An Airline Passenger Put A Tracker On Her Own 'Lost' Luggage & It Turned Into A Wild Chase
United Airlines is coming under fire after a passenger decided to put the airline on blast for "lying" to her about the whereabouts of her bag after they lost it in transit.
Valerie Szybala decided to document her experience trying to find her lost baggage with United Airlines on Twitter, and her viral story includes so many turns that it’s hard to keep up.
"I’d just like everyone to know that @united has lost track of my bag and is lying about it," said the first tweet in her thread, which now has over 23.1 million views. "My Apple AirTag shows that it has been sitting in a residential apartment complex for over a day. Out back by the dumpsters, I have found other emptied United Airlines bags."
She asked people on Twitter to share her story so that she could reach other United Airlines customers with similar experiences.
She provided an update on her communication with representatives for United Airlines, and they did not seem to be the least bit helpful in finding Szybala’s bag. She says they eventually stopped responding to her DMs when she "pressed them to send me the details of their lost/stolen bag policy."
\u201cI\u2019d just like everyone to know that @united has lost track of my bag and is lying about it. My apple AirTag shows that it has been sitting in a residential apartment complex for over a day. Out back by the dumpsters, I have found other emptied United Airlines bags.\u201d— valerie szybala. (@valerie szybala.) 1672609431
She even shared screenshots of her painful conversation with the United Airlines employee handling her case.
When Szybala asked why her Apple AirTag showed her bag sitting in a random apartment complex, they replied with a simple "I am sorry, I don’t know why it is showing it there. But your bag is safe at the delivery services distribution centre."
Szybala kept adding to the thread as the story developed, and after two days she noticed that her bag had moved to make a random trip to McDonald's.
"The plot thickens," tweeted Szybala.
The bag was then taken back to the apartment complex where Szybala says it was "being held hostage."
The following day Szybala shared that her bag was "on the move" once again.
"Hopefully, this means it is on a delivery run?" Szybala tweeted.
Unfortunately for her, it was not because it ended up back at the apartment complex.
The next update was a far happier one for Szybala because this time she was finally reunited with her long-lost bag.
"WHEW, this has been a wild ride y’all. I’m happy to report that I got my bag back!!!" Szybala tweeted. "I’ll give more details & lessons learned later. For now, wanna say thank you for all of the support, and shout out to the building resident and local news crews who came out to help."
Szybala later revealed the details of how she got the bag back, and she ultimately had to take things into her own hands.
"After creeping around the building’s garage with a little posse trying to get a signal, I stepped outside for service. That’s when I received this text message. It’s sketchy, and it doesn’t really match with what my AirTag tracking said, but I immediately called the number," tweeted Szybala, followed by a screenshot of the text.
The guy from the text picked up and happened to be nearby, so he drove to Szybala’s location to drop off the bag, where she was waiting with an entire filming crew.
"He looked a little surprised to have two news crews filming. He asked if he was in trouble or something, but at that moment, I was too happy to have my bag back to ask more questions," Szybala tweeted.
KENS 5 San Antonio was one of the news channels following Szybala on her journey to find her bag. The station caught the whole encounter on video.
Szybala says the delivery guys' story doesn’t add up, and she suspects he and United were not telling her the full truth.
United Airlines addressed Szybala's story in a statement to NBC News, saying they have "been in touch with this customer to discuss this situation and confirm she has received her luggage."
"The service our baggage delivery vendor provided does not meet our standards and we are investigating what happened to lead to this service failure," continued their statement.
Szybala has since shared three main lessons she learned from her experience that she thinks will help others.
- Always use "a tracking device in your luggage."
- Take a "photo or inventory your belonging before travelling in case you need to file a reimbursement claim."
- Never choose the option for delivery if the airline loses your bag. "The 3rd party delivery services is where this got sketchy."
Keep these tips in mind the next time you leave for the airport!
Baggage claim at Toronto Pearson Airport.
Baggage claim at Toronto Pearson Airport.