Frustrated United Customer Tracks Lost Luggage through AirTag While Claiming Her Bag Was ‘Held Hostage’

Traveling has been an absolute nightmare for a lot of over the previous few weeks, to place it mildly. Flights have been cancelled, airports have been mobbed, and baggage has been misplaced—or has it? A traveller’s misplaced baggage journey has gone viral on Twitter after she documented her belongings shifting throughout Washington D.C. with an Apple AirTag, contradicting United Airlines’ claims to her.

According to her Twitter thread, Valerie Szybala claimed on January 1 that United Airlines misplaced her bag and was mendacity to her about its whereabouts. Szybala’s Apple AirTag that was hooked up to her baggage led her to an condo complicated the place she discovered different luggage (however not her personal) from United Airlines flights close to the constructing’s dumpsters, as seen in pictures she shared on Twitter. After reaching out to United’s customer support through Twitter DM’s, and explaining that she tracked her again to a random condo complicated, Szybala was informed to “calm down” and that United would ship her bag to her because it was sitting “at the delivery service.”

In an replace that very same day, Szybala says that her luggage was moving for the primary time since December 30 and was sitting close to/in a McDonald’s outdoors of downtown Washington D.C. The AirTag then moved from the McDonald’s back to the apartment complex Szybala was first led to.

Yesterday morning, Szybala reported that her AirTag was shifting once more and was positioned 16 miles outside of Washington D.C. downtown, the place she suspected it might be part of a supply from United. However, the AirTag did return to the identical condo complicated once more. Szybala says that after she returned to the condo complicated—with information crews who have been documenting her story—she lastly received her bag again, albeit underneath odd circumstances.

“Hello Valerie, I hope you re [sic] having a happy and blessed holiday season,” a text message Szybala received mentioned from an individual who claims to be related to an organization known as DCA Couriers United. “I’m delivering the luggage missing from your flight with AA/UA. I want to apologise [sic] for the inconvenience that you’ve had with your bag. Imma deliver it to you today. The issue was that the bag was given to me under a different passenger and I delivered your in a different address and had to go back to that place and pick it up.”

After calling the quantity related to that textual content message, Szybala says she was greeted by a person that “looked a little surprised” to see her with the information crews. While skeptical of the circumstances across the textual content message, Szybala was excited to have her bag again, however remains to be excited by solutions round why the bag spent a lot time shifting across the Washington D.C. space whereas returning to a residential condo complicated.

Szybala and United Airlines didn’t instantly return Gizmodo’s request for remark. This misplaced baggage debacle comes as many vacationers have began utilizing AirTags to assist preserve monitor of their luggage.