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Johannesburg - Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) is expecting a decline in baggage theft this festive season but many frustrated passengers are not buying this, as they feel this particular crime is on the up.
Many of these travellers have recently taken to social media to tell of their experiences of finding their bags emptied of valuables and security locks broken.
One of them was IOL News editor-in-chief Lance Witten who became a victim of luggage theft this week. He had just flown from Cape Town to OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg when he noticed his luggage had been tampered with.
“On the ground at OR Tambo … I noticed something was amiss,” Witten posted on Twitter.
“My bag had been broken into and the TSA-approved lock was gone. Someone had cut the zip loops to get into my bag. I was nervous.”
Initially Witten thought that nothing had been stolen but then he noticed that his sunglasses were missing.
While local airlines deny that there is an increase in baggage theft, two major insurance companies have seen a spike in recent months.
Old Mutual Insure said that they noted an increase in baggage claims this year, compared to the same period last year but they also attribute this partially to the pandemic.
“We did incur a number of baggage claims during the months of July-September 2022 which were due to the challenges experienced and the shortage of staff at Heathrow Airport and other European airports,” the insurer’s chief executive for specialty, Samantha Boyd, said.
“These events also resulted in an increase in claims for baggage delay.”
Hollard said that they had also experienced an increase in the number of baggage loss claims reported over the past year and that this is also as a result of the global health crisis.
They had noticed an increase in damaged bags too.
Meanwhile, FlySafair’s rates of damage and pilferage have remained low, chief marketing Officer Kirby Gordon told the Saturday Star this week.
He said that for the month to date, their statistics show that 0.03% of bags carried have been reported damaged and 0.009% of bags carried have been reported to have been tampered with or had items stolen from them.
“As you can see these rates are pretty low, but of course the number of passengers we carry has grown a great deal.”
Gordon expects an influx of travellers this holiday season, significantly higher than previous years.
For this reason, he said FlySafair will track the incidence of pilferage and damage to luggage closely as this December, Gordon said they will be carrying 1.5 times the number of passengers they carried last year.
In the lead up to the festive season ACSA would not say whether they had seen an increase in baggage pilfering. They said that they had introduced improved security measures at some of their busiest airports over the past few months.
“The security measures are aimed at protecting the property of all travellers. We expect to see a dent in criminal activity at our airports because of the introduction of these security measures,” ACSA said in a written reply to the Saturday Star.
“We are constantly working with all our stakeholders, including the airlines, to ensure that all our passengers, local or international, have a safe and hassle-free experience at all our airports.”
Jabu Khambule, regional general manager at OR Tambo International Airport said they were working closely with a number of security officials to ensure passengers and their belongings were safe.
“On a bi-weekly basis, the Security Technical Committee comprising Acsa, SAPS, Customs and Immigration officials from the Department of Home Affairs, meet to explore and implement measures that will strengthen the security across the entire value chain with the view to protect passengers and their belongings and also to ensure that there is co-ordination of the activities by the different stakeholders,” said Khambule.
“As we continue to see an uptick of passenger and cargo movement towards pre-Covid levels, we have started to bring back operations that were suspended as a temporary measure to contain costs.
“During Covid, Acsa made a R2.6 billion loss, which was subsequently reduced to just over R1 billion in the 2021/22 reporting period.
“This financial state of affairs requires a delicate balance of ensuring that operations continue, passenger safety is prioritised while ensuring that we match revenue to expenses.”
The airline LIFT told the Saturday Star that they were working closely with both their ground handling partner Menzies and ACSA to reduce the number of incidents.
They said that surveillance cameras had been installed and staff with access to baggage are being searched before and after loading.
“As a result we’ve only had five formal cases reported in the last six months, of which one was a false claim which was picked up due to the cameras,” they said in a statement.
Still other passengers took to social media to vent their anger after becoming victims of theft.
Clarence Watts, in response to Witten’s luggage theft tweet, added on the social media platform: “I had a similar incident with safair ... my hard drives stolen ... OR Tambo is notorious for baggage theft.”
Also on Twitter, @Jehad_Kasu explained that he too had his luggage stolen.
“I’ve been here too and it’s very unsettling, infuriating, and unfair,” he posted on the social media site.
Danica Naidoo used Facebook to share her ordeal. On October 2, she had flown into King Shaka International Airport with FlySafair, when she discovered her luggage had been tampered with.
“Only one of my perfume boxes was left behind,” she wrote.
“I am absolutely livid – some items were of sentimental value too (but obviously nobody will give a damn about such). You cannot even travel safely, without feeling and being totally violated. I always sung praises of FlySafair, but I am so disgusted. King Shaka International Airport must answer for this pathetic service too.”
Chris Lorinda Albon last month wrote of a multi-theft incident that happened at OR Tambo.
“The domestic flight this morning from OR Tambo at 07h05 to Durban had thirty people complaining that their baggage had been tampered with, locks broken and personal items having been stolen.”
To protect against theft, both Old Mutual Insure and Hollard advised travellers to take out travel insurance.
“All our policies include cover for theft and damage to personal baggage,” Jansen said.
He explained that travellers should view the options available depending on your age, number of travellers and number of days of travel.
Jansen warned, however, that travel insurance is not designed to cover expensive items, or items that are fragile, or not typically categorised as personal baggage.
“These types of items should be covered under a home contents all-risk policy where you pay a monthly premium according to the value of the item you want to cover.”
He also stressed that loss or damage caused by an airline must be reported to the airline before a traveller leaves the baggage area, and a property irregularity report must be obtained from the airline as evidence of the loss.
But as passenger numbers continue to increase following the Covid 19 pandemic the months ahead will tell if those new security measures are enough to finally stop luggage theft.