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Items stolen from luggage

Tuffjsu
Explorer C

I flew southwest last month and my playstation 4 was stolen out of my luggage I waited to post this until the investigation was complete but nothing was done it seems like they are giving their employees the ok to just steal whatever they want because they are not going to do anything about it even though I told them that I switched my game system from one bag to the other and that I was clearly on camera switching my game system to another bag and called to report it within the 4 hour time frame of me landing their investigation is a joke because if any investigation was done then they would have seen that and would have asked for my playstation account name and they would have seen that I haven't been logged into it ever since the day before I got on that flight and still haven't been logged in I travel for a living so I use my game system religiously on the road and for them to deny my claim is utter BS I waited for a month to just get a automated email saying they are not going to honor my claim I will be following up with the BBB and trying to get in touch with somebody higher up that's a 400$ system just stolen I work to hard for my money and what I have for a thief in their company to just open my bag and take what they want 

 

This is the email I recieved after waiting for a whole month

 

 

Dear Terrance Moffatte,
Probably the single most frustrating experience—for both the Customer and the airline—is when a problem occurs concerning a Customer's checked luggage. When this happens, the ideal solution would be to offer recompense for the loss—unfortunately, however, unlimited liability simply cannot be justified.
On a daily basis, we accept sight unseen thousands of bags for transport and theoretically, everyone that checks a bag could file a missing article report. For this reason, the Officers of Southwest Airlines have established liability limitations and strict guidelines for processing baggage claims. Unless there is evidence that a bag has been improperly handled (), we do not accept
delay in delivery or signs of exterior damage
financial responsibility for missing articles. We do, however, make every possible effort to locate the reported missing property. We will continue our search for approximately 30 days and contact you if we are successful.
Another factor affecting the liability of your claim is our list of exclusions. Our Contract of Carriage specifically excludes liability for money; jewelry; photographic, video, and optical equipment; computers and other electronic equipment; computer software; silverware and china; fragile or perishable items; liquids; precious gems and metals; negotiable instruments; securities; business or personal documents; samples; items intended for sale; paintings, artifacts, and other works of art; antiques; collectors’ items; unique or irreplaceable items; heirlooms; research, experimental, and scholastic items and documents; manuscripts; furs; irreplaceable books or publications; and similar valuables contained in carryon or Checked Baggage. For the Passenger’s protection, these items should not be transported in or as Checked Baggage. Notices of our limits of liability are posted for Customer review at all ticket and gate counters, as well as on our web site, southwest.com.
Hopefully you will understand our position in this matter and will not allow this incident to tarnish your image of our airline. You are a valued Customer and we look forward to the opportunity to serve you again.
Sincerely,
Tye

 

17 REPLIES 17

Re: Items stolen from luggage

dfwskier
Aviator A

Sorry to hear that your stuff was stolen.

 

You do realize the thief may not work for Southwest? TSA has access to your items, and most times

airport empoyees do too. Bags move thru the innards of airports using airport employees. Further, there have been stories of TSA employees as well as airport employees stealing stuff. Admitedly I do seem to recall a story about a Southwest employee stealing stuff. Sometimes the thieves get caught

 

So, at this point no one really knows who took your stuff.

 

All airlines warn passengers not to put important (expensive?) stuff in checked luggage. Southwest via it's policy warned you too.

 

That being said, most homeowners policies cover theft while traveling. So you may have a claim.

 

Again, sorry to hear that your stuff was stolen.

 

edit add: There is probably another thing you should do (other than file an insurance claim):

 Contact the airport police  at the departure airport to advise them of the theft as well as to file a police report. You'll need a police repot to file an insurance claim. It also alerts plice to a potential problem that they can watch for.

Re: Items stolen from luggage

Tuffjsu
Explorer C

Look man my bag was supposed to be a carry on but the overhead compartments were full u can try to take up for the airline all you want but I know I'm out 299$ while somebody is have fun with something I used my hard earned money to buy but it's cool the company flys southwest all the time 3000 employees flying every 3 days but I will let my company know what has happened and how unprofessional southwest airlines are 

Re: Items stolen from luggage

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@Tuffjsu wrote:

Look man my bag was supposed to be a carry on but the overhead compartments were full u can try to take up for the airline all you want but I know I'm out 299$ while somebody is have fun with something I used my hard earned money to buy but it's cool the company flys southwest all the time 3000 employees flying every 3 days but I will let my company know what has happened and how unprofessional southwest airlines are 


That's some specific information that wasn't provided before - so the item was taken from a gate checked bag? If you didn't make that clear in your report before then I would follow up with that info to whoever you talked to. 

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.

Re: Items stolen from luggage

pilfered1
Explorer C

Delayed reply, but I just got the same letter. Similar to your case, a Southwest representative told me to check on my bag due to size restrictions although I've traveled with that bag as a carry-on with another airline.  My iPhone charger was missing from the front zippered pocket, where I'd stashed it right before going to the airport. I feel like someone pilfered it because it could be felt through the thin material of my duffel bag. It was only a phone charger, but I still feel violated. I feel like there's nothing else we can do but air our complaints publicly. You have my sympathy.

Re: Items stolen from luggage

angryman
Explorer C

My story is worse, anyway I traveled from Las Vegas to Los Angeles on Feb 9th missed my anital flight because I thought I'd  lost my Apple Macbook but thank GOD that wasn't the case so Imissed that flight gets on the next flight arrive to L A and there's NO luggage for me at baggage claim I spend an hour waiting for my luggage it never came not to mention I had personal items for myself and gifts for my 25 yr old son that was the reason for the trip, anyway I had to wear the same clothes to his birthday celebration that I'd had on all day plus the next day for his dinner.Return back to Vegas Monday afternoon checked baggage claim again still NO luggage at this point I know my luggage has been stolen, I was honestly hoping it was indeed lost, I really wanted them to do the impossible " FIND SOMETHING THAT'S BEEN STOLEN " So I'd call every other day hoping for good news which I never recieved so finally I filed the claim with a itemized list of everything and not to mention I told them from the beginning my personal items were purchased 8 months to a yr and the items for my 25 yr old son were left in the bag due to me shopping just hours prior to a last minute trip, originally my son was supposed to be on tour but just a week before his birthday they cancelled some dates and his mother called me to let me know that she was going to throw him a bowling party since it was so last minute and she paid for everthing I needed to get him gifts, which I did, the items I purchased for him was a Gucci signature backpack a bottle of Creed Viking cologne, Chanel Da BLEU 2 bottles we'd split, unfortantly I put the bottles of cologne in the backpack because I couldn't take the cologne on the plane each bottle of Chanel contained 3.4 ozs the Creed contained 5 ozs itself, anyway my personal items alone came up to about $1,000 or better the 3 bottles of cologne totaled $ 800 plus and someone offered me $1336.00 I felt belittled because people from Southwest stole my entire luggage and this person evaluating my claim is dening to pay my total claim, your company need to take responsibility for your employees action, again my luggage never even left Las Vegas which means someone there went through it saw what was inside and threw it to the side so they could rob it of it contents. If Southwest held their employees accountable for being theives they wouldn't have this problem with coustomers seeking reimbursement for stolen items or entire luggages. The person that handled my claim I sent a message asking her to call me twice not once did I recieve a phone call or a response from her, went back into the portier tried to axcess my account again I was locked out. I'ver called the claims department again several times still no satisfaction, my next step is the BBB and after that have my son and his 3 plus millon followers and his CELEBRITY friends call for a boycott of SOUTHWEST AIRLINES until this person La'Jon is terminated, as soon as he's feeling better after the berial of his childhood friend "NIPSEY HUSSLE" we'll take care of this issue, it's not about the money it's the principal, this person with a good job disvalued my personal stuff and things I spent my hard earned money on for my child, I'M seriously pissed.

 

Re: Items stolen from luggage

sandysue79
Explorer B

My watch was stolen from my luggage at some point after I checked my bags with a Southwest ticket counter employee in Las Vegas on 10/18/19. I have been a Southwest customer for many years and I also have a Rapid Rewards member credit card. If this issue is not resolved I will no longer fly with Southwest and I will cancel the credit card right away. 

Re: Items stolen from luggage

dfwskier
Aviator A

AIrport, TSA, and SW employees all had access to your bag. Who took the watch? Who knows.

 

Hopefully you filed a theft report with SW.

 

The moral of the story is NEVER PACK things in checked luggage that you really don't want to lose: medictions, valuables, etc. Bags do get lost, and yes things do get stolen.

 

Hope you get the watch back.

Re: Items stolen from luggage

NicoleAshley
Employee
Employee
Solution

We're saddened to hear this, @sandysue79. As a peer-to-peer support forum, we aren't equipped to assist you here. We encourage you to reach out via official channels following the steps below. Thank you!

 

Submitting a Suggestion and/or Complaint

Nicole
Community Manager

Re: Items stolen from luggage

munroet1
Explorer C

I got the same letter.  I had my make up bag w expensive make up stolen out of my bag.  They don't care.