Broken and damaged!

I just came back from Penang yesterday, 21st December 2010. I was there since Monday for work. I came back with a bag that was tampered with and the padlocks broken. :(

I only found out about it after I had left the airport and stopped at McD to get dinner along the highway. Luckily nothing is missing.

I travel Business Class, and so I thought that at least extra precaution would be taken to safe-guard the bag. I thought wrong. Maybe BECAUSE it has a Golden Club Class sticker that it became a target thinking that probably something valuable could have been stashed inside the bag.

The padlock is too small to create such damage to the zipper holder as it is a Polo bag - the holders are very strong. I believe that someone had actually used a crow bar to cut the zipper holder because I remember very well padlocking the 2 zippers together.

This bag has 3 compartments. They broke 2 of the padlocks. This is the other compartment.

I think they had a key which fitted into this padlock and so opened the padlock, but locked it again after opening the zipper. I remember very well too padlocking the 2 zippers together and checking it over and over again to make sure that they were secure. Yet, when I realised my bag was damaged and upon further inspection, found out that the second compartment has also been tampered with.

If not for the security sticker across the zipper, I am sure that they would have tampered or broken the center compartment too.

I am going to travel again tomorrow. If before this I think the stickers are a nuisance as it sometimes gets stuck in the zipper teeth, this time I think I am going to request that the security put a security sticker across all 3 compartments.

My mum believes that since the security sticker can be easily removed, there is no assurance that the center compartment too has not been tampered with. The security check sticker looks intact. But, then again, they could have replaced it.

I certainly won't be putting anything valuable inside the bag. I usually don’t, but now I will have to be even more extra careful.

I travel so often that I always have my bag all ready packed with the usual stuff – pajamas, telekung, make-up bags, toiletries and clothes to wear for the next day (which, of course, I change for each trip. LOL!) .

The bag is always ready to go (except to change the clothes) that I sometimes I forget what else’s is inside the bag apart from the usual. I usually even avoid putting my costumes jewelleries inside the bag.

*sigh* I guess I will just have to be even more extra careful and make sure that nothing valuable is put inside the bag.