Some airports are more theft-prone than others
Of all people, Jeff Boyd should have known better.
He is president of a company, Luggage Free, that is one of several luggage delivery services founded in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, when antiterrorism measures in the United States required that air travelers luggage be left unlocked, and thefts rose as a result. But this past February, Boyd and his girlfriend, Lindsey Wieber, did not use the delivery service and instead checked their luggage for a flight from New York to Park City, Utah, where they planned to go skiing. When their flight was canceled, they took another. Their luggage showed up the next day, with half their things missing.
“It was a last-minute trip,” Boyd said sheepishly.
Thefts can, and do, occur anywhere at an airport - at curbside, from checked luggage, in public areas before travelers go through security, at the security checkpoint, and even beyond, with some airports more theft-prone than others. In the United States, a report by the Transportation Security Administration on passenger claims for theft, loss or damage to personal items from luggage in 2004 ranked Los Angeles International Airport at the top, with 1,458 claims, followed by OHare International Airport in Chicago, with 963 claims. The Seattle-Tacoma International Airport came in third, with 904 claims.
The number of claims is undoubtedly a fraction of the real number of thefts. Many people do not report their loss because they are frustrated with the paperwork, they do not have time to track down a security officer as they scurry to their next flight, they do not have insurance, they do not know they have been robbed until they get home and find something missing from their checked luggage or a host of other reasons.
Outside the United States, risk assessment experts say, some airports in Latin America and Africa are known for high rates of theft, with airport security personnel and even government officials sometimes working with the thieves. But airports anywhere can be targeted by thieves, the experts say.
“In Latin America, the corruption of security forces is huge,” said Tobias Friedl, Latin America manager for iJET Intelligent Risk Systems, which helps multinational organizations assess travel risks to staff and assets, avert trouble and respond when problems arise. “There have been major scandals at several airports in Latin America in the last couple of years.”
He cited an incident at Ezeiza International Airport in Argentina where the son of the airport security director was implicated in a scheme to ship cocaine from Bolivia through Argentina to Spain. He also noted the theft of an armored truck carrying $8 million at the Guatemala City airport last September. He said the theft not only illustrated the extent of the corruption but also the fact that the people to whom a traveler might turn for help after a theft may actually be the thieves themselves.
“The airport security director was involved, his subordinate, the security supervisor, two security guards and two low-level security agents,” Friedl said. If these people are involved in all this criminal activity, they might also steal your luggage, even though they can make more money doing other things.”
In Africa, Johan Breytenbach, an analyst on iJETs Africa team, said, theft at the Johannesburg airport, Africas busiest with more than 13 million passengers a year, occurs daily. In May, a network of thieves that included security guards and airport employees was found to be working the airport. In Nigeria, security officials and airport employees were also involved in large-scale theft networks.
Bruce McIndoe, iJETs chief executive, said that crime is one of the three top issues affecting business travelers.
“Business travelers are more frequently in airports than leisure travelers,” he said. “Therefore, they are more likely to be victims of crime.”
Though theft is most likely to occur curbside as travelers load and unload baggage, in public areas before going through security and at baggage carousels, no part of an airport is completely safe. At the security checkpoint, travelers are particularly vulnerable because they are distracted.
“The metal detector goes off. They ask you to go back through,” said William Daly, senior vice president and head of the New York office for London-based Control Risks, which provides security consulting to corporations. “Meanwhile, your stuff has gone through the X-ray machine.” In the confusion, he said, thieves can just pick up your things “and theyre somewhere out of the terminal while youre still tying your shoes.”
Even when they have passed the security check point, travelers should continue to be vigilant. Professional thieves can easily get to those areas. “There are people who will buy a ticket and later cancel it - or theyve already canceled it and they still go through because at security points theyre looking at a ticket and a name and a face and theyre not necessarily checking to see if the person has already canceled those reservations,” said Daly, whose rйsumй includes 10 years in counterintelligence with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and several years in corporate security.
