Stolen luggage

Go to a police station,

If you're currently in Paris, search for "commissariat de police" on Google Maps.

Are you using 00 and 1 before your phone number?

So sorry this happened to you…

Would you mind sharing how this may have happened?

We are having difficulty filing an online report because the form won’t accept our US phone number.

A bit of a strange explanation... the form is available in English and is provided for filling in with a country code for United States
https://www.garesetconnexions.sncf/en/customer-service/by-your-side/lost-and-found/loss-declaration

I believe the is a rise in luggage theft here in France. We checked our luggage at every stop on way to Paris. We noticed another person had locked his luggage to the rack. I would advise locking luggage to the rack!
The train attendant tried to be helpful, thought someone might have mistakenly taken the luggage, but this is really unlikely as there was very few pieces on that rack, our luggage was next to each other and they are a matched set.
My husband got up early this morning before our flight to try and get the report done in person as online report does not work.

Do not lock luggage to a rack. You will not be the only person on the train carrying luggage. Locking luggage to a rack makes it very difficult for others to utilize the limited space available. I have locked my luggage together. The bags can still be manipulated to optimize space but taking bags which have been locked together is almost impossible.

Further, at any intermediate stop, I keep my eyes on my luggage, sometimes standing near it. Your luggage is most vulnerable just before the train starts to move. That's when you are least able to stop a theft.

Further, at any intermediate stop, I keep my eyes on my luggage, sometimes standing near it. Your luggage is most vulnerable just before the train starts to move. That's when you are least able to stop a theft.

This is what I have done in the past when we traveled by train a lot more than we do now. The only trains I have taken in the last few years have been on the Eurostar, and even for that routing (London to Paris and return) with limited stops, I still hover near my bags if at the end of the car.

Do not lock luggage to a rack. You will not be the only person on the train carrying luggage. Locking luggage to a rack makes it very difficult for others to utilize the limited space available. I have locked my luggage together. The bags can still be manipulated to optimize space but taking bags which have been locked together is almost impossible.

For one summer of heavy use of long distance trains on a trip to Europe 20 or so years ago with my kids, I cable locked together our bags in the luggage rack. I also did that in a hotel luggage storage room that was left unlocked and was a self service deal, made me very wary about leaving our bags in that situation. Now when we travel and need to leave our bags at a hotel, say on early arrival or to have them held for a late departure after check out, we only stay in hotels where bags are held in a locked room.

We found out that locking to the rack was recommended and acceptable practice. There was hardly any luggage on the racks.my husband did go stand by the luggage at the stops.

I was trying to find on Seat61.com his take and/or experience with stolen luggage. He mentioned that he keeps his bag where he can see them, on the overhead rack or the floor standing rack next to his seta. Obviously he uses carry-on size.

Does buying first class tickets help? I checked a few seating plans on the Eurostar. if you purchase your tickets early enough there are seats where you can see the luggage. Some even have the luggage behind your seat.

It is always a concern for us too. Luckily our next 2 trips do not include train travel.

cammy there was another recent thread about locking, in general, not just France. You would have to read it and come to your own conclusion. Some people are vehemently opposed to it. But as best I can tell there are no rules against it and if you are considerate of others, and if the rack is empty as yours was, I can’t find a reason not to do it. Heck, some new trains even provide the locking cables for a fee.

I quick search on this forum with one phrase turned up 4 people losing their luggage on the train in the last 2 years, but I presume with a bit more effort you might find twice that many; so I think it’s a real thing meaning your concern is legitimate.

I have an incredibly small soft duffel bag as my luggage plus a tote bag and I keep both of them in front of my legs in my seat. I am a small woman so it's fine. I am totally against the obnoxious hard-sided rolling luggage for this reason. A duffel bag is soft and can be squeezed into spots.

I would never leave my luggage in a rack on a crowded train in France. Never.

I am totally against the obnoxious hard-sided rolling luggage for this reason. A duffel bag is soft and can be squeezed into spots.

daisy, does your duffel bag have wheels? If so, what is the brand? I'd love to have a squeezable carryon, but like having wheels for lugging longer distances to and from train stations.

On a recent trip, my wife insisted on a duffle bag. I ended up carrying it. Very awkward - too large, no structure. I strongly advice against the duffle bag.

Duffel bags with wheels are as common as dirt. I have one I bought at Sierra Trading Post. I've also seen them at TJMaxx and Marshall's fairly often. I like them for the same reason...squishability (is that a word? if not, it should be).

If the overhead rack is not high enough to accommodate my small spinner, ie, the spinner does not clear it, I have no choice but to leave it in a general luggage rack in France.

Admittedly, I was concerned about theft the first time doing that but the French do it, so why shouldn't I ? After the first time's apprehension, I was no longer concerned about placing the spinner in the general luggage area along with those of the other passengers. My train ride, however, did not take more than 2 hours on the TGV with all seats occupied. I had reserved the coach number and the seat number too.

I will be trying a new approach to luggage on my upcoming 4 month trip. An underseat 2 wheel luggage and a very small backpack. I only travel by train and am excited that this may be the “ticket”! My typical carryon always goes with all the other luggage. Not ideal. I’ll be able to put this one in the overhead or, need be, possibly at my feet. In the past, I’ve used a 2’ piece of red parachute cord and simply tied my luggage as a simple deterrent (hence the red, too.) Reserving a seat near the luggage rack has often worked, as well. Perhaps I’ll create an elegant multi-lingual version of the garish “NOT YOURS!” tag….🤔

An airplane carry on spinner is not going to fit in the overhead rack. A not too large backpack might but this fall when we were traveling only with medium size backpacks on our side trips, they were still too large for the overhead racks on our trains. In first class there is room to keep them at your feet but in coach it is sort of miserable. Sometimes the overheads are larger especially on a one level car, but on the two level TGVs they are not big enough for substantial luggage in our experience.

Traveling with luggage we put them in the racks at the end or sometimes middle of the car and I sometimes do get up and observe at stops. It isn't that theft is common - it isn't especially now that you have to have a ticket to access the platform -- but the loss is huge to the traveler. It is not easy to replace what is in the bag easily while traveling.

Back in the day when the platforms were wide open it was common for thieves to walk the train, grabbing unattended valuables. I was once across from a woman who had her purse taken while she ws putting her other bag in the overhead above her seat. The purse was on the seat in front of her. A thief walking the car, spotted and grabbed it and was gone off the train before she realized it.

It is profoundly antisocial to lock them to the baggage bins -- it risks trapping other bags, and it makes it harder to configure the bin to hold lots of bags. There is never enough bin space. I actually observed another traveler with a cold, blow his nose in his hand and rub the handles of a bag that was locked to the bin as he struggled to try to move things around to fit his bag in.

I am sorry this happened to you. I hope you get it back soon.

I use a couple of strategies when I am traveling with luggage:
1) Put a bluetooth tracker like Apple Airtag or Tile tracker in the luggage. Use my app to track it whenever the bus/train stops. In fact, this helped me when my baggage didn't arrive on my flight earlier this year and was not delivered to me after I filed the claim. I was able to pinpoint the location using the bluetooth tracker and mentioned that to the airline and they promptly located and delivered it to me.
2) When possible, I make sure to book a seat where I can see the luggage rack so I can check it visually before the train leaves a station.

Sometimes reserving seats near luggage racks doesn’t work. Much like flying (trying access space in the overhead bins), access to luggage racks depends if you are able to board the train at its starting point and or getting on the train before the other passengers, Looping a small chain between suitcase or luggage handles (and not locking it to the luggage rack itself), should deter most would be thieves, as it is difficult trying to manoeuvre several bags through the aisles and doors if chained together.

Ive seen a couple of articles this year where some of the new trains are coming equiped with locking cables on the luggage racks. I am not sure how they work, but the rail is charging a fee to use them. I think it was OBB's new railjets but not certain.

And the French are apparently getting in on the act: https://www.connexionfrance.com/news/tip-to-limit-luggage-theft-on-french-trains-and-sncf-approves/672678