that it was lost by the airline or the TSA.
@supercereal: As my grandfather always says "Sue everybody and everything and let the courts sort it out"

@Shivved: Because, you know, there's no precedent there or anything.

[consumerist.com]

The problem is she had to go through Atlanta - the toilet center of the known universe. Too bad no one told her that you don't check anything that you wouldn't mind losing to a scum-sucking baggage handler.

@MikeGrenade: And as someone who has been around alot of airports and alot of airport employees, the TSA as a whole and many of their employees aren't exactly the brightest crayons in the box.

Sue

those airline "policies" don't mean crap in court

@P41: I've heard this mentioned on here before, but I haven't really understood what you guys meant. Could you explain it in more detail for those of us who are a bit confused? Is there some sort of different treatment that luggage with checked weapons receives?