The only surprising thing about the shocking revelation that passengers were allegedly robbed of cash and jewellery while they slept on an SAA flight to Hong Kong is that it doesn't happen more often.
Maybe it's just me, but one of the reasons I don't sleep well on planes is because I'm always keeping half a beady eye on my fellow passengers who might want to rifle through my stuff while I'm slack-jawed and drooling and getting what the airlines laughingly like to call "a rest".
Think about it, though. Your bag is in the overhead bin, unlocked and stuffed in with a bunch of strangers' bags. Everyone's engrossed in their phones, movies or iPads, or hiding under an sleep mask, and the cabin lights are off. If that happened in a bus station in, say, Guadalajara, Mexico, you'd wake up not only totally unencumbered by personal items but also naked.
Stay woke: how not to get robbed while you're asleep on a plane
The only surprising thing about the shocking revelation that passengers were allegedly robbed of cash and jewellery while they slept on an SAA flight to Hong Kong is that it doesn't happen more often.
Maybe it's just me, but one of the reasons I don't sleep well on planes is because I'm always keeping half a beady eye on my fellow passengers who might want to rifle through my stuff while I'm slack-jawed and drooling and getting what the airlines laughingly like to call "a rest".
Think about it, though. Your bag is in the overhead bin, unlocked and stuffed in with a bunch of strangers' bags. Everyone's engrossed in their phones, movies or iPads, or hiding under an sleep mask, and the cabin lights are off. If that happened in a bus station in, say, Guadalajara, Mexico, you'd wake up not only totally unencumbered by personal items but also naked.
Here are my top tips for not getting robbed at 35,000 feet:
This article was originally published by the Sunday Times