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Comment by OJFord | Hacker News Reader

> Lost luggage gets opened and inventoried and tracked in a computer system. This should be easy to track down if they care.

Lol. It also gets just left in the open. I came through YYZ from LHR a couple of days after my father in law from DEL, I was to ask someone about his lost bag but just happened to notice it amongst a bunch of others neatly to the side in baggage reclaim; so I just picked it up and walked out. Could've taken anyone else's too.

But then how bad is that anyway, because I can do the same thing at the carousel when it comes out without it ever being lost. Kind of wild there's no checks on it really.

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> Kind of wild there's no checks on it really.

Luggage collection is already slow enough. Adding a correlation check would make it even slower. Plus a good number of people immediately lose their luggage slip once their bag is tagged... I wouldn't necessarily trust people having a matching slip anyway because you could just scan and print one... So then you're checking IDs and everyone who has a bag in their name needs to be present at baggage claim instead of splitting up some someone can get the rental car.

That said, I think they did do ID based baggage claim when I went on a cruise... You'd find your bag and wave down an attendant and point. Needed a lot more space and labor.

Why an extra slip? Just link it to passport/travel document or boarding pass (it already is).

It could be something like a cable that clasps a handle and is attached to the carousel, a few points around it have a scanner, once you see your bag you scan and it releases.

I don't know how big a problem theft actually is and I'm not really suggesting it necessarily, I just think compared to the rest of life and travel it's quite surprising that that's the way it is.

"Kind of wild there's no checks on it really."

In some countries, there are. At the customs gate, they'll ask to see your tickets and then check them against the luggage tags.

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