Travel Question: Why no action over the theft of a purse?

Have a question? Ask our expert Simon Calder

Such incidents are common as passengers invariably carry high-value items (Getty/iStock)

Q My daughter was flying to Paphos in Cyprus when she had her purse stolen. The crew looked for it on seats but they didn’t search bags. She thinks she knows who did it: some passengers who were apparently smoking in the toilets. She was told that the police would meet the flight when it landed to investigate the onboard behaviour, but after a while waiting on the ground on arrival, everyone was told they could leave. She is terribly upset as nothing has been investigated, and feels very violated.

Name withheld

A Your daughter’s experience sounds awful. Sadly, thefts on flights are common. Passengers tend to be carrying relatively high-value items, including purses and wallets, and may stow them in the overhead lockers to which anyone has access. On some routes – such as the UK to Prague – the practice is so rife that the Foreign Office warns of the risks, saying: “It is best to keep your passport and valuables with you before and during your flight.”

In future, I am sure she will keep all of her valuables close, and I hope other travellers take note.

It is also of great concern that an action which put the plane in danger – smoking in the toilet – appears to have gone unpunished.

I can see three avenues to pursue. The first, for getting back what she lost, is to claim on travel insurance – though this may require a police report for the loss. If that avenue proves unsuccessful (eg because your daughter is not covered for lost cash), she may want to try to claim from the airline under the Consumer Rights Act – asserting that the airline did not perform its duty with “reasonable care and skill” by failing to keep passengers under control. This, though, may be a difficult case to prove.

But in any event, if your daughter feels that the airline did not respond appropriately to disruptive – and possibly criminal – behaviour, she should report the incident to the Civil Aviation Authority.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder