There is no lock, whether its on the door of your house, your bicycle, or what-have-you, prevents someone from picking, breaking, or otherwise defeating the lock.

The purpose of a lock is to marginally increase the difficulty relative to the available alternatives. For example, if a bicycle is tethered by the world's flimsiest lock, and there is another bicycle on the rack with no lock at all, then the world's flimsiest lock wins, since extra seconds of nuisance are required to defeat it.

Given that, in the context of luggage locks, they can be broken with a pair of $5 cheap pliers, then the relative utility of going about with a bunch of TSA keys from $600 3D printer is kind of slim.

You have a lock attached to the zippers on a nylon fabric bag. It doesn't require Einstein to figure out that a box cutter is a fine way in.

Securing your dirty underwear like Fort Knox, however, is not the point of a luggage lock. The purpose of a luggage lock is to deter the casual roaming fingers in airports, train stations, etc., to find the bags which don't have them - of which there is no shortage.

"Locks are there to keep honest people honest."



Oh, he also recommended that you should always park under a streetlight at night. That way, they might not do as much damage when they break in if they can see better.

I'm glad I learned to avoid literalism (Introduction to Literature 1302, 1985), and instead focus on intent and sentiment.

Saves a lot of time, also.

If you must check a bag, do not put expensive or irreplaceable items in it.
Avoid using expensive looking bags for checked baggage.

Just my 2 cents.

Looks scuzzier and no one will bother. It also helps to identify your bag as it comes off the carousel.

They were a pain. I decided:
- Putting a lock on what can be picked up and carried away is nonsense.
- Never check a bag you're not prepared to lose.

the loss of some good bras would hurt but I never put anything in that I truly care about.

I didn't know that.

Recovered my luggage after one trip and found it had been cut off, with a notice inside my suitcase informing me of their right to search luggage. Fine, but wasn’t it obvious that a lock only going through one zipper pull wasn’t locking anything??