A Chap I flew with in the late seventies had done quite a while as a baggage handler whilst paying for his flying training. Then as now, theft was rife. His advice was that the only way to make it even moderately difficult for the bad guys was a broad strap, KNOTTED. The reason was that the guys only have a few seconds to get in and out and resecure the bag. No time to undo and retie knots, and cutting the strap is too immediately obvious to the receiving pax, which points the finger at that particular handling crew. Padlocks could be twisted off, and the chaps knew how to drop the integral lock types in the right way so as to spring the locks, so the strapped cases tended to go in the too hard file. The straps have worked for me ever since.
On a lighter note, one for the conspiracy theorists. On the TSA site linked in a post above, check out the combination on the Fly Safe Padlock, (if it were upside down!). Lunatics in the asylum?
F88
