Comments on: In-Flight Theft : How Thieves Go Unnoticed On Planes

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:15:56 +0000

Just had a passport “go missing’ on a flight from Chicago to Brussels. Will be heeding your advice for the future.

By: David Wiles

David Wiles — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:29:57 +0000

I recently lost my wallet which I did have on board an Iberia flight but on disembarking and having travelled through to the terminal at Brussels airport I realised it was not in my trouser pocket. I went to the Iberia desk who phoned through to the cabin crew but it was not there and I was then referred to flightcare who checked with the cleaners. Only 5 minutes after disembarking and someone had taken it either on board or while walking through to the terminal. Iberia didn’t complete a report for me and I then had to complete a police incident report the next day at the airport.

BEWARE ON BOARD FLIGHTS – thieves are about

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:51:46 +0000

Theft is likely to occur anywhere you have concentrations of people and goods but ask yourself this – what is a thief likely to steal? He/she isn’t going to bother with your dirty underwear (although…?) nor are they likely to take your shampoo and hair brush.

The stuff they want is money, electronic items and passports, and probably in that order. Those are the only valuable items a traveller is likely to carry. Keep that stuff on your person, if you can. Money and passport certainly.

Keep electronic items bigger than your pockets in a carry on and kept under your feet. Check your carry on before you land to make sure everything is there. If something appears to be missing, the most likely culprit is the stranger sitting next to you, so get up and relay your concerns to a flight attendant. As other comments have indicated, flight attendants are aware of sticky fingers on aeroplanes, even if airlines aren’t.

By: Flywitherika

Flywitherika — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 02:05:51 +0000

As a flight attendant I can testify that our bags are tampered with. The difference is that we keep our bags where passengers are not allowed to loiter at and we also know passengers like to steal (where are all the blanket and pillows from the previous flights?) and keep a closer eye on our belongings!

By: Val

Val — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:22:56 +0000

Another important tip for ladies traveling alone is when you leave your seat to use the restroom or walk around on long flights, take your purse with you. My wallet was stolen on a Sydney-LA flight many years ago and I did not discover it until I was in the terminal at LAX. I was in the window seat and I believe the person in the middle seat next to me took it while I was out of my seat during the flight. I now secure my purse with my feet as you suggest when sleeping and take it with me if I leave my seat.

By: Traveling securely | Damian Comans - Photography

Traveling securely | Damian Comans - Photography — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:53:41 +0000

[...] Just read an interesting blog post I thought I should share with you all. When I travel it’s usually with quite a lot of kit and although I’m extremely careful, am sure my guard would drop slightly once on board the sealed plane. In this article Steven Frischling explains how theft aboard aircraft is a lot more common than people realise: link [...]

By: Traytable

Traytable — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:29:19 +0000

Interesting. Most of the thefts I know of have been from crew bags- admittedly, most of these were left unsecured by the owners. One though was the bag belonging to an engineer. We had to stow it in rear o/h locker as no room up front in flight deck & someone picked the lock & toook his cell & wallet. Not sure how they did it but multiple drink orders plus a ‘medical’ which resolved itself quickly were the likely culprits… (this was into Indonesia, so the guy was never getting it back!) Luckily they didn’t get the company sat-phone he was carrying!

By: flyingfish

flyingfish — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:16:40 +0000

From what I gathered, crew bags do not appear to be a target. It is interesting that crew bags go unscathed, but many crew place bags in F overhead bins or elsewhere that would not be the primary target for an in-flight thief.

Happy Flying!

-Fish

By: Traytable

Traytable — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:12:19 +0000

I’ve always wondered about this, too. Once I saw a passenger in an overhead locker during a red-eye flight. I knew his bag was further back in the plane, because I saw him put it there. So of course I just asked if he needed any help as he seemed a bit lost. immediately he mumbled something about being confused which locker it was & went back to his seat. Needless to say we kept an eye on him for the rest of the flight.

I think another attractive target for thieves are crew bags- especially on night flights when all the crew might be in the galley setting up, and away from crew stowages. Sometimes we forget that crew lockers don’t have locks on them any more. (I wish they did, it’s a pain having to lock/unlock a bag every time I need something!)