610,000 baht in luxury watches missing from airline luggage

Not experienced travelers.

Experienced travelers keep their valuables in carry-on luggage.

First timers straight outta Upcountry ❓

If the lawyer has any brains they can sue the airline - that's assuming the claim is legit. Not to go to trial, but to make them do the right thing. They probably don't want to be identified with this. That would be leverage. I've sued airlines multiple times for breaking luggage and other things, and won. But I sued Asian airlines from within the court system, although I threatened to sue NOK for refusing a Covid refund that they were obligated to pay, they paid the next day. But I agree with everyone - you don't put such things into checked bags.

Edited September 2Sep 2 by Jonathan Swift

7 minutes ago, Jonathan Swift said:

If the lawyer has any brains they can sue the airline - that's assuming the claim is legit. Not to go to trial, but to make them do the right thing. I've sued airlines multiple times for breaking luggage, and won. But I sued Asian airlines from within the court system, although I threatened to sue NOK for refusing a Covid refund that they were obligated to pay, they paid the next day. But I agree with everyone - you don't put such things into checked bags.

Agree with your sentiment, but I don't know what the conditions of carriage are for that particular airline, it might mention don't pack valuables?

Airport security allowed a bag containing ticking watches? Perhaps someone in the handling process also saw a scan, and the prize.

sounds like a load of BS, who in their right mind put watches valued at over 600000 baht in their luggage and not their carry on, especially someone that travels a lot and if they do why not in cases that actually lock so they cant be opened easily. More like someone is after a quick pay out by making BS claims

14 minutes ago, Hotchilli123 said:

Not saying there is an issue here... But

Hold baggage after checking-in at the desk, is always X-rayed away from the check-in area, prior to being sorted and loaded onto the aircraft.

How did she see the X-ray images before departure??

I don't know whether it's still the case, but in the past at Don Muang you would be asked to wait near the check-in area until your checked luggage had passed security, and you could usually see the x-ray screen over the operator's shoulder through the door of the screening room. (The same is true at Tan Son Nhat airport in Saigon.)

You would think the airport authority would get more involved. Their responsible for the whole shebang?

Edited September 2Sep 2 by Frankie baby

yes, very not smart, but No matter how not-smart they were, why blame the victims?

What I don't understand is that this goes on and on forever! everyone in Thailand knows, valuables in luggage WILL BE stolen, period.

it's easy to fix, airport only need to make sure all luggage routes to airplane are covered in full CCTV, it cant be that impossible? can it?

once everything has CCTV and proper tracking, the thief will be caught sooner or later, and probably the same thief gang in the airport that has been operating inside will be over.

That watch from Cartier looks like the Santos. Being sceptical it could be a copy. There are many to be had in Thailand and SEA in general. By any chance do they have the paperwork for these watches? If not it kind of casts doubt on the authenticity of the watches.

The photo of the Cartier looks like it has diamonds on the case and bracelet. If so then it may not be an authentic Cartier. With diamonds you are in the million baht plus range.

Edited September 2Sep 2 by Photoguy21
Added additional information

Why did they wait for 10 days before reporting it to the police?

4 minutes ago, Photoguy21 said:

Why did they wait for 10 days before reporting it to the police?

They didn't. They contacted the lawyer because 10 days after the police report there was no progress.

...Again... 'Uglier & Uglier Incidents Every Day It Seems"... (?)

1 minute ago, CallumWK said:

They didn't. They contacted the lawyer because 10 days after the police report there was no progress.

Fair comment. However if the photo of the Cartier really does show diamonds, I still think there is a good chance the watch is a fake and that the owners have been ripped off. I may be wrong but Cartier for what looks like the Santos model is, from memory, a little more than 450,000 Baht. With diamond significantly more which is why I am dubious of the watch. I could be wrong but the Santos is expensive without diamonds.

15 minutes ago, Photoguy21 said:

The photo of the Cartier looks like it has diamonds on the case and bracelet. If so then it may not be an authentic Cartier. With diamonds you are in the million baht plus range.

If you don't know what you're talking about, you should keep quiet.

AI Overview

A factory diamond-bezel steel Santos de Cartier watch (like the Medium Ref. W4SA0005 ) retails for around $13,500 to $17,000 USD (approx. 450,000 to 570,000 THB ), while fully aftermarket "iced-out" or custom pave models vary widely from $15,000 to over $30,000 USD depending on the stone quality and coverage.

1 minute ago, CallumWK said:

If you don't know what you're talking about, you should keep quiet.

AI Overview

A factory diamond-bezel steel Santos de Cartier watch (like the Medium Ref. W4SA0005 ) retails for around $13,500 to $17,000 USD (approx. 450,000 to 570,000 THB ), while fully aftermarket "iced-out" or custom pave models vary widely from $15,000 to over $30,000 USD depending on the stone quality and coverage.

Closer to $17,000 and more if the stones are high quality. Just take a look at https://www.cartier.com/th-th/%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%AC%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%B2/%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%A5%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%8A%E0%B8%B1%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%99/santos-de-cartier/%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%AC%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%B2-santos-de-cartier-CRHPI01687.html?lang=th_TH which is the Cartier outlet in Bangkok

I think the lawyer should changeǰ his name to "Rightarong"...😜

Apart from it is not wise to place high value stuff in checked luggage, comes the question if this luggage was the only one that seemed to have be opened from that flight — i.e., did somebody knew about the expensive wrist watches?

I have a background in airline. With hand stored luggage in smaller narrow body planes, a luggage team would normally be two people, with one crawling inside the luggage compartment and handing the stuff to the other one by the compartment's door and pulling the items to the luggage cart. Same routine may be for storing luggage in containers for wider body planes.

It was back then common knowledge that the person inside the compartment could unzip or open luggage and quickly feel if there were something of interest inside. Fast operation, as your need to handle passenger luggage fast. The team might even co-operate.

I've actually tried the work myself in narrow body airplanes, when there was strike at the luggage handling agent and other airpline workers — like us from flight operation and planning — were allowed to do the luggage handling. Not much time for anything, when storing or clearing a luggage compartment. However, we luggage-novices were actually doing the job faster than the regular workers, which can be because were not so tired of that job, we were just occasionally stepping in to takeover it. Understandable if the luggage workers got tired; they were often on strike.

The idea code-locks for zipper og closing mechanism, and with an extra strap around the luggage or even film pack the whole thing, is an excellent safety procedure. It also provides against losing stuff accidentally if a cheap or overload zipper breaks...👍

4 hours ago, MIke B Bad said:

Insurance job......no one is so dumb as to put watches like that in checked luggage.

Before any insurance claim is successful they have to prove that the watches were in the luggage, they don't just tell the insurance company that they lost B600,000 worth of watches and the insurance writes a cheque!

2 hours ago, Photoguy21 said:

That watch from Cartier looks like the Santos. Being sceptical it could be a copy. There are many to be had in Thailand and SEA in general. By any chance do they have the paperwork for these watches? If not it kind of casts doubt on the authenticity of the watches.

The photo of the Cartier looks like it has diamonds on the case and bracelet. If so then it may not be an authentic Cartier. With diamonds you are in the million baht plus range.

If the watches were insured there would be no doubt about their authenticity as, before the insurer accepted the risk, they would check that they were genuine.