By DENISE MARTINEZ-RAMUNDO and LAUREN EFFRON

A couple from Argentina got quite a shock after one of their bags was lost on a flight back from their honeymoon and then was returned to them ripped to shreds, with several items missing.

Nicolas Loccisano and his wife Florencia Scasso of Buenos Aires took a trip to New York City last month for their honeymoon. On their return flight on Dec. 27, the couple flew Delta Airlines out of New York's LaGuardia airport, and had a layover in Atlanta, before landing back in Buenos Aires. But when they went to baggage claim, Loccisano said he discovered that one of their two checked bags was missing.

Nicolas Loccisano and his wife Florencia Scasso shown here on their December honeymoon in New York City. Credit: Nicolas Loccisano

When they told a Delta agent what happened, Loccisano said the agent told him the missing bag was left behind in Atlanta and would be delivered to their home the following day.

But the next afternoon, when a Delta representative came to their house to deliver their lost luggage, he was holding a big plastic bag. Inside was the missing luggage, but it had been ripped open, its frame broken, and several items were missing or damaged.

"When I opened the plastic bag, I found that my bag was destroyed," Loccisano wrote in an email to ABC News in Spanish. "Inside was a green bag with all my belongings."

Credit: Nicolas Loccisano

Credit: Nicolas Loccisano

Loccisano said two new Nike t-shirts, two new Victoria Secret perfumes, three "I Heart NY" mugs, a nail clipper, a sock and one of his gray t-shirts were missing from the bag. Another "I Heart NY" mug as well as several toiletries, including deodorants and a shampoo, were still inside but had been smashed.

"But the worst part was the bag, it was destroyed as if it had been thrown and dragged, "Loccisano wrote.

Frank Shea, the president of Alpha Group, a private investigation firm, and a former NYPD detective who investigated thefts at New York airports, reviewed photos Loccisano took of the destroyed bag and said it looked like the bag had been cut with a knife or a razor.

"That's not something that's a seam break. It appears to have been- it's a pretty straight line. It looks like a cut line to me," he said. "[The structure has] been completely ripped away from the bag, which, unless it was seriously over-packed, that would not happen unless it was broken into."

Credit: Nicolas Loccisano

Credit: Nicolas Loccisano

Loccisano called Delta and filed an official complaint with the airline, detailing the damage to the bag, and the missing or destroyed items. A Delta representative told Loccisano in an email today that the airline would reimburse him "for the damaged bag and contents."

ABC News reached out to Delta separately, but as of this writing, Delta was not able to provide a comment.

Since the bag went through three different airports, Shea said it's difficult to pinpoint when and where the bag was damaged, but that items are most often stolen from luggage when the bag goes "from the boarding gate to the belly of the plane."

Shea suggested to avoid checking bags if at all possible, but if you are told there is no more room in the overhead storage area for your carry-on, "take the couple of minutes and take out the valuables that are in that bag, " before having it checked, he said.

Tune in to ABC's "20/20," (Im)perfect Getaways, on Friday, Jan. 17 at 10 p.m. ET.