Luggage theft at Sea-Tac Airport hit an all-time high in 2022. Here’s what we found in 2023. (2024)

SEATAC, Wash. — There are a lot of hassles for air travelers during the busy holiday season. For growing numbers of travelers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, stolen luggage is one of them.

Records show that cases of baggage theft have increased over the years at Sea-Tac Airport, especially after the post-pandemic crush of passengers.

From a low in 2011 of 97 reported incidences of bag theft, the numbers soared last year to a record high of 477 cases. The numbers are lower this year, 341 cases through October, but that doesn’t include the end-of-the-year travel season.

“The numbers generally increase with the increased traffic that goes through here,” said Port of Seattle Police Detective Darin Beam.

Along with a record number of travelers, passengers checked 30 million bags that passed through Sea-Tac Airport last year.

The port said your chance of getting a bag stolen is about one in 56,000.

“Unfortunately, when it’s your bag stolen, it doesn’t matter what the percentage is. It’s your bag,” said Detective Beam.

A single theft can be a costly loss for a passenger.

Daniel McMath of Kitsap County lost $10,000 worth of diving gear that was stolen from a Delta Airlines holding area near Sea-Tac’s baggage claim. Days later, a friend pointed him to a Facebook page where similar gear was for sale.

“Oh man, that’s my gear alright,” McMath said when he logged in to check it out.

When McMath reported the online seller to Port police, detectives investigated but said they didn’t have the evidence to make an arrest.

“There’s no feeling more despairing than watching strangers sell your stuff on the internet,” McMath said after watching his gear disappear piece by piece from the seller’s website.

The KING 5 Investigators poured over hundreds of pages of documents, photos, and airport surveillance videos to uncover the people behind the rising numbers of bag thefts.

In cases from 2022, with the record number of 477 bag thefts, there were several repeat offenders.

A 30-year-old Seattle man had been trespassed from the airport 14 times by Port of Seattle police when he was arrested on February 25, 2022. He was caught on video stealing a couple’s purple roller bag and was arrested.

In another case file, a man was contacted four times by Port police in 24 hours before he was arrested for bag theft. On an early January morning last year, police found him sleeping next to a missing guitar in a travel case. He said it wasn’t his, and officers ordered him to leave the airport. He was seen two more times in the following hours and trespassed again by officers.

The owner of the guitar, Michael Dalton of Bremerton, wonders why officers didn’t arrest him on the spot.

“I’m surprised the man wasn’t taken to jail,” Dalton told KING 5.

Surveillance video shows the man stealing at least two more bags, one of them with more than a $1,000 worth of shoes, clothes, and gift cards inside, before officers finally put an end to his one-man crime spree in baggage claim.

In another case, a man from Florida just stepped off his flight when he saw what looked like his bright orange bag in a bathroom stall. When he confronted the man carrying it, the stranger said it belonged to him.

“He started going through his pockets to show us and he pulled a knife out,” the passenger said in a statement to police. Officers arrested and charged a suspect a short time later. He was carrying the folding knife described by the victim.

“A lot of (the suspects) are unfortunately homeless. There’s a large population of them that are mentally ill,” said Detective Beam.

But not all of them, according to records reviewed by the KING 5 Investigators. Some cases appear to be inside jobs.

Last November, a traveler from New York City reported the theft of his backpack near ticketing Checkpoint 4. Shortly after taking the report, police learned the backpack was recovered, abandoned in a wheelchair on an upper floor.

When police reviewed surveillance footage, they were surprised to see a uniformed airport employee walk off with the bag. Video showed him disappear behind a secure door and then reappear a few minutes later and set the bag on an unattended wheelchair.

The employee, a newly-hired mechanic who maintained Port’s baggage conveyor belt, told KING 5 that he was attempting to turn the bag over to lost and found when he got summoned on another call. He said he didn’t steal the bag but admitted the Port fired him for “dishonesty.”

A driver for the UPS-owned baggage delivery service “Roadie” also escaped prosecution, even though he was linked to two theft cases in two years. In 2021, a passenger saw his two paddle boards stolen from Sea-Tac’s baggage claim area for sale on eBay. Pierce County Sheriff’s deputies confronted the seller at his home, and he admitted to stealing the boards and other items. The case was dropped when the victim declined to press charges.

A year later, the man was tied to another luggage theft in which the prime suspect was his girlfriend. Even though he was not charged in the case, “…this driver has been permanently removed from our platform and has not completed any deliveries since March 2022,” Roadie spokesperson Heather Hughes said in a written statement.

In an interview with KING 5, the former delivery driver said he was “high on acid” when he stole the paddle boards. He said he had nothing to do with the case in which his girlfriend was charged, even though they were at the airport at the same time.

Cracking down on luggage theft

The Port has taken action to crack down on luggage theft.

Records reviewed by KING 5 show that officers have written 372 trespass notices so far this year to remove suspicious people from the airport. That’s two times the number they issued in 2019, before the pandemic.

When the King County Jail stopped booking many property theft cases in 2020, the Port of Seattle started booking luggage theft suspects at the South County Correctional Entity. In addition, the King County Prosecutor’s Office altered the threshold for prosecuting some cases, including raising the dollar amount for felony property crimes to a minimum of $2,000 in loss. The Port of Seattle responded by striking an agreement with the City of SeaTac. Now, most luggage theft prosecutions are handled by the city prosecutor.

In addition to stolen luggage, bags lost or stolen “surged” in 2022, according to a report by SITA, which specializes in air transport communication and information technology.

SITA’s research showed the number of mishandled and missing bags in 2022 rose nearly 75% in 2022 when compared to the prior year.

Port of Seattle police say the best defense against missing or stolen bags is to avoid checking a bag at all. A carry-on that is always with you is your safest bet.

Detective Beam also has these suggestions:

In the case of Daniel McMath, who lost $10,000 in diving gear, Delta Airlines replaced less than $2,000 of gear.

“I should have been way more aggressive about putting things in my carryon and using Air Tags in every checked bag. I should have been more concerned,” he said.