Flyers beware.

The number of reported claims of theft or loss from baggage typically spikes during the peak holiday travel period in November-December, records from the Transportation Security Administration released for the first time show.

Because today is expected to be one of the heaviest flying days of the holiday season, flyers should be wary of packing anything of value in checked luggage, officials say.

From 2002 to 2006, the most recent data available, Metro Airport travelers have reported nearly $1 million in currency and valuables damaged or stolen from their luggage, according to records released to the Free Press by the TSA.

Of the 1,560 reports of missing items, which included everything from clothing to cash, passengers said most items were stolen after they gave their luggage to airline or TSA workers.

"Honestly, a sense of helplessness came over me," said Jeff Perreca, 25, a Royal Oak resident who said his digital camera disappeared from his checked bag when he traveled from Detroit to Charlotte the day after Thanksgiving last year. "I packed it all the way at the bottom of my bag and buried it in my clothes, thinking it would be safe."

But determining what happened to lost items can be daunting: Once checked baggage leaves the hands of a traveler, airline employees have access to it, as do TSA workers, who screen all luggage.

The TSA, an offshoot of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, was formed to keep America's airports safe after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. It assumed the responsibility of screening passengers and baggage in February 2002.

Though passengers still can secure checked luggage with locks approved by the TSA, screeners use a master key to open them. Once baggage is screened, airline baggage handlers load and unload the luggage onto planes.

"Nowadays, there are so many rules when it comes to flying - and rightly so - but we're putting a lot of trust in the airlines, so for someone to steal is pretty deflating," said Perreca, a senior copy writer for Campbell-Ewald, a Warren-based advertising firm. "It's just creating a bigger rift between the customer and the airline."

Metro totals

At Metro, the nation's 11th largest airport, the TSA has paid out more than $142,000 in settlements and claims - out of the nearly $1 million in claims reported.

The agency investigates each claim to determine if the case will be settled for a lesser amount, approved for the full amount, denied, canceled if the passenger withdraws the claim or does not return phone calls or written inquires, or put on hold pending more information.

When claims are paid, the TSA and the airline often share liability, paying 50/50 if it can't be determined where the loss occurred.

Lara Uselding, a TSA spokeswoman for the Midwest, New Jersey and New York, said the agency has taken several steps to reduce claims for lost, stolen, damaged or missing items, including closed-circuit television systems in screening areas and electronic baggage screening at some airports. Nationally, these measures have helped the TSA reduced the amount of claims paid out by 60%, she said.

TSA currently employs 45,000 screeners at more than 450 airports across the United States. The screeners check more than 50 million checked bags and more than 35 million passengers per month.

At Metro Airport, there are 842 transportation security officers. Of those, Uselding said 11 have been fired for theft. Four of them were federally prosecuted in 2004 for stealing and reselling laptop computers and other devices from passengers' luggage in September-December 2003.

Some Metro passengers also file reports with the Wayne County Airport Authority police - usually for insurance purposes - when they believe something has been stolen from their luggage, vehicle or person. This year, from February to Oct. 15, 277 flyers have filed reports with airport police claiming theft.

Claims can be tricky

Experts say the number of claims filed could be only a fraction of the thefts that occur. Often, travelers don't even realize something has been stolen from their checked baggage until they are unpacking at home. And they usually don't want to go through the red tape of making a claim.

"I don't think most people bother," said Phyllis Stoller, founder of the Women's Travel Club, the country's largest tour operator for women and women's organizations.

On the flip side, some travelers who file claims find the item once they return home. And others simply are trying to defraud the federal government or airlines, said Stoller, whose Bloomfield, N.J.-based company has been in existence for nearly 18 years.

"I have found that most of the time when people think they've lost something, they find it later, or they get home and find that they never packed it," she said.

Claude Fox, a Ford Motor Co. employee who flew from Detroit to St. Louis in August, acknowledges that he's not the most proficient packer. But when he discovered two of his CDs - by Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke - missing from his baggage, he knew there was no way he left them at home.

"Unfortunately, they were two of my favorites," said Fox, 39, an Oak Park resident. "I did second-guess myself for a moment, but I knew that I packed them. There was a nice note in my suitcase that said the bag had been checked by the TSA. I don't know who took them, but they were taken out of my bag.

"And when I got home, I went to the store to buy two more."

BY SUZETTE HACKNEY, FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER