In Fuerteventura airport there is a machine that clingfilms your baggage next to the entrance. It costs about 10e per bag. It is a good way to stop the bags being tampered with. It is not a problem there though, as I've never seen anyone have their bags tampered with on arrival. It is possibly because of problems in other airports.

hbrac, it doesn't seem to be a service offered in the UK but is fairly widespread around Spain! I was interested to hear that it costs 10€ in Fuerteventura! It is 6€ here in Lanzarote and 5€ on the mainland. Here it is a private company who pay to be in the airport, but not sure in other places.

You can certainly get it done at Gatwick - £5 from memory - and it's very popular with people using rucksacks and the airlines too in this instance as it deals with the problem of of loose straps and the rucksack harness very neatly.

SM

My next door neighbours friend went to Spain this year and had her digital camera and jewellery stolen from her case I'd never heard of it happening before and I hadn't heard of the shrink wrap until I read this thread but seems like a good idea to me

Shell

I am deffinately having this done when I go to Tenerife in 2 weeks. How sad is it though when you have to resort to paying to get your cases wrapped in clingfilm because of theft!! I begrudge giving my custom to the thieves!!

I begrudge giving my custom to the thieves!!

Vicky that's a very good point

we got back from tenerife yesterday and the lock attached to my case had been smashed off and 200 cigs taken. it was one of the ones where you put the 2 zips in it and then lock with a key! only noticed when we got home though when i went to open the case, not sure if was done in man or tfs as ours was one of the last cases to come through after a delay from the rest. noticed in the queue next to ours though at check in that 50% of passengers had their cases shrink wrapped and they were travelling to munich so it must be quite common for them to have it done. personally ive never seen it before but its a very good idea!

so how do they know what suitcases to break in to? Do they go through an x-ray machine. I never put any real valuables in my case but may still get it wrapped when I fly from tenerife in two weeks

what difference does it make if you shrink wrap or not?

If they are going to rumage through your case they will do it. They may even be cheeky enough to put the shrink wrap inside of the case afterwards..lol

Yes, Vicky, all checked in baggage is x-rayed as part of the security system so if the operators are in collusion with baggage handlers they can tell them if there looks to be anything worth stealing in a particular case.

Yes, Roundasapound, nothing is ever foolproof and it can be cut through and removed with a sharp knife fairly easily but it's one more thing that a thief would have to deal with and just might make them think twice and go for another case. Also, quite often people don't realise that their case has been tampered with until they get home - many suitcase locks are really easy to pick and re-fasten. If you shrink wrap it, at least if your case has been tampered with then you'll know immediately you see it and can check the contents while you're still at the airport and can complain and make the necessary report before you leave.

SM

Also the shrinkwrap is very tough and there is loads of it!!! Takes me ages to get into my suitcase when I get it home

we have just come home from dalaman,we was the only flight out from there that night and we had a 60 min delay,plus there was only 90 people on the flight so they had plenty of time to go through all the cases,anyway when we got back to gatwick to of our cases had the locks broke and when we got home we found a bag with 3 bottles of aftershave had gone. i think this is so bad but what will come out of it do we have to just let it go, we have phoned excel and they saud we have to send a letter to them,so we have but will anything come out of the letter how has anyone else got on thanks

most aena airports have secure wrap.

cost veries on the local company but price is 4.50 in tenerife per bag.

Just found this thread and thought it interesting as it reminded me of something we saw at Gatwick that some people had their cases wrapped in plastic too which I thought was a bit odd. Another odd thing too coming back from Dalaman this September both locks on our two suitcases were broken. We thought nothing of it as nothing was tampered with as far as we could see in the cases (unless they took my dirty washing) but we had bought a couple of extra strong padlocks that would need a crowbar to get them off (we thought) and they were broken. We stupidly thought they got damaged in transit but reading this has made me think that they were done deliberately. I dont know how they had the time as we didnt have to wait that long for our bags at Gatwick, no longer than usual unless it was done in Dalaman. They were still attached to the cases as well just a bit missing off the clasp. Very strange!!! We always keep our valuables and purchases in our hand luggage anyhow.

To be honest I think you're wasting your money with the shrink wrap. A BA employee at Barcelona airport advised us that all luggage is x-rayed plus a certain number are opened for a further check as a matter of course to ensure that the scanners and dogs are doing what they should be doing. A sort of quality control exercise. Proof of the pudding was that one of our cases had definitely been opened although nothing was taken but it was obvious that the case had been thoroughly searched.

Keep valuables in your hand luggage and you can't really go wrong!

What's the point of the question when you check your suitcases in (Did you pack theses cases yourself?).When baggage handling employees can rifle through your suitcases take thing out and more worryingly put thing in.

i went to scotland with BMI and when i got to the place i was staying i found my phone charger and my didgital camera were taken from my bag.. i never put valuables in my luggage as i used to work at heathrow doing security and i know the baggage handlers were taken stuff from peoples bags.. but i had just finished night shift and packed in a hurry. as soon as i found out i went to the airport to complain and was told to contact BMI direct which i did do. but was told by them that i had to fill out a form at my destination. after a few phone calls i eventually managed to make a claim i didnt have travel insurence as i was only going for 2 nights and staying at a friends house. i sent the receipts for the camera which was bought for £300 after a couple of months i was sent a cheque for £27!!!!!! i was told it was because they only give you what it is worth in weight.. i never even cashed the cheque i sent it back and told them to shove it up there arse. apparently its to do with the geneva convention??

A man was jailed recently for stealing items from passengers baggage at Gatwick airport.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/4482766.stm

Hi Denniz666uk,

At times dealing with travel companies can feel a but like warfare I guess :-) but it is the Warsaw Convention which governs airlines liabilities re damaged and lost luggage etc. I suppose the lessons are:

1 Never ever pack anything valuable in checked in baggage.

2 No trip is too short for travel insurance purposes.

If you have a decent house contents insurance policy you could try claiming on that as some will cover curcumstances like these. As for the cheque for £27 you might as well have cashed it because you're extremely unlikely to get any more from them. As you say, they've fully discharged their obligations under the Warsaw Convention. You might have been offered more from one of the bigger full service carriers but they wouldn't have been obliged to give you any more either.

SM