Luggage lock removed

[misty57]

Has anyone had their TSA locks removed after surrendering their luggage to one of the porters at the RCI terminal in Port Everglades? We had new locks on both of our cases, and when the luggage was delivered to our stateroom I noticed that both locks were missing. We went to guest services to see if there was a reason.. and got lots of guesses as to what happened, but in the end they gave us some OBC to cover the cost of the locks.

 

When were we packing the day before disembarkation I went to put a lock on my case and noticed that the rings that hold the lock were totally broken. DH said it looked like someone just took a bolt cutter and cut the whole thing off!:eek:

Nothing was missing, but I wonder if this has happened to anyone else.This was the first time we have sailed out of Port Everglades. We have never had any problems with our luggage before now.:confused:

[mmcruise]

Yikes! Was anything missing?

[cruisenfever]

The rings that hold the locks could have been damaged after you gave them to the porters to load onto the ship as they don't really handle luggage with care.

 

Sounds like the rings could have gotten hooked on something that would make them break resulting in the locks coming off. This could have happened when they were loaded on the cart to the ship or once on the ship going through x-ray.

 

Thankfully nothing was missing.

[pmfan]

Last December,we had a TSA lock that was not missing, but severely damaged. We always drive to port, not fly, so I know it happened sometime between turning over our luggage to the porters, Port Canaveral, and our luggage arriving to our cabin. The shaft was twisted so badly we had issues with unlocking the lock to open the suitcase, and of course it was so twisted and damaged the lock could not be used when we packed up at the end of the cruise. :( :confused:

[torpeedo]

Yes, that has happened to us. We received our luggage and the TSA lock was gone. Again, nobody knew what happened but they gave us OBC to purchase a lock in the store. Not up to par with the one we had which we purchased at Brookstone and paid a lot for it. Fortunately they didn't damage the luggage. Breaking those links makes it impossible for you to lock your luggage. I would think you should get some compensation for that damage. This happened at Port Canaveral. Nothing was missing and no idea why they broke into our bag.

[bc6152]

Last December,we had a TSA lock that was not missing, but severely damaged. We always drive to port, not fly, so I know it happened sometime between turning over our luggage to the porters, Port Canaveral, and our luggage arriving to our cabin. The shaft was twisted so badly we had issues with unlocking the lock to open the suitcase, and of course it was so twisted and damaged the lock could not be used when we packed up at the end of the cruise. :( :confused:

 

My belief is that putting locks on suitcases is useless to begin with. Do you think that the thieves who steal from luggage don't have the same keys as the TSA agents? They're universal. If someone wants into your bag they will get in - one way or another.

[dzcruisers]

My opinion is that a lock says there's something valuable in here. Curiosity!

 

Or another question that came to mind is did you tip the guy when you gave him the bags. Retribution?

 

Just some thoughts.

 

One bag, an accident. two bags, something else.

[bus man]

My belief is that putting locks on suitcases is useless to begin with. Do you think that the thieves who steal from luggage don't have the same keys as the TSA agents? They're universal. If someone wants into your bag they will get in - one way or another.

 

 

I liken it to putting The Club on my car's steering wheel. If someone is just looking to steal just some random car (crime of opportunity), they will leave my car alone and go look for one they can get quickly. On the other hand, if a determined, "professional" car thief wants my car, specifically, I might as well hand him the keys; he'll get it, one way or another.

[Amberle3]

My belief is that putting locks on suitcases is useless to begin with. Do you think that the thieves who steal from luggage don't have the same keys as the TSA agents? They're universal. If someone wants into your bag they will get in - one way or another.

 

I lock my cases not because I want to prevent thefts from them, but because I have this fear of my case coming open and watching my belongings tumble one by one down the conveyer belt onto the luggage carousel.

[pmfan]

My belief is that putting locks on suitcases is useless to begin with. Do you think that the thieves who steal from luggage don't have the same keys as the TSA agents? They're universal. If someone wants into your bag they will get in - one way or another.

 

In my case they did not use a key to open the lock. The security green light turns red to show you someone has used a key to open the lock. My security light still showed green. In fact my lock was never opened, just the shank twisted and damaged making the lock unusable.

[pmfan]

I liken it to putting The Club on my car's steering wheel. If someone is just looking to steal just some random car (crime of opportunity), they will leave my car alone and go look for one they can get quickly. On the other hand, if a determined, "professional" car thief wants my car, specifically, I might as well hand him the keys; he'll get it, one way or another.

 

Exactly.....take precautions and make it harder for them.....they will go look for an easy victim.

[cb at sea]

This is why we don't use TSA locks....and it's not a law that you have to! We use Master keyed locks....so no one else has the key but us. If someone wants to get into our bags, they have to cut the lock (or rip out the zipper!)...and so far, so good....none of our stuff has ever been gone through.

[capt chaos]

If the locks are broken it probably wasn't customs because they can zip and unzip your bag with a pen faster than I can type this! And you will have no idea they did it. Don't ask how I know this lol.

[Familygoboston]

Never had this happen on a cruise. We did once run out of carryon room for cameras on our way home from Costa Rica (if you know my DH you would know why!) so we had to put the water camera in checked bag.

 

TSA did open the bag and when we got home, the camera was not in the pocket, wrapped with dirty clothing as we had left it. We were heart broken (camera was not worth much relatively, but stupidly, we had not removed the memory card!!). Several months went by and I pulled out the bag for another trip, and low and behold, we found the camera (with its memory card) in another pocket we never use! Obviously, the TSA was concerned about seeing electronics buried in the bag, but after inspection, didn't return the camera to the same spot.

 

Speculating but...I wonder if the cruise line security cuts off those locks during their inspections if they don't happen to have the key handy? I think the getting caught on the luggage carts reason probably makes snes too. I think they are under such tremendous pressure to get that luggage moving, fast!

[bigque]

This is why we don't use TSA locks....and it's not a law that you have to! We use Master keyed locks....so no one else has the key but us. If someone wants to get into our bags, they have to cut the lock (or rip out the zipper!)...and so far, so good....none of our stuff has ever been gone through.

 

The TSA locks are mainly good for the airports (I have a son who works TSA). If you do not have a TSA lock on your bag and your bag is picked for inspection, then they will cut the lock off. There is usually a slip left in the bag that says it was inspected by TSA.

To the person that had a camera moved around in their bag, this is why all valuables that I would want to get stolen, (I.E. Cameras, cell phones, jewelry, important documents, etc.) comes with me in my carry on luggage, so if that if any theif wants to take anything, there is nothing in there that I would be upset about missing.

[setsail]

Never had this happen on a cruise.

 

Speculating but...I wonder if the cruise line security cuts off those locks during their inspections if they don't happen to have the key handy? I think the getting caught on the luggage carts reason probably makes snes too. I think they are under such tremendous pressure to get that luggage moving, fast!

 

Cruise line security does not have a master key to tsa or any lock. There are two choices if you lock the luggage, they will cut the locks off to look inside or call you down to open the luggage for them to look. We never lock ours for the pier porter, just use a twist tie or zip that can be removed if they have to look.

[GGBNJ130]

$20 tip for 6 pieces of luggage should be good right?

 

Hand the guy the $20, and tell him "you breaka this luggage, I breaka your necka"

[gerif]

I never lock my soft-sided bag. Figure if anyone wants to open it, they would just destroy the bag. DH uses twist-ties on his. But anything of any value whatsoever is in our carryons.

[Motorman23]

This is why we don't use TSA locks....and it's not a law that you have to! We use Master keyed locks....so no one else has the key but us. If someone wants to get into our bags, they have to cut the lock (or rip out the zipper!)...and so far, so good....none of our stuff has ever been gone through.

 

It doesnt matter if you have TSA locks, master locks or zip tabs, if you have a plastic zipper (like most luggage has) it is very easy for someone to get into the luggage without you even knowing and without removing the locks. Remeber this if you ever lose your keys: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf-DGKUNffI

 

Takes seconds, if someone wants your stuff they will get it. Buy cheap locks to keep the non criminals out of your luggage.

 

Mike

[JMG]

If you take a few minutes to watch them delivery luggage on ship and you see how high they stack those bags and how many times the stack smashes into walls, you will understand why things get broken.

 

Be thankful you got that OBC. We sailed one line and you had to report damaged luggage prior to sailing. Funny, the damaged bags were not delivered until after sailing! The lines response was, you did not report this in time per our rules!

[Big_G]

We use zip ties out of fear that the luggage will unzip. If someone wants to break into my luggage, they won't find anything of value.

[Shak]

It doesnt matter if you have TSA locks, master locks or zip tabs, if you have a plastic zipper (like most luggage has) it is very easy for someone to get into the luggage without you even knowing and without removing the locks. Remeber this if you ever lose your keys: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf-DGKUNffI

 

Takes seconds, if someone wants your stuff they will get it. Buy cheap locks to keep the non criminals out of your luggage.

 

Mike

 

There are a couple of products that while may not stop the pen trick it will make it harder for a thief or smuggler to cover their tracks. One is the Triple Lockdown Lock and Anti-theft Luggage Zipper Strap that can be found on Corporate Travel Safety. What these two products do is prevent someone from easily re-zipping the zippers because the zippers are limited in movement by the attachment to the luggage handle.

 

I included smugglers because if you listen to the video you referred to you will hear at the end the person talking he correctly added that you are responsible for the contents of your luggage even if someone added something to it without your knowledge. Smugglers have been know to add contraband to luggage.

 

There is a lot of useful information at this web site as well.

http://www.corporatetravelsafety.com/catalog/luggage-security-c-33.html?osCsid=0thq793njst9anu7h0l6jrlhb6

 

 

Shak

 

[Amberle3]

We use zip ties out of fear that the luggage will unzip. If someone wants to break into my luggage, they won't find anything of value.

 

I used to use zip ties too, until I had a problem going through security with them in my carryon. My suitcase doesn't have any pockets and I wanted to have zipties for my return trip, so I stuck some in the pocket of my carryon. There were 4 of us travelling toether, so I had maybe about 10 of them in the pocket. TSA found them and told me that I couldn't have them in the carryon - at least not that many of them - because they could be linked together and used as a restraint or weapon. How I'm going to make a weapon out of zipties, I don't know.

[critterchick]

I've had a bag arrive in my cabin missing its lock and I've had a lock go missing between the time I put my bag out on the last night of the cruise and the time it arrived in the terminal. But there's as good a chance that I didn't turn the numbers as there is that somebody cut it off.:o

 

On a related matter, do any of you use luggage straps? I always fear that they'll either get caught on something or TSA will take them off to inspect my bag at the airport and not bother to put them back on. What are your experiences, if you use them? I have three from the Dazzling December promotion in 2011 and they're just sitting in the closet...

[misty57]

There are a couple of products that while may not stop the pen trick it will make it harder for a thief or smuggler to cover their tracks. One is the Triple Lockdown Lock and Anti-theft Luggage Zipper Strap that can be found on Corporate Travel Safety. What these two products do is prevent someone from easily re-zipping the zippers because the zippers are limited in movement by the attachment to the luggage handle.

 

I included smugglers because if you listen to the video you referred to you will hear at the end the person talking he correctly added that you are responsible for the contents of your luggage even if someone added something to it without your knowledge. Smugglers have been know to add contraband to luggage.

 

There is a lot of useful information at this web site as well.

http://www.corporatetravelsafety.com/catalog/luggage-security-c-33.html?osCsid=0thq793njst9anu7h0l6jrlhb6

 

 

Shak

 

 

I will be ordering some of these before our next trip! As far as tipping the porter.. I gave him $5 for 2 bags. I have no idea who removed our locks, but I still think it is a good idea to lock them as if a person has only a limited amount of time to pilfer, they are going to go for an easier case. I might just go back to carry on luggage for a 7 day cruise. I didn't think about someone putting something in my bag! Yikes!:eek: