Spyderco Forums

After reading another thread, I became curious about how many knives "disappear" from checked luggage. I've been pretty casual about packing knives and other valuables in my luggage and am wondering if I need to be more careful.

Has anyone had a knife (or whatever) stolen from their luggage while traveling?

Personally, I've never had this happen to me. IIRC, Custom maker Ken Onion lost thousands of dollars worth of custom knives due to theft in some Airport's shipping department. I've read a few accounts of forumites on the various knife forums who had their knives lost in transit. I think it happens, but it's not a regular event.

Wouter

With Spydies I would throw a lock through the spydie hole and lock them to the inside of the suitcase. Then the only way it will go missing is if the suitcase does, which could happen, but it's less likely.

I almost lost a Delica to security before I boarded the cruise I went on the other week. I happened to remember it was clipped inside my bag, and brought it to the attention of the security staff. It was well below the less than 4" stipulated by the rules on the ship, but it failed the "finger ruling" from the security personnel. :rolleyes: They took my information down, gave me a slip, and told me I could claim it once I got off the boat. I was actually a little surprised when the gentleman that swiped my card as I left the boat told me to stop by the security desk and pick up my knife.I was even more surprised to find it there. Other than that, the couple of knives I took on the trip made it through the trip unscathed.

The funny thing is, when I got to my cabin and unpacked my stuff, I realized I had left a Vic SAK in the bottom of my backpack. Either their scanner didn't pick it up, or they didn't care enough about that one.

In 2007, from US to Taiwan, my less-than-a-month Delica 4 & Viele I SE were stolen. It's 2009 now; every time I think about it, IT REALLY HURTS .

Wow tragic,,,,,

I am going to eroupe and then Motreal after that . i am going to take my SE byrd robin for work and carry in eruope. And Pack my caly 3 for after work carry in montreal. both i love but i can replace.

I would not take my Prized sage cause it more exspensive and i have no back up.

Sixheads

Several years ago (at least 12) I had a knife stolen from my luggage when flying with TWA. I filed a claim and received a check from them for $40 in a few weeks. I don't recall what the make of the blade was. They make it difficult to recover your money. You have to file a claim, in writing, within 24 hours, at the airport. I think most thefts go unreported because it's such a pain to go to the airport to report it. But I went to the trouble and did recover my money.

FLYBYU44 wrote:With Spydies I would throw a lock through the spydie hole and lock them to the inside of the suitcase. Then the only way it will go missing is if the suitcase does, which could happen, but it's less likely.

That's a **** good idea. In fact, I'll go one better: get one of those cable gun locks, and you can string several knives on it!


Meanwhile, I fly infrequently. When I do, I bury my several EDC knives inside of the pockets of jeans, or in sneakers, inside the suitcase. I haven't lost anything yet. It really irks me that I have to risk the loss of some expensive, hand-made titanium kubotans because I can't carry them in the cabin. How freakin' stupid is that policy? :mad:

My beloved SE Tasman Salt was stolen from my lugguge (Southwest) last summer. I immediately filed all of the required paperwork. They said that since I couldn't prove it, I was out of luck. TSA or airport staff can legally steal anything they want from your baggage.

wow thats some serious BS! :mad: that they can get away w/ stuff like that. Some of these knives are not cheap!

Not a knife but my son took a flight from MPLS to Tampa last spring with his HS golf team, He and two others lost very expensive golf clubs out of the bags....My son and one other had Taylor Made drivers stolen, at about $375 each, and another boy had a Tiger Woods style putter from Titlest stolen, which was a couple of hundred bucks, none of the kids with cheap clubs got anything stolen only the good stuff.

The TSA left a note saying they confiscated my knife from my luggage back in 2004. All my stuff had been turned inside out and I was pissed. Now when I travel I had to the nearest hardware store when I arrive and buy a snapit and pocket glass cleaner. I toss them at the airport when I leave.

Sorry to hear about your losses, guys, but I appreciate your sharing the experiences so the rest of us can learn from them. I'm gonna start being more careful. I like the zip tie / cable lock idea and the itemized list.

Any more stories / strategies out there?

Delica_Nut wrote:The TSA left a note saying they confiscated my knife from my luggage back in 2004. All my stuff had been turned inside out and I was pissed. Now when I travel I had to the nearest hardware store when I arrive and buy a snapit and pocket glass cleaner. I toss them at the airport when I leave.

Delica what is a snapit and why the glass cleaner? I'm confused.

I've never had anything stolen. But I don't really risk anything either. I usually take something, such as aByrd knife, that won't be big deal if lost or stolen. If I do want to have a more expensive knife with me, I will ship it via UPS, FedEx, or Priority Mail. I recently just moved to another state. and instead of trying to check them at the airport, I just shipped them via USPS. They arrived the day after I did.

This might seem expensive or a hassle, but much better than trusting them to the airport and airlines.

I think a couple Spyderco employees may have posted this before, but I'll chime in again.

Surprisingly we find including an inventory list addressed to TSA works well for us. So far anyway. It basically tells the TSA person checking the contents of your bag, " Dear TSA, This is what I have in my bag, I know what is in my bag and listed it here in great detail, and I'll check that's there when I arrive." Since I've been here at Spyderco I know of only one knife being lost. Keep a copy of the inventory list/letter with you.

Perhaps a dishonest TSA person (I hope and believe there are not that many) would rather deal with a passenger they think is not paying attention? Not that different than the burglar that will go next door if your house has a yappy dog and lights on? :o

Joyce

This Christmas I had a Native stolen out of my bag flying out of Dallas. It had to be a TSA agent because it was hidden in the bottom of the bag and you would have only found it with an X-Ray machine. Fortunately it was easy to replace, a few years ago I had a full size Wegner stolen while servicing my car, still haven't replaced that one. I wonder if Spydercos are more susceptible because they are so easy to recognize as a quality knife on the X-ray machine?

rickdm

I have a Remote Release II I was worried about in my luggage. I had a half full container of Cytomax recovery powder. I put the Remote Release in a plastic zip lock inside the Cytomax in the bag. When I picked up my bag, my bag was gone through. Every zipper was partially open, but they didn't find my Remote Release.

just flew from alaska to philadelphia and back to alaska again, going through about 7 different airports in all... bags were "lost" both coming and going, but later found... all my knives were still there.

mailed the rest of my collection up to alaska... no knives missing during that journey, either.

Jeesh.

I'm heading off to Sydney Oz tomorrow from Vancouver BC. I hope my two Salt 1 and Pacific Salt don't go missing.