Airport thefts highlight out-dated regulations

Out-of-date regulations concerning the loss of property from airline passengers' luggage are contributing to security problems at airports and on airlines, an expert in aviation law told the Global Times Monday.

Two recent cases of theft involving airport staff employed in the baggage transfer department of Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) have highlighted the safety risks to passengers' luggage.

One employee of the BCIA baggage department, Yang Qingjing, was sentenced to 10 years in jail on Sunday for stealing cash and luxury items from unlocked luggage at Terminal 2 in a stealing spree that lasted from December 2011 to February 2012. The articles were worth 120,000 yuan ($19,248).

In another case, airport baggage handler Luo Guobin, 55, stood trial on November 7 for stealing electronic items from luggage worth 8,800 yuan ($1,406) over a two-week period at Terminal 3 in June. The accused said he hid the items under his arms, and was never checked by airport security staff. Prosecutors at Chaoyang district court asked for a sentence of 9 months to a year, the Beijing Morning Post reported.

Zhang Qihuai, chief expert of the China Aviation Law Service Center, said that there is an awareness that regulations regarding air travel in China need to be updated, and there will be a meeting Wednesday to draft a proposal to the National People's Congress.　

"This new proposal aims to strengthen the responsibility of domestic airports and airlines to passengers' rights as well as staff management," he said.

The current regulations, issued in 1996, need to be changed, he said. For example, the compensation system measures lost property by weight rather than value.　

"It means the heavier the property, the higher the compensation fee will be," said Zhang Qihuai.

He noted that this is why airlines and airports are discouraged from getting tough on theft.

For example, it means if a high-value item, such as jewelry is stolen, as it does not weigh much, the owner would not receive its full value.　

An employee of the baggage department of BCIA, also surnamed Zhang, said they have received customer complaints concerning losses from luggage, and said that passengers should immediately report any loss to them.　

"We have a seven-day restriction on the declaration of property loss," she said.

"Passengers who come to us seven days after the incident occurred might not be on record [for police investigation]," Zhang noted.

Zhang Qihuai said that the airport should always take responsibility for losses since they are the employer of the baggage handlers.　

"Some airline companies recruit staff with a low educational background for cheap human resources," he said, "and there is a lack of an effective supervision system."

The director of the Public Security Department of BCIA, surnamed Qiang, confirmed the two theft cases, but said that loss of property is not common at the airport.

"The best thing passengers can do to prevent this is to lock their check-in luggage and don't put expensive items inside," he said, adding that check-in luggage would normally not be opened for security checking purpose.

Sun Liu, a Beijing resident who studies in South Korea, told the Global Times that her property was stolen from Terminal 3 of BCIA this February. When she arrived at Gimpo Airport in Seoul, she found that the zip of her suitcase had been moved and discovered a packet of tea worth more than 200 yuan ($32) was stolen.

"I didn't report it to the airport because the tea wasn't expensive and I didn't have evidence," said Sun, "next time I should lock my suitcase."

Peng Kun, from Beijing Yingke Law Office, said that as there is a contract between an airline and its customers, the airline has a duty to protect both their personal and property safety.

"If the stolen goods amount to less than 20,000 yuan, the thief would be sentenced to less than three years, while for over 100,000 yuan, they could get life," he said.