Send cabin thieves packing—with nothing—by following these simple rules.

The discomforts of long-haul air travel are many: cramped quarters, boisterous passengers, preservative-rich food, grainy movies, contaminated air, lines at the lavatory, sleep deprivation and even the potential for deep vein thrombosis.
But that’s not all. There may be a more malevolent troublemaker accompanying you in the air—one who can wreck your entire trip and go unnoticed until you have long departed from your flight. It’s the cabin thief.

Certainly the potential consequences of cabin theft are nowhere near as serious as a mechanical malfunction, an unruly passenger or a terrorist hijacking, but it can be a major inconvenience (at best) to have your valuables pinched while you’re snoozing at 30,000 feet. While cabin theft is not a big problem in the scheme of things—well, it’s not a big problem until it happens to you—stealing belongings from coat closets, under passenger seats and from overhead bins on airplanes can and does take place.

Come to think of it, it would be rather surprising if theft were not a problem. After all, passengers on overnight, transoceanic flights can be easy pickings. Just look at the opportunity.

So, other than staying awake and sitting on your luggage the whole trip, what can you do to protect your valuables from being swiped during a long-haul flight? Here are some simple rules:

Pack your most important items on the bottom. Don’t pack your plum travel items near the top of your suitcase. Make it difficult for a thief to slide his hand into your luggage and easily find your prized possessions.

Check your luggage. Although this alternative doesn’t appeal to those who like to hit the tarmac running, it does eliminate the possibility of your bags being rifled through during flight. (Having your suitcase ransacked by baggage handlers on the ground is another story.)

Secure your carry-ons. After you clear airport security, strap, buckle, tie, zip and do whatever else you can do to make it difficult to get into your luggage. Heck, you can even lock it.

Store your carry-ons in sight. Carry-on luggage stored under your feet is more secure than in overhead bins. When you do need to use an overhead bin for your belongings, choose one in front of you on the other side of the aisle, so you can see if others are groping your belongings.

Keep important documents close. Keep really, really important documents—such as your passport and your cash—as close as possible to your skin. A good way to do this is to carry a travel wallet that fits under your clothes.

Inventory your effects. There is one more pre caution you should take. This one, however, involves a stranger adding items to, rather than subtracting items from your luggage. Before you disembark from your flight, check your carry-on luggage not only to make sure you haven’t been looted while in flight, but also to ensure you haven’t become an unsuspecting “mule.” If an “importer” has placed contraband in your luggage to help him move his goods through customs risk-free (to him), you could find yourself in a circumstance much worse than discovering that a couple of credit cards have gone missing. Moreover, if the contraband is drugs and you have flown into a death-penalty-for-possession country, you will be considerably more than inconvenienced.

Keep these tips in mind when planning for your next long airplane ride. You can’t entirely eliminate the possibility of being victimized, but at least you can start worrying less about being ripped off by an airline—and focus your energy on not being ripped off while on an airline instead.

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terry riley is a psychologist (appliedpsychology.com) and internationally recognized authority on understanding, managing and influencing business travel behavior. His is also the author of Travel Can be Murder, C.H.A.R.M. School and The Complete Travel Diet. Email Terry at editor@executivetravelmag.com.