A United Passenger's Luggage Showed Up After 4 Years & It Somehow Visited Another Country

"It’s got some pre-Covid air in there."

The TikToker with her found luggage. Right: The check-in area for United Airlines.

The TikToker with her found luggage. Right: The check-in area for United Airlines.

Texas Staff Writer

Losing luggage while traveling is an unfortunate situation airline passengers regularly find themselves in.

Oregon native April Gavin went over four years without seeing her luggage she checked onboard a 2018 United Airlines flight until a phone call told her it showed up in Houston, TX last week.

In a TikTok video Gavin posted on Monday, she said she was never able to find a suitcase that got lost almost five years ago during a work trip to Chicago, IL. However, the woman was reunited with her in 2023.

@aprildgavin

Thanks for excitment United Airlines! #LostLuggageReturned

In the social media post, the woman said the lost luggage wasn't even found in the United States. It somehow found its way to Honduras during that span of time and eventually made its way to the Lone Star State only recently.

Gavin said she filed claims with United four years ago, but the bag was never located, so she sort of just forgot about it.

"All of a sudden, I get a phone call from Houston, TX saying that they had found my luggage, and I was confused," she said in the video. "They thought it was a typo that it had been missing for four years."

The ticket from Gavin's lost luggage.The ticket from Gavin's lost luggage.aprildgavin | TikTok

The woman opened her luggage and found things seemingly untouched despite its international trip.

Many people are pointing out that the luggage is like a unique time capsule that has been packed since before the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.

"It’s got some pre-Covid air in there," a user wrote.

After such a long journey for this bag, maybe there's hope for other passengers that have been through similar airline-related problems.

  • Staff Writer

    Brittany Cristiano (she/her) was Narcity USA's first full-time Texas Staff Writer. She's a lifelong Houstonian but enjoys every corner of the Lone Star State. Brittany is passionate about highlighting the beauty and rarities in the places we live in or visit–whether it’s showing North American readers something they never knew existed in the South, or helping Texans appreciate the beauty that’s been there the whole time. Oh, and she also loves to spill the tea on the latest trending figures in Texas and beyond. She previously served as an Editorial Intern for Houstonia magazine and as Editor-in-Chief of the University of St. Thomas’ student newspaper.

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