It was with great interest that I read your May 17 article about items being stolen out of luggage at area airports. My experience indicates that the theft rates are probably much higher than your article indicated.

On April 28, I flew from Miami to Paris for a 10-day trip. Upon arrival, I noticed that my recently purchased LL Bean digital travel alarm had been taken from my bag. The weekend I returned, I called the airline and had to speak to three different people before getting a number where I could leave a message. (Baggage only takes calls Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at a long-distance number.) I then did a difficult search on their Web site before I found a location to leave a "customer service" message. I got the "generic" message — but no call.

It is obvious that if you can't place a report, it is not recorded as a theft. It is not a priority for the airlines, and obviously, they don't want to document thefts. It's a dirty little secret, and no one ever said that my theft should be reported to the TSA.

Terrence Comiskey