Pilferage

This story from the Seattle Times is several months old, but is certainly still relevant:

“Reports of lost, damaged, delayed and pilfered checked luggage filed with the Department of Transportation have been rising as the TSA has been screening more intensively and more people have been leaving their bags unlocked.

The actual number of incidents are few — 5.86 per 1,000 passengers — reported to the government by 20 airlines for the first six months of this year, but this was a 37 percent increase from the same time period in 2003.

With both TSA and the airlines handling baggage, resolving who is responsible for theft or damage can turn into a huge hassle. The headaches will likely increase if more people start checking bags”.