Check-in baggage broken into and torque wrench stolen – thieves or security?

Flew from Madrid to Newcastle via Amsterdam today with KLM. Had one checked suitcase with clothes, but had also packed one of my Norbar torque wrenches to take home to get calibrated. Case was locked with a mini padlock and one of those built-in TSA combi-lock things.

Baggage was checked all the way through to Newcastle but when I picked it from the carousel I noticed that both locks had been ripped off an the zippers were knackered. Took it straight to the baggage reclaim issue desk and opened it in front of the staff and someone has been in the bag rooting, and have removed the torque wrench from its box and kept it. No paperwork or notifications from security.

I have asked various airlines about taking on hand tools in the past and have been told that hand tools over 7 inches can’t be taken in hand luggage, and must be checked in. I would have also thought a security agent would have to leave a notice if any case was damaged to gain entry.

Slightly peeved, as its going to cost £100 for a new tool an £100 for a new bag, which was my wife’s. I was given a case number by the Serviceair desk at Newcastle but they said I also have to chase it directly with KLM, and the relevant office isn’t open until Monday.

Is there anything else I need to do? Police report at Newcastle / Madrid?

I have nothing useful to add but being fobbed off and told to go to a somewhere else that isn’t open till Monday after having your case busted into and an expensive item nicked would seriously piss me off!

I’m pretty livid about it tbh.

Bag throwers would be my 1st suspicion.  Work Colleagues have been forced to put certain equipment in hold luggage in the past, for them to get nicked en route and a half open bag come of the carousel.

Then you wonder how dodgy stuff gets on planes for terrorism, when they can’t be trusted to not nick £100 tools.

And the airlines + airport authorities don’t seem to give a toss about how these criminals (that’s what they are)  are allowed to operate airside as sorting it would cost profits.

Slightly peeved

KLM owe you an upgrade on that.

Thieves, definitely. Security wouldn’t be checking for stuff like that in check-in baggage – that’s the point of putting it in check-in baggage!

Not sure about the MO here if it’s theft. What do they do just rip open a random bag and hope to get lucky? Most bags will surely have little in the way of high value items. Or is it security doing the thieving and they’ve spotted it on the xray?

My guess is genuine security concern but they haven’t bothered to let you know.

I’m not convinced it’s a security issue, but it is at the scanners someone will have seen it. Either way, claim compensation for new bag and new item with KLM using the reference number you were given. The airport staff were correct it’s KLM who will pay (Montreal Convention because you were on an international flight). It’s all online and you must make the complaint to KLM within seven days.  https://www.klm.co.uk/information/refund-compensation/baggage-compensation

To be honest I might be tempted to report to the police and the airports you flew through to make them aware of numbers, and in case you need to use your travel insurance (need police case no for theft but probably would be refused as KLM are responsible, because of the Montreal Convention).

I’ve had this a few times when moving 3D printed metal parts around Europe.  It’s way too specific for it not in some way to involve security staff.  Not once has my personal baggage been rummaged through on a family holiday in 25y of travelling, but 3 times on business travel a case that’s had expensive components it has been broken into and the parts removed.  The folks manning the scanners at one end or the other are either directly nicking stuff or are telling others which bags to go through.

If removing stuff is soo easy, how easy is it to smuggle stuff?  Who watches the watchmen?

Phone KLM. Serviceair are just the handling agent in NCL and really have nothing to do with how the bag was dealt with en-route. They can log the case but can’t investigate. Do you have any KLM FF status as the app has different numbers to call depending on who you are in their eyes.

KLM will fix it, just be nice, fill the forms in, submit the claim and wait. They’re not BA!

Oh and it’ll have gone in Madrid. Bags aren’t generally rescanned in AMS (unless you’ve flown in from outside Europe or the US), are too busy being moved and the whole process is largely automated.

Thanks for the info all. Yes we’re pretty sure it was lifted in Madrid as have been told by others that Schengen transfers don’t routinely get re-scanned at Schipol. Does stuff get rescanned on arrival in Newcastle though? Could it have been lifted there?

Thanks for the link @konagirl, Swissport gave me a phone number for KLM but when calling it I just get a message saying that the office is closed, so I presume they only open on weekdays. Putting the claim in online looks really simple so I will do it that way today.

Will definitely make a police report in Spain because Madrid Barajas airport has been in the local and international news a lot this year for baggage theft as well as thefts from security trays. They busted 50 baggage handlers in March for breaking into people’s cases so it sounds like an ongoing issue. Not sure if its worth calling 101 and getting a CRN from the UK police too for insurance purposes, or will they just direct me to the airline?

thieves or security?

Your assumption that the two are mutually exclusive shows the sweet, trusting nature of your soul.

Is there anything else I need to do? Police report at Newcastle / Madrid?

There is (or was) an agreement that the police at the destination airport take any crime reports, online is quickest https://www.northumbria.police.uk/police-forces/northumbria-police/areas/campaigns/campaigns/digital-contact/

Travel insurance should cover you, especially if work is paying for it 🙂

KLM will fix it, just be nice, fill the forms in, submit the claim and wait. They’re not BA!

your experience with klm must be different to mine – I had to take them to arbitration for something that was directly THEIR fault, and they admitted the facts of never mind where they could blame others.

they do have online customer service people 24/7 though if you want to log the issue – but Monday isn’t going to make any real difference to when you get a resolution.

Who watches the watchmen?

who milks the milkmen?

This sort of thing is why I really don’t trust airports. A couple of years ago my parents house was broken into when on holiday. The police said there had been a spate of break ins  where the home owners were on holiday and they suspected airport staff were involved, apparently they looked at the name/address tags on bags and knew the owners were away so it was an easy target to break into.

https://www.bentibbetts.com/alpenglow/

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I don’t know anything about airport security or baggage handling processes.

I do, however, know quite a lot about Travel Sentry (“TSA”) locks.  Absolutely no-one, let alone airport staff familiar with such things some of whom are legitimately equipped with keys to open them, destructively forces a TS lock.  You can get into them in moments using a broken biscuit and a hard stare.  You’ve seen padlocks in stores proudly proclaiming “Secured By Design”?  TS locks are dogshit by design.

This is a direct quote from one Mike England, a spokesperson for TSA, regarding TS locks: “These consumer products are ‘peace of mind’ devices, not part of TSA’s aviation security regime.”  Not only are they shit, but TSA knows they’re shit and simply doesn’t care.  They really should tell their marketing department who proudly boast “the Red Diamond is a worldwide symbol of trust and quality” because bollocks it is.

The police said there had been a spate of break ins  where the home owners were on holiday and they suspected airport staff were involved, apparently they looked at the name/address tags on bags and knew the owners were away so it was an easy target to break into.

This sounds like an urban myth to me.  Even if it were true, how would anyone know?

It looks like I was mixing up two posts earlier. It was supposed to be in response to:

who milks the milkmen?

Hence Pat Mustard and Mrs. Doyle.

This sounds like an urban myth to me.  Even if it were true, how would anyone know?

Not an urban myth, it’s what the police told my parents, may or may not of been true though. I think it would be fairly easy for the police to put together a bunch of break ins where every victim was on holiday and flew out of the same airport and surmise it as a line of enquiry. Not exactly rocket science.

I wouldnt automatically accuse the baggage handlers. I’ve heard of items being removed from wooden packing crates and the crate nailed shut again.

My product design lecturer had a piece she made, which proved popular at the Milan design show, go missing. She oversaw the crating of it herself, but when it arrived back in the UK one of her pieces were missing.

I think baggage handlers are pretty much under cctv all the time, which will be the same across the whole airport, given the threat aircraft can face, and it’s only someone like the movers have access to stuff in an environment where theres no security

Update: reported to Northumbria Police via 101. Super friendly lady who was happy to put it all through so I have a crime number for the insurance from the UK side of things. Managed to finally get through to Madrid airport police who said under no circumstances would any airport police or customs agents break into a bag, take something, and then not leave a note. They said usually if its a suspicious item they call the bag owner on the tannoy. I have to make the complaint on the way back at the airport police office though as you can do the initial paperwork digitally online now but still need to make a statement in person.

Sounds like someone needed a decent torque wrench but didn’t have the funds to order their own. Such a random thing to steal though.

Watching with interest as I’ve a bike holiday in November.

Agree this is concerning. What if I/one wanted to check my/their iPad (or whatever – replace for X valuable) just for the ease / non worry of having it in hand luggage.  One would like to – and has been led to – think that it is entering a ‘secure system’

Not an urban myth, it’s what the police told my parents, may or may not of been true though.

I have no reason to doubt that this is what “the police” told your parents, if that’s what you say happened.

I am however deeply sceptical that “the police” were speaking from a position of authority here.  I’ve had hoax computer virus warnings from “the police” before now.

Not exactly rocket science.

No, it’s just considerably implausible when your average passing scrote could just go “oh, their car’s been absent for a few days, I wonder if they’ve gone on holiday?” rather than being part of some organised criminal network infiltrating the airside of an international airport in order to surreptitiously look at baggage tags and commit addresses to their photographic memory in the hope that absent travellers didn’t have someone back home – who knows how many miles away from the airport – house-sitting their cat.

Occam’s Razor, if that line of enquiry bore fruit it would’ve been headline news.  How many arrests did “the police” make on the back of this intelligence?

Such a random thing to steal though.

I don’t know of course, but if I were a betting man I’d think that perhaps the initial damage was accidental and the theft was opportunistic, assuming it’s not just fallen down the back of a used A380.  I expect there are more stupid places to start a crime spree than an airfield, but I’m struggling offhand to think of many.

Agree this is concerning. What if I/one wanted to check my/their iPad (or whatever – replace for X valuable) just for the ease / non worry of having it in hand luggage.  One would like to – and has been led to – think that it is entering a ‘secure system’

Isn’t this why we have travel insurance?

I’d agree though.  I would assume, hope even, that from a bag going through check-in to its Generation Game style exodus at the other end it is in a pretty bloody secure environment.  Not even because of what might be removed from baggage but what could be added.

There’s no scanning on arrival at NCL (or anywhere afaik other than in some customs halls). There’s barely any baggage handlers at all – particularly if you are unfortunate enough to arrive on a late running shuttle from LHR where it took a full hour to get my wife’s bags a couple of weeks ago.

Watching with interest as I’ve a bike holiday in November.

Last time i flew with a bike, I used a soft bag, packed carefully with polystyrene insulation sheets, I’d carefully cut to shape.

When I got home to the UK, I found a TSA  note taped to the bottom of the bike. It was impressive how they’d re packed it all back to the point of me not noticing.

Ah, that’s a really good point.  I hadn’t considered flying to a destination with a lassez-faire approach to security.  When I go abroad it’s usually somewhere like the US who goes too far in the opposite direction.

It was more that I need to take tools for reassembly, one of which was going to be my Topeak digital torque wrench