This content was created by Robert Siciliano. This content was uploaded by Robert Siciliano. This is a YouTube investigative news segment titled "Airport Security, Luggage Stolen by Baggage Handlers www.SafeTravelSecurity.com" (published January 15, 2009). The I-Team/WBZ report (hosted by Chief Correspondent Joe Shortsleeve) investigates widespread luggage loss and theft at Boston Logan Airport, citing federal and state records (about 1,300 TSA claims over 7 years totaling ~$1.6M) and showing gaps in surveillance and airline oversight. Participants include Joe Shortsleeve, security expert Robert Siciliano, TSA official George Nakara, several other speakers (labeled A, B, E), and a suspect referenced (Christopher Gemery). Siciliano is identified as a personal security expert and provides guidance (avoid checking valuables, use carry-on) and commentary about weak links, lack of accountability, and underreported thefts.
Chapters
A million dollars worth of luggage stolen from Logan Airport.
The I-Team finds a flaw in the security system making your bags an easy target.
How does it happen? Hundreds of lost or stolen bags at Logan alone.
Understand that there is 3 types of luggage. There is carry-on, lost, or stolen.
And the I-Team found out there's a reason for that. How easy is it to steal luggage at Logan Airport? Uh, no comment. The I-Team, that's next on WBZ.
Checking bags has become expensive when you fly, but it may cost even more if your luggage ends up missing or stolen.
The I-Team has uncovered federal and state records showing just how many claims are made here at Logan Airport. And Chief Correspondent Joe Shortsleeve found there is a patchwork of security systems making it easy for your luggage to fall through the cracks.
Luggage on a carousel, but it might as well be on a roulette wheel because someone is bound to walk away a loser.
Check anything valuable in the bag because I am afraid that it will be pilfered with baggage handlers.
Really?
Yeah, absolutely. We have had situations where we think that we have lost items, or at least items have been gone through.
I have concerns about that when you check in the baggage.
And travelers should be concerned. The I-Team examined a federal database and found that over the past 7 years, more than 1,300 claims for missing and stolen luggage have been filed just with the TSA at Logan Airport. Total value: $1.6 million.
I think it's probably a lot more and probably even underreported.
These are all the cameras.
George Nakara is in charge of the TSA at Logan. He says the feds only open and inspect luggage, like in this simulation, if it sets off an alarm and poses a security threat. How do you make sure employees aren't stealing items from bags when they're inspecting them?
Fortunately, from the beginning here, Massport aided TSA and installed cameras. We have closed-circuit TV TV cameras throughout these baggage locations, so every action, every inspection by any TSA person having to do with that bag is on, is on film.
This is the room where those cameras are monitored by TSA personnel, but the feds only watch a small portion of the trip your luggage makes without you. Most of the time, it's in the hands of airline personnel. While there are cameras watching throughout the whole baggage check-in process along the way, there are no cameras here. This is where your bag comes after you've checked in with your airline and before it's put it onto the plane.
It's much easier to steal somebody's luggage than it is to break into a car or break into a house.
Robert Siciliano is an expert on personal security.
When you drop your luggage off, that there are so many people that are going to be handling it, a tremendous lack of oversight, the chances are at any given time somebody can open up your luggage, see what's of value, and they can take what they want.
What do you see as weak links here in the chain?
Possibly there could be more closed-circuit TV cameras.
He might have a point. The I-Team obtained these records, reported larcenies at Logan in 2008, and it's clear there are gaps in the coverage provided by the surveillance cameras that do exist. Consider this report from last August in which a passenger reported jewelry, including $2,000 diamond earrings, stolen from her bag. The investigating officer wrote, "There are no video surveillance cameras situated within the area where the luggage is loaded." And there's this case. A remote wheelchair and a duffel bag are reported stolen, and again, there was no video in that area to view. Much of the responsibility for baggage is with the airlines, but there are problems there too. As this state police report indicates, an AirTran employee was fired last January for stealing. But there's no uniform approach by the airlines to prevent thefts. A spokesman for the Air Transport Authority told the I-Team, every carrier has some means of surveillance, whether it's people or electronic, designed to stop theft of passenger your property.
The system is broken. There is a lack of accountability.
Your bags can also be at risk in public areas. Siciliano points out that Logan operates on an honor system when luggage is picked up. No tickets checked, no questions asked. How easy it is to steal luggage at Logan Airport. All of those bags might have been too much of a temptation for Christopher Gemery. He wouldn't talk to me, but he's accused of stealing these suitcases from the JetBlue baggage claim area last spring.
The best advice for travelers?
Travelers, keep everything in sight and don't check anything of value.
Understand that there is 3 types of luggage. There is carry-on, lost, or stolen.
Now, many travelers carry-on as much as possible these days to avoid having anything stolen, but you have to be careful here as well. We noticed as we went through all these documents that there were several cases where a person tried to bring something on only to be told by the flight attendant that it had to be checked, and guess what? Either the laptop or the camera were gone when the bag was picked up.
Jack, I can't believe they just fired that one employee for stealing. How about throwing him in the jail?
