Should i lock checked luggage

[dizneywend]

Hi,
we are off soon to Florida and were always advised to not lock our suitcases when travelling to the US. When we travel in europe we always lock our checked luggage and feel i would would like to when flying to the US now due to the stories i keep hearing about items going missing whilst not in owners care and the opportunity is there and easy if not locked. We are flying British airways and have tried looking on their site but not found any answers.
Any advice would be great.
Thanks very much, Wendy

[Mo Green]

Wendy we used to buy the special locks as advised by British and American Airlines but found our cases were regular unlocked by security and the locks were never replaced. We now use platic cable ties which can be cut by security if they want to look in the case. We bought a pack of multi coloured ones which also help to identify your case the other end. We have never had our cases opened since using cable ties.

It is still not advisable to put anything of value inside the cases.

Maureen

[dizneywend]

Thanks very much Maureen, think i will do that.
Its not just the cases but my husband and son are taking their golf clubss and would like a little piece of mind then i suppose i will know for sure if they have been opened.
Thanks again
Wendy

[drino]

Not to scare anyone but last year flew virgin.Orlando back to manchester,got home found both nintendo ds's missing with games and chargers.So from now on anything like this will be in hand luggage the robbing ***s...

[ujpest doza]

We always lock ours and up to now have never had them opened.

[dizneywend]

I know, i dont really trust anyone when its out of my site. Its quite sad really but you just hear of too many incidents.
When we were there xmas 08 a family of 6 arrived ok but after 3 days of being there, their villa was broken into so also careful not to take valuable items for that reason.

[dizneywend]

oh, i just thought that if it was locked it would be more of a target of being opened so thanks for that. Definatly going for the cable ties!

[Laurel Oak]

We have cases with TSA approved locks so security can get into the case without causing damage. You can also but TSA approved padlocks which work in the same way.

Cases are often opened as they leave a note but never had any problems.

[christhear]

We have been using cable ties for about 3 years now - cases have to our knowledge never been opened, or if they have the cable ties have been replaced.

[kitch50]

3 of our cases were opened when we came home from FL last year, the padlocks had been cut off and there were a number of items in the cases that had been broken and also a load of Hershey bars and packets of Hershey kisses had been taken. Was not impressed. They didn't seem to have any respect for the belongings in the cases. A note was left in each to say it had been searched and that they weren't to blame for any damage done. Well, I was certainly not to blame so who was ??? There was no mention, funnily enough about blame for items stolen !!!

Will use cable ties in the future.