Lost luggage. Who can relate?

[SIZE=6]Beware of inflight thieves next to you[/SIZE]
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Of the many reported incidents of onboard theft, one underlining factor is that passengers become less vigilant and take comfort in the fact that there is nowhere a thief can run to.

By Michael Otieno

Posted Tuesday, May 30 2017 at 20:28
IN SUMMARY

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[li]False sense of security: Of the many reported incidents of onboard theft, one underlining factor is that passengers become less vigilant and take comfort in the fact that there is nowhere a thief would run to.[/li][/ul]
This

The trauma that follows the realisation that your baggage has been lost can be best understood by looking at the faces of passengers you find in the lost-and-found offices at airports.

Some of the responses you get during the follow-up process are just a knock-down; for instance, your baggage got lost on a flight from Cape Town to Nairobi and you get updates like, “Sir, you are very lucky we traced your lost bag to Manila in the Philippines, it should be here in another few days.”

Often when you follow up in a few days, you are lucky if you find the bag and they don’t tell you that it is now in Caracas, Venezuela.

I wonder why they even call those offices “Lost and Found” when the lost piece is never found, particularly if it contained valuables.

Despite technological advancements, it beats me how airlines manage to lose bags on a direct flight within one continent or geographical area.

According to SITA — which supplies airlines and airports with baggage handling IT tools like the Word Tracer System — the air transport industry has cut the rate of mishandled bags by over 50 per cent globally since 2007, saving airlines $22 billion.

SITA is working on new technology that will ensure that lost baggage is traced and returned to owners within 48 hours.

Accordingly, 70 per cent of the airlines have committed to using the new technology which should be operational this year, and will allow passengers to receive real-time updates — like that of a GPS system — regarding the whereabouts of their misdirected bags.

While travellers may take comfort from these developments, they should not relax since there is a new problem: That of inflight theft.

In May last year, a South African teacher was jailed for nine months by a Hong Kong court for stealing HK$3,500 on a Cathay Pacific flight from Johannesburg to Hong Kong. Interestingly, the offence was committed in business class even though he was an economy class passenger.

Earlier, the same court had convicted another man to 14 months in prison after he stole HK$1,500 on the pretence of retrieving cold and flu medicine from a passenger bag on a separate flight.

Late last year, Saudi Arabian Airlines crew successfully thwarted three robbery attempts aboard their flights after International Air Transport Association (IATA) issued a circular to airlines around the world of internationally organised gangs carrying out thefts during flights.

So how does one decide to comfortably steal at 35,000ft without worrying about being caught in the act?

Of the many reported incidents of onboard theft, one underlining factor is that passengers become less vigilant and take comfort in the fact that there is nowhere a thief can run to.

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sorry. can’t relate

Boooooooring!

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