Why are there services offering to shrink wrap your luggage at airports?
Is it just a deterrent against theft by baggage handlers? Or does it offer any legal protection against the possibility of baggage handlers inserting illegal merchandise into luggage? If I bubble wrap my luggage before a flight from (say) BKK to UK, and on arrival I find that the wrapping has been tampered with, and I refuse to recover my luggage, would I be potentially protected against the possibility of a trojan in my luggage?
Shrink wrapping luggage is the best way (apart from obviously not taking luggage) to deter theft from your luggage/people slipping unwanted items into your luggage. There are places like Jo'burg where you don't want to risk having things put into your bags.
It doesn't offer any legal protection, but obviously its very easy to detect if someone's tampered with your bags, and when you collect your bags and the wrapping has been damaged, you can demand the airline open your luggage with you (and therefore take responsibility for any theft etc as it obviously happened while your bags were in their care)
Just enterprising folks making money out of peoples fears, nothing new there then! Doesn't offer you any legal protection at all. Offers minimal protection in that it deters the thief from taking a pop at your bag, they would normally go for the 'easier' target, that said some folks would argue that wrapping your bag up in such a manner suggests you have something in it worth taking! May be a good idea if your travelling during the rainy season with soft luggage it could save it from damage. Not much point wrapping a good quality hard case in it though. If you're having it done ask yourself about the impact on the environment all that nasty plastic lying around. Ask the vendor if it's biodegradable plastic he's using.
There are numerous pseudo-hub airports in the world where baggage security is sub-optimal. At these airports many of the locally-originating locals (even when not terribly wealthy and flying domestically) get their luggage wrapped or put into a plastic bag by default.
While incidence of theft at UK airports is low, if one is changing flights at one of these 'less secure' airports with a long layover, it would seem brave not to have had one's bag wrapped at your originating airport (e.g. LHR)
Because the airline will simply claim that any damage etc has been done by "security" after the bag disappeared down the hatch at check in. TSA open bags between check in and the aircraft in the USA and they are by no means the only security people who do it.
I thought that if the TSA open your bag, they have to at least put a piece of paper in your bag saying they've opened it ? No piece of paper = TSA didn't open it
In any case, when I wrote about airports with sub-optimal baggage security, I wasn't talking about countries that are (or were) wealthy like the USA
The TSA are supposed to put in the piece of paper but I've had my bag tossed and no paper while in the USA (nothing missing). Other countries don't put in a piece of paper but, for instance, the UK open bags (occasionally).
Shrink wrapping luggage is the best way (apart from obviously not taking luggage) to deter theft from your luggage/people slipping unwanted items into your luggage. There are places like Jo'burg where you don't want to risk having things put into your bags.
I noticed these services first in South America in 2000. Didn't understand what they were for until I flew from La Paz to Santiago and found the top pocket of my backpack emptied on arrival. Just a Swiss army knife and a Maglite gone, but still... (I had a few weeks earlier "lost" my camera gear in Peru , so wasn't shocked too much anymore. I guess the cameras are still on sale in Ica)
Still didn't use the shrink wrap service afterwards, though, but kept everything valuable in hand luggage. Baggage handlers are welcome to keep my dirty underwear.
I put a coloured cable-tie through each fastener. Provides a deterrent to theives, the security people can get in if they wish, and I know if the bag has been opened.
If you are going to South Africa (or simply Africa) you might think it worth the GBP5 to wrap your bags. It just makes sure that they overlook your bag for the next easy pick. It's a no brainer.
In Africa, your bag would not be left lying around anything like long enough to collect any microorganisms ... before other organisms had collected anything of value. [I never promised to be politically correct]
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Join Date: Dec 2002
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hartington
The TSA are supposed to put in the piece of paper but I've had my bag tossed and no paper while in the USA (nothing missing). Other countries don't put in a piece of paper but, for instance, the UK open bags (occasionally).
Out of New Orleans TSA cut my TSA luggage strap and left a note and the cut strap in the suitcase. They may have been checking the various wires for my electric chargers and Mrs PN reckoned they had been in a pearl necklace pouch.
, so wasn't shocked too much anymore. I guess the cameras are still on sale in Ica)
