"Inventory everything in your checked luggage. The airport employees tend to care a little more when you tell them that you can list and price everything that they lost."

Sorry, but that makes little sense to me. Usually the person putting your checked luggage on the belt is the ticket agent. He/she isn't going to see or touch the luggage outside of your view. Why start the trip insulting someone.

Anyone who is going to steal anything from your luggage is probably not particularly concerned that you'll be able to later inventory it and notice that it is missing.

I agree with you in regard to later making a claim. But not as theft prevention.

One thing I've been doing lately (particularly with regard to PSK and FAK's) is to bundle stuff into gal. size ziplock bags or foodsaver bags and put a tamper-evident seal through a hole punched in the bag mouth. My premise is that neat looking stuff that's easily slipped into a pocket is most at risk, so I put it in a bundle that slows down the process and makes it more likely that the person pilfering will be seen by those around him/her.

Here's Marty's 5 Reasons You Should Avoid Checking Bags:

1. It adds at least 45 minutes your trip, often more. While check-in can be quick (curbside) you always end up having to walk far to the baggage claim and stand there waiting and waiting and waiting. By the time your bag crashes into the other bags on the conveyor, I'm at the hotel ordering dinner.

2. Bags get lost. I arrived in Cyprus, 3AM, for an 8AM meeting. My bags did not arrive until 3 days later.

3. Stuff gets stolen from your bags. Three times I have had knives stolen from my bags.

4. Bags get damaged. I've had bags come out looking like they were run over by a bulldozer and then shot a few times.

5. Do you really need all that stuff anyway? My family did a Disney trip - all 4 of us - for a week with only carry-on bags. They DO have laundry services pretty much everywhere you go, so why carry so much stuff?

That's a great idea, in general. Add 15 seconds to the time it takes to yank something from your bag and it might be passed.

Yes, you’re absolutely right. That advice was meant as something you do before you even go to the airport. Best to take checked-luggage inventory best you can, and then put that inventory into your carry-on bag. This is really only for making claims later.

The only real effective means of loss prevention is to:

1. Don’t check any luggage, as Martin has pointed out.
2. Make sure the tag that’s put on your luggage has the correct three-letter code for your destination (i.e., if you’re supposed to end up in Los Angeles, make sure your bag-tags say “LAX”).
3. Your idea of sticking things in tamper seal bags (great idea!).

Those are valid points, but need be qualified to some degree.

1. After a good long flight I need a bit of a stroll to stretch these long legs back out again. There've been a number of times my bags were on the carousel within 5 to 10 minutes of my getting there. Still, it would be nice to be able to just walk out of the airport right away, which I've also done by not having checked baggage with me.

2. I guess I've been lucky so far in that I've lost nothing in the airports that wasn't confiscated as contraband at the gate (oops, my bad). It happens, but it I don't accept that it is so often that is is a significant risk.

3. I've not had anything of significance stolen from my luggage yet.

4. That's why I spend the money to get the best I can find. So far nothing's been broken.

5. Quantity to transport is situational. If it is a week or less trip I am making, then checked baggage really is optional. Usually my trips are a bit longer, more involved, and I find it necessary to pack more than I can carry on.

It's been suggested here, and with good merits I believe, that shipping to your destination is a practical alternative. I do like that idea. It does reduce the risks mentioned above, and can make travel a lot easier. If I did encounter problems with checked baggage where I felt it to be too risky, this is something I would do. In fact, I've shipped baggage more than once already. As a rule, I do not put anything of significant value in my checked baggage, including my knives, camera, money, jewelry, etc. If I need a knife at my destination, I will post it or order or purchase a new one when I get there.

Wear clothing of natural fabrics (they won't melt) and shoes you can run in.

When I drove limo in Vegas, I picked up many, many people from the airport. It was amazing how many people came from Michigan and eastward who had their luggage go to Hawaii. Since most packages to Vegas only involve 3 or 4 days, and it takes at least 3 days to get your luggage, I could understand their frustration.

One couple shipped their two cats in an 'airline-approved' carrier. The jerks unloading the plane tossed the crate about 10 feet toward the conveyor belt, it bounced off, crashed about 25 feet to the ground, split open, and the cats ran off in panic. The reward signs were posted for a couple of weeks, but I don't think they found them. What do you think they do with luggage just carrying clothes?

Sue

Thanks for the tips, Martin. Sounds delightful. Not. I have my Valium ready. Grin.

Why zonk myself? Can't stand air travel, but it is the only realistic way to get anywhere. I've never traveled with my siblings before. This is a first. We've gone through changes.

We went to London on our honeymoon. Six hours of monotony. And terrifying turbulence. Nearly went out of my mind.

Then I found out I could ask my doctor for DRUGS. Didn't know that. Didn't know others had problems flying, too.

Oh, and my siblings don't really believe too much in preparedness. Whatever happens, happens. Shrugging of shoulders. No one else I meet in the real world seems to, either.

Outside of this forum, preparedness seems to equate to post-apocalyptic I-don't-know-what.

It may be rubbing off. I'm carrying less and less myself these days.

I am packing my little beaten up Swiss Executive. If they want to steal it, I'll buy another.

Here are some lost luggage stats, from 2005.

Here and here are similar stats for the first part of last year.

Airlines are not doing the greatest job in the world...

Everyone else has covered the basics, pre-flight.

I'd like to strongly suggest taking something to do, something to eat and something to drink. You're going to be on the plane for a while (and if something happens, maybe a LOT longer than you'd think... 9+ hours sitting in view of the terminal, waiting to take off? It happens).

If you don't take something to drink, you'll pretty much get only what they have, when they choose to give it to you. Take stuff to eat too. It's easy to find trail mix, power bars, fruit bars, hard candy, cookies, honey roasted nuts, etc. in nearly any airport store. I load up on at least a couple of different kinds (salty, sweet) for variety. Grab a couple of bottles of water while you're there. Cabin air becomes very dry.

I always take a sub-notebook as a movie player. It's a great way to pass the time on the flight. You can buy small dvd players with builtin screens if you don't have a laptop. And / or take a book or a couple of magazines. An MP3 player with the kind of earplugs that block outside noise are great too. Airplanes are noisy. You do NOT want to be stuck on a plane with nothing to do.

Weird, I guess, but flying sucks the most for me BEFORE takeoff. I find the whole process of getting to the airport, getting through security and getting seated much worse than the actual flight. Once the engines press me back into my seat, I actually start to relax. :-)