So is all that 'lost luggage' really deliberate targeting by fetishists, like the washing line knicker thief?

[IvyTwines]

And not so much the fault of the airports after all, unless of course they are also employing thieving fetishists in their baggage handling? I've seen comments online of lost luggage being eventually returned minus some items of clothing. We now have one very high profile thief who clearly thought he was untouchable enough to be parading in public in the garments he stole. I feel like I've been really naive, thinking lost luggage was genuinely lost rather than targeted by this sort of man. So is this another area of life where we have to dress down, have boring looking luggage so as not to attract the attention of dodgy men?

In reality it would be a combination of ground staff theft from more expensive looking cases, ground staff / airline incompetence in baggage handing and a (I would suspect proportionally much smaller) element of baggage theft from the carousel.

It takes a fair degree of recklessness to steal baggage in an airport. They’re swamped with cctv.

Although… there might be a question about how often an airline would go back and actually check cctv (assuming they can even get access to it via the airport operator - local privacy laws would stop them just fishing for it). I’d have thought it’s as likely they would just pay out and refer it on to their insurers, as that they would start a detailed investigation through the handling chain. Perhaps it’s not as risky as all that.

Come on, not all lost luggage will be the result of targeting by fetishists. That idea is just daft.

The majority will be misdirected or mislabelled, and simply lost. Some will be targeted by common or garden thieves looking for high value items to sell.

"not all lost luggage will be the result of targeting by fetishists". No, I know, but I hadn't considered that element of 'lost luggage' before! This individual is high profile, but extrapolating from that there must be many more doing this that aren't public figures and in your face with it.

It does seem to be more of a "thing" than I ever envisaged 🤔

Some countries check the luggage tag against the slip you receive with your ticket. Though I only experienced that in South America, but I think it is a good idea. On the other hand, I think most just assume that people get to the carousel in time and would see someone stealing their luggage.