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Thiefs at Ezeiza
As probably all of you allready know, you can get robbed everywhere and got to take your precautions. I this situation I'm afraid I did not.
On Thursday I had the early morning flight to Sao Paulo that leaves at 06.40. I checked inn with one bag where unfourtunately the lock was not working anymore. When I arrived in Sao Paulo I discovered some had taken my ipod photo.
I¨m sure it was one of the cargo guys at Ezeiza since it was early in the morning, fewer people at work and less to do.
Malaga
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Malaga,
Sometime on my trip between JFK and EZE in April 2006 my Norelco electric shaver was stolen out of my checked luggage. It was over five years old and not worth much, but the inconvenience of not having an electric shaver while residing here was a pain until someone brought me a new one from the EEUU. Clearly it is foolish to put anything in your checked luggage that has significant easy cash value. Your $400 USD IPod sells for $1000 USD at the Apple Store in Recoleta, and the baggage guy at Ezeiza makes $300 USD a month if he's lucky, so go figure. I did not think anybody would steal an old electric razor otherwise it would not have been packed in my checked backage.
Suerte,
Dirk Diggler
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Malaga
I have also learned this lesson the hard way. I once had a set of travel speakers ($80us) taken from my luggage on a trip to BsAs and I had TSA approved lock broken off my luggage. I had a four hour layover at ATL, and only about fifteen minutes at EZE from the time I landed and the time I got my bags, I think the speakers were taken at ATL, it can happen anyplace. Don't put anything of value in you checked bags, especially if it is small in size. I think locks just suggest that something of value is inside.
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I think alot of the theft happens from your point of origin. Isn't there a board member who used to work for airlines? I would imagine it is more difficult to open and search luggage from the tarmac than it is in the storage facility at your point of origin. In Miami, for example, they tend to open every piece of checked luggage (somewhere in the terminal) and then leave a little note saying they were inside the bag!
I started using the plastic wrapping when flying from USA to BA. Just another deterrent when stuff arrives here in BA.
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I never had an item lost / stolen from my checked luggage before until my BA trip earlier this month. I had my voltage converter kit in the outside pocket of my duffle bag. When I picked it up at the US entry point, I noticed the zipper to outside pocket was opened and the converter was missing. It could have been stolen, fell out, or left behind when TSA inspected the luggage. Anyway, the airline took the info but they referred me to TSA for a claim. I haven't done it yet and don't feel like going through the hassle now. Now I have to shop for a new kit that is as good as the one I had. It was in a nice hard shell case with a transformer and five different types of adapter plugs. I haven't found one with those accessories yet.
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WalMart
Sporty.
I found that kit at WalMart (in the US) Don't know if they still stock them, but it was a handy set!
David.
[QUOTE=Sportsman]I never had an item lost / stolen from my checked luggage before until my BA trip earlier this month. I had my voltage converter kit in the outside pocket of my duffle bag. When I picked it up at the US entry point, I noticed the zipper to outside pocket was opened and the converter was missing. It could have been stolen, fell out, or left behind when TSA inspected the luggage. Anyway, the airline took the info but they referred me to TSA for a claim. I haven't done it yet and don't feel like going through the hassle now. Now I have to shop for a new kit that is as good as the one I had. It was in a nice hard shell case with a transformer and five different types of adapter plugs. I haven't found one with those accessories yet.[/QUOTE]
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[QUOTE=Thomaso276]I think alot of the theft happens from your point of origin. Isn't there a board member who used to work for airlines? I would imagine it is more difficult to open and search luggage from the tarmac than it is in the storage facility at your point of origin.[/QUOTE]The most common place to open a luggage is inside the aircraft's "bulk" luggage compartment when they load / offload them. Nobody can see them there although they usually don't do it alone but in groups of two or three.
Depending on the airport's automation system there are other places, of course, to open a luggage, especially at night.
Best thing is the plastic wrap protection and to keep all valluables in the carry on luggage.
El Greco
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[QUOTE=Capt Dave]Sporty.
I found that kit at WalMart (in the US) Don't know if they still stock them, but it was a handy set!
David.[/QUOTE]Thanks David, I browsed through my local Walmart last week and did not see any. I'll stop by there again to check in out.
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Sportsman
[QUOTE=Sportsman]Thanks David, I browsed through my local Walmart last week and did not see any. I'll stop by there again to check in out.[/QUOTE]I got mine at Bestbuy.
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A few years ago, like an idiot, I put a video camera in its' carrier case in my suitcase. I believe it was stolen in EZE coming to BA with a short pick-up stop in Sao Paulo. (it was one of the last bags on the carrousel) I'm sure the ladrones got a surprise when they saw that all the directions in the viewfinder were in Chinese characters; I had picked it up in Hong Kong a few years earlier.
As for that plastic wrap, I don't get it. If security decides they want to look in your bag, they just tear it off, don't they?
MAG
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[QUOTE=MiddleAgeGuy]As for that plastic wrap, I don't get it. If security decides they want to look in your bag, they just tear it off, don't they?[/QUOTE]I don't wrap anymore, but yes they will tear it off. One time the check-in security at EZE did a full inpection of my bags before I checked in. They gave me a voucher so I could go back and rewrap afterwards. I suppose that the wrap makes a bag a less attractive target for baggage handlers that have only a few minutes to steal something.
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Theft
I had my laptop stolen somewhere between airport and Heathrow in April. Packed it in hard leather case in the middle of my kit bag. When I got back home pulled out the leather laptop case which was suspiciously light to discover laptop removed. On reflection my own fault for not taking as carry on luggage & not putting a lock on my bag. If the thief understood English and checked my history he would have had some interesting reading!
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[QUOTE=Dirk Diggler]Malaga,
Your $400 USD IPod sells for $1000 USD at the Apple Store in Recoleta,
Suerte,
Dirk Diggler[/QUOTE]Wait, if I brought a bunch of iPods from the EEUU, could I sell them for much higher down there easily? That could easily pay for a months visit! Dirk, you are a GENIUS! COSTCO HERE I COME!
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It's so sad to be without my I-pod. I've defiantly got to get me an new one. Been to this apple store at Ayacucha and don't remember exactly the price, but yeah it's a lot more than we pay in Europe or in the USA.
I see that the normal price for an 60 GB is 399 US$ at Apple.com. Any americans coming down here that could bring me one? Send me an pm and I'm sure we can get to an arrangment on the price.
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Use throw-away luggage
Often when I travel I use a cheap piece of luggage (US 10) that I get from a sidewalk vendor or Asian store. They're good for at least one trip, and with a hastily filled-out airline ID tag, baggage handlers guess that you're poor, cheap, or both and have not much worthwhile inside. Since I've been doing this I've had nothing taken. I also don't use special straps or luggage locks or anything. Got this on a tip from a JFK airport worker some time ago.