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610,000 baht in luxury watches missing from airline luggage

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Two Thai social media influencers have sought legal help after reporting that two luxury watches, worth a combined 610,000 baht, disappeared from checked luggage on a flight from Bangkok to Krabi.

Araya Trongklang and Kunlanan Udomphan say a Cartier watch valued at about 470,000 baht and a Hermes watch worth 140,000 baht were missing when they collected their suitcase at Krabi International Airport on 21 August.

They travelled from Suvarnabhumi International Airport to Krabi at around 1.50pm that day.

Damaged zip and empty watch box

The couple posted video footage on 21 August showing them inspecting their luggage after recovering it in Krabi. They said they noticed the suitcase zip was broken and decided to check the contents immediately.

IMG_1735.jpeg

In the video, Araya struggles to open the damaged suitcase before finding that the watch box inside was empty.

She said she had seen X-ray images before departure showing both watches inside the suitcase. However, she said they were gone when the baggage arrived in Krabi.

A friend travelling with the couple also said her suitcase appeared to have been searched. The video did not state whether anything had been taken from her luggage.

Police complaints have made no progress

The couple said airline staff advised them to make a police complaint so they could seek access to airport CCTV footage. They did so and reviewed the videos and images, but said they had received no update on the investigation.

IMG_1736.jpeg

Pictures courtesy of ทุบข่าวนนท์

After reporting the case to the airline, Araya said staff offered to arrange Business Class flights back to Bangkok for her, her boyfriend and four friends. She said this was not what she wanted, adding that she wanted the watches returned.

Ten days after the incident, the pair contacted Thai lawyer Ronnarong Kaewphet for assistance. Araya said the lack of progress left her concerned that she would not receive justice.

Ronnarong said he would take the influencers to file a complaint with the Crime Suppression Division, as complaints Araya had made at two police stations had not progressed.


Related story

Suvarnabhumi-investigates-600000-baht-baggage-loss


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2 September 2026


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  • You must be stupid to put watches or anything else of that value into your checked luggage, why wouldn't you put it in your pocket. Sounds more looking for attention or insurance scam.

  • Those guys should be nominated for the the Darwin award, what did they have in their carry on luggage that they out those watches in their check in lugguge?

  • a cheap brandless bag , and luxury watches inside😄😄😄, however never i put an expensive watch in a check in bag , nor cash or gold

  • Popular Post

You must be stupid to put watches or anything else of that value into your checked luggage, why wouldn't you put it in your pocket.

Sounds more looking for attention or insurance scam.

Edited by Artisi

  • Popular Post

Those guys should be nominated for the the Darwin award,

what did they have in their carry on luggage that they out those watches

in their check in lugguge?

  • Popular Post

First check if any dead friends are involved, then has any geriatric generals appeared blinging in bling.

  • Popular Post

Said many times.. why put valuables in the check in luggage...Everybody knows that you have to keep them close to you. I don't know how they can claim that they saw them on the x ray. Anyway it is their own stupidity that they are lost. To prevent and protect their luggage they could have wrapped it too. At least than they had some protection

Not experienced travelers.

Experienced travelers keep their valuables in carry-on luggage.

First timers straight outta Upcountry

  • Popular Post

a cheap brandless bag , and luxury watches inside😄😄😄, however never i put an expensive watch in a check in bag , nor cash or gold

Edited by lapamita

  • Popular Post

I always put my valuables and cash and things of that nature in my carry-on, so what kind of imbecile would put high-end watches in their luggage?

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 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?

  • Popular Post
15 minutes ago, Jonathan Swift said:

If the lawyer has any brains they can sue the airline - that's assuming the claim is legit.

I doubt that the airline is responsible. Luggage is handled by ground services. Anyway, yes, I hope these 'influencers' don't influence their followers to put expensive items in checked luggage, especially when they are so easy to carry in person. What the hell were they thinking? Actually, they weren't thinking at all.

Edited by Bangkok Barry

  • Popular Post
7 minutes ago, Smokey and the Bandit said:

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?

This. Standard airline disclaimer with regard to valuables will apply. As for their claim to seeing the watches inside the bags when x-rayed at check-in...get real FFS. I have never, ever seen any "x-ray" of my checked bags, anywhere, ever.

If you hang about the carry-on unchecked baggage security scanning, you may see the contents of your bags.

Maybe, being dim influencers, they had overages on their hand-carry allowance and these bags were originally going to be carry-on but were checked at the gate?

With no proof of the watches ever being in the checked bags, no wonder the cops aren't overly interested.

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

  • Popular Post
4 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

She said she had seen X-ray images before departure showing both watches inside the suitcase. However, she said they were gone when the baggage arrived in Krabi.

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??

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.)

  • Popular Post

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

Edited by MIke B Bad

  • Popular Post
38 minutes ago, MIke B Bad said:

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

Agree.

Given how easy it is to open a zipped suitcase with a ballpoint pen. How do we even know the suitcase was closed before they videoed it?

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

Edited 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 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!

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