AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Talk Belize Travel Airport security? tourist lost items in luggage

Some people I know just returned from a week in San Pedro. They said they had a great time. They flew from Charlotte, NC to BZ then tropic Air to SP. One lady had put her jewelry in her checked luggage. Her luggage was ransacked and her jewelry taken. Not sure why she took expensive jewelry but she did. She has insurance but lost some things that had sentimental value. They flew on US Air.

My question is ... Could this have happened in the US. It seems to me there is not much time from when the plane lands in BZ to when you pick up your luggage. Does anyone in BZ even look in luggage before you go though customs?

I would bet that a US TSA 'agent' probably stole the jewelry. There have been many of these types of incidents stateside and most point directly to the TSA. Terrible.

That is what I was trying to tell my friends that it probably happened in the States.

Mary, your friend's luggage wasn't locked? And did she report this to the airlines and/or TSA? If her jewelry was in a small bag, maybe it was removed by TSA during a search and didn't get put back in versus actually being stolen. Then later TSA wouldn't know to whom it belonged. It could be sitting in storage somewhere along the way.

Yes they reported it to US Air and Tropic Air. It was in a bag but she said she could tell the bag was looked into quick as it was a mess like someone just rummaged through it quickly things unfolded. Yes it was not locked.
I never lock my bags as I don't put anything too valuable in them.
I just wondered if this was something that happened a lot? They travel often and said she had never had any trouble before.
I just don't want them to blame BZ if it did not happen in BZ.
Mary

With the new laws I believe you cannot lock your bags anymore

you can use a special "TSA" lock - they have little gizmos that open them but what good these locks are is beyond me.

supposedly keep the riffraff out. Then if TSA has opened your bag, you are supposed to have a piece of paper in there saying so. Also, your lock should have a red/green thing that pops up or makes the color change, alerting you that the lock has been opened. I won't travel without my luggage being locked with a TSA style lock.

Common sense says wherever the bags were sitting the longest presents the best opportunity for theft.

Several months ago, a friend and I traveled to Martinique, via a layover in Puerto Rico. Upon arrival at our hotel in Martinique, we each discovered we had been ripped off. My bag had a TSA lock on it, so it doesn't matter...they can still get in. They didn't leave a note either. Instead, my travel flat iron and my favorite perfume, just given to me as a gift, was gone. My friend's camera and jewelry were gone. The thief had to have opened up a zippered pouch in my suitcase to get my items, so it wasn't just rifling through the luggage, it was looking to steal things. This did not happen at the airport in Fort de France as we saw our luggage being loaded off the prop plane and taken right to the baggage area.

I never pack valuables in my checked luggage to avoid this kind of thing. I contacted American Airlines via e-mail and told my story, requesting they take some action. They "apologized" and deposited 10k miles in my account and did the same for my friend. While this doesn't replace your stolen items, it was at least something.

In hindsight, I probably should have sent a nasty gram to the TSA...

I'm sorry to hear this....Unfortunately this has happened to my husband and I several times....Each and every time when traveling through the Miami Airport....We have 'lost' a movie Cd player, a palm pilot and a variety of power cords and other electronic games we use to travel with.....

In more than 40 flights from California through Houston to Belize we have not had an issue....Yet I have received a couple of those little notes from TSA....

I'd like to write the TSA guys back and ask them to pack my things the way I had them....I'm a bit particular that way, but nonetheless they have not taken anything that I know of....