PITTSBURGH -- Scott and Andrea Anstis planned the honeymoon and wedding of their dreams at an exclusive Sandals resort on St. Lucia in the Caribbean.

They took lots of expensive jewelry with them for their wedding day and thought those valuables would be safe once their baggage was hand-checked by security. Anstis can't thank a woman -- a stranger -- enough for giving her jewelry to wear on her wedding day.

"She came off a cruise and gave me her jewelry to wear," she said.

Anstis gets emotional every time she remembers that gesture. It came days after she and her husband arrived at the resort for their wedding and honeymoon only to discover their luggage that was lost had been rifled through. Thieves left blood all over their belongings, had stolen clothing and, according to the Anstises, gifts of jewelry worth more than $4,000.

"Especially the jewelry from my parents was really upsetting to me," she said. "They had actually left empty boxes where they took the jewelry out of the boxes. They had that much time to go through stuff."

Some of the jewelry was a wedding gift from Scott to Andrea. They were items he didn't want her to see in the event they were pulled out of his carry on bag by security.

"It was a special day for us and a special week for us, so there were some things for us in there that we normally wouldn't have had just going on vacation," he said.

US Airways officials said the luggage was lost Sunday when it was put in a flight to Charlotte, N.C., instead of the flight from Pittsburgh to St. Lucia. The airline said it's not clear why that happened, but by Monday it was flown to St. Lucia.

The Anstises said they were told by a resort manager that they couldn't get their luggage at the airport right away.

Scott said, "He called in the evening and said, 'The luggage was there, but we have no way to get it. The airport is closed.' At that point I said, 'Look, I have $4,000 to $5,000 worth of jewelry that I've purchased for her for a wedding gift.'"

They were reassured the luggage would be locked up and delivered the next day.

Scott said, "I said, 'How's it coming?' (He said), 'Well, I don't know. The airport will send it.' (I said), 'How are they going to send it?' (He said), 'I don't know but it will be here.' I said, 'How do you know it'll be here if you don't know who's sending or anything else?'"

Finally, on Tuesday afternoon, dressed in the same clothes they carried on the plane, the Anstises got their luggage but many of their honeymoon outfits were gone.

"There wasn't a day that went by when we didn't notice something was gone," he said.
Channel 11's Becky Thompson said, "What made you confident that with all those valuables in there that they would not be touched?"
"I guess for me it was after you check in. They did such a thorough search. They put that piece of paper inside and they explain to us once that paper's inside, when they see that, they're not supposed to look or recheck your bag," Andrea said.

But a spokesperson for the Transportation Security Administration said even though security checked their bag and put a tag on it, that doesn't prevent tampering.

Sandals said lost luggage is not uncommon and a log showed they made several calls to track down the luggage. US Airways said they have asked the couple to fill out a claim.

Here's what you need to know if you're traveling with valuables:

Never put them in checked luggage.

Each airline passenger is only covered to a maximum of $2,500. Jewelry and other valuables are not covered.

If you want more coverage, ask the airline about a policy called excess valuation.

Before you travel, visit the TSA Web site and read the information for travelers and consumers.