Flighty wrote:

If you have say 20 million + then carrying $4k is no big deal.

I don't have 20 million and do carry more than $4K in $100USD notes on some trips.

Some of the people commenting on this thread have either only traveled within the US/Europe or have always had access to a bank or use of their credit cards wherever they traveled. The bulk of the traveling public that goes to many other places does not have such convenience and rely on cash. Only requirement is that if you have more than $10000, many countries require you to declare it.

TheDBCooper wrote:

Some of the replies to this thread beggars belief.

It shouldn't matter who you are, or which airline you are flying there should be the expectation that you won't be robbed.

I can't say that any flight that I've got on that I ever gave a passing thought to be robbed, and I don't have $4,000 to carry as cash onto a flight. Even if I did, I still wouldn't expect to get robbed.

Shame on some members on A.net.

When is it that you do expect to get robbed? Are robberies in your mind confined to specific settings? You are in for many surprises in your lifetime then.

In a flight full of more than 300 passengers, you are bound to be in the company of priests, cheaters, swindlers, partner abusers, mercenaries, molesters, kleptomaniacs, and totally dumb+innocent ones. It's no sacred space and if you think it is, pick which one you are from the short list I provided.

Coal wrote:

Redwood839 wrote:

Nothing wrong with carrying a large a mount of cash depending on your circumstance. My wife and I carried 9.5K each (max 10k) when we moved to the UK to have cash while we opened up bank accounts here.

I don't get this. I have lived in 11 different countries of varying levels of development and I have never had the need to bring cash with me when I moved.

I bet you none of those 11 was Venezuela - at least not lately. Cash is your only viable option here as a foreigner.

CARST wrote:

Virtual737 wrote:

CARST wrote:

Carrying so much cash with you is highly stupid and dangerous. I hope he doesn't get a penny back...

Why have 4k cash with you? For which reason? Even if you tip a lot, you probably need a few hundred in cash, not 4k. It's just not smart in these days. And we don't need to go into the favelas of Rio to know this.

If I'm flying to Las Vegas, I typically will have cash on my while I'm flying.... Is wearing a diamond ring considered hazardous to you? I'm a bit taken aback that it's the victim's fault for having cash on them. And wishing that they don't get it back is pretty dark, bro. I hope you didn't mean that. It's a shame that there are enough jerks in the world who will happily take something that isn't theirs that we even have to discuss this.

First point of course is we only have their word the money was stolen.

Second it does not say if an insurance was made.

Thirdly, they are only asking for vouchers.

Finally, that they did not file a Police report in DXB. Even if it meant a missed connection.

CARST wrote:

Virtual737 wrote:

CARST wrote:

Carrying so much cash with you is highly stupid and dangerous. I hope he doesn't get a penny back...

Down a dark alley in Rio and maybe I would agree, but in the first class cabin of a major carrier, really?

IMHO your post was rather way off the mark. I think you're better than that.

Why have 4k cash with you? For which reason? Even if you tip a lot, you probably need a few hundred in cash, not 4k. It's just not smart in these days. And we don't need to go into the favelas of Rio to know this.

If you have ever traveled to a country where banking systems are not always available, where many establishments will not take credit cards or any of the conveniences you have where you are, then you will be one money-less visitor and would be begging for family to wire you money wherever you are visiting. Cash is still king everywhere (except for US+Canadian airlines for buy on board food!)

bennett123 wrote:

First point of course is we only have their word the money was stolen.

Second it does not say if an insurance was made.

Thirdly, they are only asking for vouchers.

Finally, that they did not file a Police report in DXB. Even if it meant a missed connection.

They may be "only asking for vouchers" but that is still not warranted. It's not EK's fault that they had their money stolen. The passengers left their belongings unaccompanied and had their stuff stolen. It is quite low of them to expect compensation from EK.

The point I am making is that I am surprised they are only asking for vouchers/upgrade when what was stolen is hard cash.

It happens and €2674 is not that much. This kind of theft has happened before and I doubt this will be the last time, the only surprise is that it happened in such "exclusive" environment. Btw, I've never been robbed in Rio, but had to run for dear life in New York and got mugged in Amsterdam.

xdlx wrote:

CASH IS KING......!!

I would disagree. Elvis was king. Cash was the man in black as I always say.

I've carried over 2K in GBP/AED/AUD when I fly to Australia for example but like a number of you have said you hide it. I always lock my hand luggage too so that on a long flight and you're zzzz someone isn't having a nose around in your bag whilst the cabins in darkness. But this happened in first class? If you've got the money to fly first class why steal a few grand in currency? Just goes to show the type of person you get flying F.

Bottom line is you got to be careful these days.

xdlx wrote:

As a WORLDWIDE Ferry Pilot, I can say sometimes we have no other option than to carry the CASH. AFRICA, INDIA, EAST ASIA are areas of the world where there is no other way to PAY for Services. Folks NOT EVERYONE TAKES a CC and CASH IS KING......
AFRICA wants NEW $100 bills for their payment. ONLY!!!!

While I agree that in some countries they prefer cash, and in so they want unmarked clean and crisp bills, in most of the places you mention mobile money has been widely adopted. It just shows how behind the West is when it comes to certain technologies. In a lot of places in China you can only pay with AliPay. No cash, no CC. Just mobile money.

berari wrote:

CARST wrote:

Virtual737 wrote:

Down a dark alley in Rio and maybe I would agree, but in the first class cabin of a major carrier, really?

IMHO your post was rather way off the mark. I think you're better than that.

Why have 4k cash with you? For which reason? Even if you tip a lot, you probably need a few hundred in cash, not 4k. It's just not smart in these days. And we don't need to go into the favelas of Rio to know this.

If you have ever traveled to a country where banking systems are not always available, where many establishments will not take credit cards or any of the conveniences you have where you are, then you will be one money-less visitor and would be begging for family to wire you money wherever you are visiting. Cash is still king everywhere (except for US+Canadian airlines for buy on board food!)

Either you haven't been to those countries for a very long time or you are technologically challenged. I go to Myanmar very frequently for work and each time at most I bring USD100 in cash.

Bad idea. I don't want to be the ass who says he deserved it, but I do think he ought to have been wiser...

edmaircraft wrote:

Bad idea. I don't want to be the ass who says he deserved it, but I do think he ought to have been wiser...

Agreed. However, should have known better and he deserved it are 2 completely different things. Yes, he should have been more careful, but to say he deserved it is basically saying the thieves were doing nothing wrong. A woman walking alone down a dark alley at night is showing a lack of common sense, but it doesn't mean she deserves anything bad that may happen to her.

By the way, I'm not for one moment suggesting you said he deserved it (or she for that matter).

In many cultures, carrying a lot of cash isn't unusual. Or in certain circumstances. So, accepting that they had the cash, who on the plane stole it? It's not like there are that many people in an EK F cabin. There are a finite number of suspects, and it's likely that a large number of them can be eliminated as suspects. And it wasn't the overhead (some EK doesn't have an overhead at all) but in the F suite. But...very interesting that the article discusses people who fly just to steal from other passengers. Anyway, when I fly, some things never leave my sight.

Virtual737 wrote:

edmaircraft wrote:

Bad idea. I don't want to be the ass who says he deserved it, but I do think he ought to have been wiser...

Agreed. However, should have known better and he deserved it are 2 completely different things. Yes, he should have been more careful, but to say he deserved it is basically saying the thieves were doing nothing wrong. A woman walking alone down a dark alley at night is showing a lack of common sense, but it doesn't mean she deserves anything bad that may happen to her.

By the way, I'm not for one moment suggesting you said he deserved it (or she for that matter).

Totally agree - sorry for being unclear.

I personally never carry much cash (less than $100-$200), unless I'm travelling internationally and it's easier to use cash than a debit/credit card in the country I'm in. Even then, I never carry more than around $300 or so.

https://www.google.mv/amp/s/amp.theguar ... dant-theft

Read this it's more common than you think

Something about this story seems off. $4K is a lot of money and I would ensure a report was taken down. Surely EK would have put him on a later connecting flight?

But this sort of thing happens in economy all the time. I once woke up midflight and saw a well-dressed Indian fella rummaging through the overhead bin directly over us in the dark. Noticing I was awake, he shut the bin and sauntered off to the rear. Something struck me as odd and I walked to the back of the plane to report it to the attendant's sitting in the galley area. Noticed the gentleman seated in an aisle seat on row 73/74 near the projection screen.

The attendants shrugged it off saying I was mistaken. But I did notice the fellow being carted off by airport police at LHR as we were waiting for our baggage. So perhaps the attendants stayed alert after I reported it and they caught something?

More than one friend has reported having their iPad's (most common) and laptops stolen on overnight flights out of India. Personally I don't remove my expensive fancy electronic gizmos out at all. I always carry my camera kit with me as carryon and that is kept securely locked. Never put your expensive stuff on display and attract unwarranted attention! Flying today is not like it was in the 70's. A lot of well-dressed "english speaking" people do steal!