Has anyone ever taken your luggage by mistake?

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Diligent_Reading_786@reddit

Got a similar issue. Mistakenly thought something had fallen out of my luggage. Now, on reflection the item I thought was mine actually belongs to someone else. What to do?

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jelly10001@reddit

No, but once on a school trip I picked my teachers suitcase up. Thankfully he noticed straight away, so I didn't walk off with it and not my stuff.

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Qatmil@reddit

I had it happen years ago. The airport kept his luggage until he returned mine to me and I had to give them a call to let them know when I got my bag.

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bucketofardvarks@reddit

Someone with an identical suitcase took ours once. We left theirs going round the collection, but they turned up at 3am banging on our door (had our address of course ..) demanding their suitcase lol

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FinalBv@reddit (OP)

If only they spent that half a second and read the tag. Blows my mind lol

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We have extremely obvious suitcase straps for that very purpose. I always check the tags (we stick our own on the handles too) but some people don’t, so the in your face (random word not names) straps it is!

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zone6isgreener@reddit

Pays to put something like a colored band around a bag as tags are small, and people are idiots.

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bucketofardvarks@reddit

It was quite distinctive but even so, quite the leap to assume we also made the same mistake haha

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abgc161@reddit

Someone took my friends’ identical suitcase at Gatwick once. We didn’t realise until we were on the shuttle thing between terminals, raced back and the staff managed to track the girl down just before she got on a train to Leeds with it! She was quite a young girl and very very nervous and apologetic bless her, no harm done in the end!

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Boldboy72@reddit

I bought the ugliest suitcases for this very reason. They stand out on the carousel and no one is going to want to be seen with them. Highly unlikely that anyone will mistake them for theirs either

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Mysterious-Essay-860@reddit

Yeah, I've been thinking about luminous green with purple splodges of paint on it.

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fat_mummy@reddit

I need new suitcases. I need to find the ugliest ones imaginable now!

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Boldboy72@reddit

lol, I probably shouldn't have shared that info... I was told it by a frequent traveller who'd lost enough bags over the years. I've even seen one where you can have your picture on the side of the case.... no mistake can be made there.

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fat_mummy@reddit

This is also something I’m tempted to do!

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Judging_Jester@reddit

Yes. His name is etched on my soul. Picked my case up. Proceeded to his hotel in Milan. I was left at the baggage carousel watching the one similarly coloured case go round and around. In the end I picked up the case, rang the number on the case, told the bloke to check the name on his case… it was mine. I then drove to his hotel and swapped cases. I wasn’t happy. He was mortified. I still mutter curses to him every time I go to the airport. It happened 15years ago. Some wounds never heal.

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Mysterious-Essay-860@reddit

I have an unusual case and check the tags every time anyway, and you've made me feel much less crazy for doing so

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PixieBaronicsi@reddit

Should have agreed the swap but left his behind at the airport, where he left it

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Superspark76@reddit

There's a special place in hell for people who think like that, I'll save you a seat 🤪

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barpaolo@reddit

So.... You went through customs with his bag?

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Judging_Jester@reddit

Now that you’ve said it outloud I’m beginning to see that I was risking a firm patting down!

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barpaolo@reddit

Yeah, glad you spent 15 yrs feeling slightly miffed rather than spending your time doing something else...

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pip_goes_pop@reddit

I posted my story elsewhere here in the comments, but when it happened to me recently the guy from BA took all my details and a photo before allowing me to take the other owner's bag. Then we had to send him a WhatsApp message to show we'd swapped back (yes I know that sounds dodgy, but it was Central America where things are a bit different!).

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nacnud_uk@reddit

I took someone else's! Identical backpack😂 I had to dash back in the no reentry doors😂 Twit.

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HomeworkInevitable99@reddit

A man took our suitcase and refused to give it back, insisting it was there's. I ask him to look at the label and he refused. Meanwhile, my father found his case (easy to find,, it looked like ours). We had to catch up with him and blend his case back. Of course, no apology. I'd we hadn't found his case, he would have found home with the wrong case.

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South_Ant_9505@reddit

Yep, identical rucksack in Sardinia getting off the airplane we both took the wrong one. They were staying at the north of the island we were at the south, can't remember how exactly but we managed to get in contact and got it swapped via the bus that ran the route.

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HankHippopopolous@reddit

This is the reason I’m one of those arseholes that stands up as soon as a flight lands and try to rush off the plane as fast as possible. It’s so I can make it to the carrousel before my bag is left circling around it. I also make sure that I stand by wherever the bags enter the carrousel. I try my best to not give anyone the chance to either try to steal or mistakenly grab my suitcase. I wish I didn’t have to do this but when I was a kid we were on a family holiday with one of my parents friends and their family. They had their suitcase stolen in the airport. They then had like 2-3 outfits each to wear for the 2 week holiday because they couldn’t afford to buy a load of outfits for each person. If I’m travelling solo I can just keep a small suitcase in the overhead bin then I can chill and don’t bother with any of that.

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Superspark76@reddit

I had someone take mine, thankfully the airport lost luggage department were very proactive, they called all local hotels looking for the name that was on the tag that I had, they then arranged drop off and pick up to get me my correct bag

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Any_Cauliflower_6337@reddit

I had my luggage taken in Spain by accident. I reported it lost, went to supermarket and bought some new underwear and a couple of shirts. Got to hotel, went out to dinner. When I got back my luggage was in my room.

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hitiv@reddit

that's crazy, who would've thought suitcases are so advanced?

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Any_Cauliflower_6337@reddit

Lol. Yeah but the service was really good from everyone. Clearly the dimwit that took it didn’t like my clothes (and didn’t find an expensive camera) so returned it to airport. They put it in a taxi to hotel. Hotel just put it in my room when it arrived. Frustrating but resolved quickly and easily. Now I always try to make my case more unique looking. Wrap it with a bright luggage strap or put a ribbon on the handle. Also it always has an airtag in it too.

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UnacceptableUse@reddit

Make sure you leave something outside your door with your scent on and they'll soon turn up

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hitiv@reddit

Will definitely follow the advice when i travel next week

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ItsGoodToChalk@reddit

Yes, at Schiphol. This bag kept going round and round which was similar to mine but not identical. Mine was nowhere to be seen. So I took the other bag and went to the helpdesk and explained whoever left this bag took mine, as it was the only bag left. Travelled onwards (to family) without any luggage. Two days later I had my suitcase back - the other person was male and realised he had the wrong bag when he opened it and saw lingerie on top.

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hhfugrr3@reddit

Yeah, my 3 year old daughter's suitcase was taken off the bus at Pudong airport in Shanghai as we were travelling to get our flight back to the UK. Somebody realised the mistake and handed it in. We found that out about a month after we got home. Six months after we got home, my nephew's wife's family found some random Chinese person to bring it back to the UK for us!! Always wondered what s/he said when asked if they packed the bag themselves, "no, not mine. I've never even opened it. It belong to some random English child I've never met!"

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QueefInMyKisser@reddit

I once tried to take a flight attendant’s carry-on wheelie case after the x-ray machine at Southampton airport but she stopped me in time. It was pretty much identical to my own case.

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margarine_@reddit

It happened to my then boyfriend when we flew to Amsterdam for his 30th. When he went to get his carry on bag out of the overhead locker his bag wasn't there. We always hang out until most people have got off the plane so we aren't caught in the crush of people standing in the aisle. He literally ran off the plane, I saw him running across the tarmac while I just casually followed him, saying to myself I'm sure the other person will realise when they get a bit further. The bags didn't even look similar. He caught up with her on the stairs after squeezing through the crowds and came back to me with it. I couldn't work out why he was so worried, it was just clothes. The next morning he proposed and it suddenly made sense why he was so panicked about losing the bag!

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francobegbie123@reddit

Someone took my 2 year old son's similar, but not identical suitcase at a french airport. We discovered when we were at our villa about an hour away. We phoned the airport, but the only number they had for him was his home phone in the UK. We finally managed to get a hold of him and met at the airport. His wife didn't look too pleased and he was rather sheepish!

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meaje@reddit

A saw my suitcase arrive on the carousel, then an older woman leant in, picked it off the belt and started walking towards the exit. I speed-walked after her, told her very politely that I believed it was my suitcase, she looked surprised, mumbled a “Sorry” and let it go. I asked “Oh, you have the same suitcase with the same neon-green belt?” She said “No” and continued towards the exit. Mind you, this was still in the passengers only area of the airport. She left with only her purse.

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_Hoping_For_Better_@reddit

Yes, on a train a group of people got off together and in the hurray to gather all their luggage took my suitcase off the train too. I guess they realised pretty quickly as it was just left in the middle of the platform in a quiet train station in France.

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pip_goes_pop@reddit

Yes, and it's the reason I'm very tense at the baggage carousel. First time it happened was my very first trip abroad. Waiting for my bag and the only one left was one that looked a bit similar. Sure enough someone had taken mine. Thankfully he reaslied before getting too far and brought it back after a while. Second time wasn't quite the same, but one of our cases never arrived and we never got it back (and insurance were useless bastards). We're pretty sure it was actually stolen. Third time was just this year. Similar thing to the first incident, all the bags gone except one which had a passing resemblance to ours. I had an AirTag in it so could see it disappearing off into the city. My stress levels were through the roof. The tags on the remaining bag had names and contact info, I tried emailing them but no joy, and the only phone number was a landline. It was a rare occasion when we went via a travel company and the rep at the airport was great, she was on the case and using the details on the bag spoke with their travel agent and found out the hotel they were going to. Amazingly it was the same hotel as us! So after confirming with the hotel and agreeing to various security and legal things we set off with this bag through the city and to our hotel, where thankfully our bag was waiting for us and we swapped. I was absolutely furious and probably not very polite to the absolute fuckwit who took our bag. It wasn't even that similar!

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zonaa20991@reddit

I left my bag in a premier inn in Dublin a few months back when I was too early to check in. Went to collect it and took what I thought was my bag. Got to my room and discovered it was absolutely identical to mine in every way, dealt with a different member of staff to exchange them, and she gave me an absolute bollocking for not looking at the tag which the initial staff member took when she opened the door to the left luggage

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Sir_Indy@reddit

Yes, I said goodbye to my case in Dublin and it never arrived in New York. Bought some spare pants and socks and a new souvenir t-shirt each day. The airline and hotel staff were very helpful, and two days later said they had my suitcase! They proudly wheeled out a case which was... not mine. It was the correct colour, with the correct surname on, but the first name was wrong. My case finally found me the day before I left again! Since then I have decorated my plain black suitcase with very colourful gaffer tape, you can see it coming down the baggage carousel a mile away!

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oojiflip@reddit

I've just stuck a line of electrical tape down the front of it to be able to differentiate. It's one of the basic samsonite ones so I needed something to tell it apart

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Sir_Indy@reddit

Same, but it turns out there are many interesting patterns of ducktape/duct-tape/gaffer, so my suitcase has tape with pretty sunflowers on. Don't be subtle, anything to make it unique!

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RitaJasmine83@reddit

My husband took the wrong case at Manchester after we had come back from San Diego with twin two year olds. He had to go straight to work so he put us in a taxi home and he got on the train. As I unloaded two tired kids and the luggage at our house I realised we had one of ours and one of someone else’s. While cursing my husband, I took the kids in the house for a snack and a drink, then got another cab back to the airport with the wrong case and my two toddlers. Luckily we only live five minutes away. Our other bag was still there, but to get it we had to pay £50 towards couriering the other bag to the owner, who had left the airport. I felt so bad, but I felt like I’d done what I could to fix it. I then put my deliriously tired kids and my case in another taxi and went home. I did forgive my husband as we were all tired from 16 hours of travelling.

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broadarrow39@reddit

Had it happen a few years ago at Jerez. My case was taken and an identical one was left on the carousel. All happened whilst I was queuing at passport control. I was pretty livid. It was only a small case that was supposed to go in the overhead bins but ryanair forced me to check it in. Reported it at the desk and they basically said not our problem. Wouldn't even give me contact details for the owners of the case that was left behind or help facilitate any arrangements. It only got sorted when my cab driver intervened.

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hitiv@reddit

that's interesting, how come the cab driver intervened? did you ask them? did they ask why you had no luggage? was it abroad and the driver was local?

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broadarrow39@reddit

Driver was local and was taking me to the shipyard in Cadiz from the airport. I'd found him landside holding a placard with my name on it and explained I needed to sort something out and he accompanied me to the Ryanair service desk. Didn't catch much of the conversation with it being in Spanish but he was doing several runs to the same location that day. When the moron that picked up my case returned to the airport with it a few hours later he picked it up for me on his third round trip and called me on my mobile, met up with him and gave him a generous tip. Top guy.

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hitiv@reddit

What a guy! Glad it worked out all okay for you. If only everyone was like him. Its always nice to find a nice taxi driver so you dont feel too bad about overpaying for the overpriced taxi to and from the airport

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Sleepyllama23@reddit

Years ago I was waiting ages for my suitcase at the luggage carousel at our destination. I was getting panicked then noticed a woman had what looked like my case amongst a couple of other cases on a trolley (distinctive colour at the time). I went over and checked the label and told her she had my case. She just said “oh sorry”, kind of absentmindedly. She didn’t rush to the carousel to see where her case must’ve been so she must have nicked mine. Thank god I saw it in time!

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Own-Lecture251@reddit

Some eejit took my rucksack instead of his own from the Bristol Airport bus. This was early 2000s. I was the last person to get off and he was the second last. Our rucksacks weren't all that similar but he took mine anyway so I was left with his. I can't remember if there was any interaction with the driver but I ended up taking his home and rifled through it to find some ID. I found something (can't remember what) that required him to give the contact details of a friend/family member. I rang them and arranged for the bloke to come round a few days later to swap. He was grumpy and totally ungrateful that I'd sorted it all out. What made it worse was that the he a Post Office savings account book with over £9000 in it. The twat.

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Apsalar28@reddit

Accidentally had mine taken. A few years ago the local luggage shop had a clearance sale on so I got myself a major discount on a new wheelie suitcase when they were a relatively new thing. The weekend after I got stuck on a rail replacement bus service and my case was put in the cargo compartment of the coach. When we got to the destination it was emptied out and somebody grabbed 'their' case before the rest were unloaded. When the full lot was unloaded there were 5 identical brand new cases. Luckily we were all heading to the same platform for the next train so there was a lot of opening of cases to identify your own underwear before it all got sorted out.

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ArcTan_Pete@reddit

I \*nearly\* took someone else's bag off of a train. The bag was the same style and size as mine, and it's only that fact that we we had two bags, and I was, then, looking for the second bag (which was next to my actual bag) that made me stop and double check.

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newtonbase@reddit

Not quite but on the way home from Portugal a few days after 9/11 they made us identify our bags on the tarmac before they would load them on the plane. Someone got it wrong and a nightmare journey got even longer.

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Petrosinella94@reddit

Not me but went on a uni girls trip - we all had cabin bags and made sure we used ribbon for easy identification of the group. Someone took one of the girls bags and we only released when we all had our bags as hers was missing the ribbon. Anyway she hurtled through baggage claim and found him just beyond the waiting area. He was so shocked and just kept apologising for not checking that it actually was his bag. I’m now very careful by having a colourful bag strap and identification tag.

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newtonbase@reddit

I use shiny gift wrapping string. You can spot it a mile off.

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aspiegator@reddit

My grandad came home with someone's suitcase once. It was filled with gold jewellery amongst other wedding gear. I can only imagine the heart sinking that must have gone through the other party when they realised they'd lost their suitcase. Mum said we had to give it back.

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ThePineappleSeahorse@reddit

Never. It’s always puzzled me too as to why people wouldn’t/don’t check the tag/label. It takes seconds and it’s a common sense precaution.

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gilestowler@reddit

I was on a train once and I saw a guy try to walk off with my luggage. It WAS a mistake - he had a bag on the train as well, and he was with his family so didn't exactly fit the profile of a bag thief. But it annoyed me the way that he didn't really apologise, just kind of laughed about it. If I hadn't spotted him, I would have been well and truly fucked - just because he's an idiot.

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AltJH@reddit

Yes! Someone took an almost identical suitcase of ours & theirs was left going around the baggage reclaim.. my heart sank when I realised. By incredible twist of luck, the people who took our case came back to the belt as their kid dropped their cuddly toy, which we’d picked up! The kid saw my daughter holding and they came over .. they hadn’t noticed they had the wrong suitcase 😭 people really need to pay attention! Double check your name tags FFS, suitcases all look very similar!

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BornBluejay7921@reddit

I've had a man take my hard-shelled red suitcase off the carousel at Birmingham X - which had a few stickers on it and my initials. He even had the cheek to look annoyed when I pointed out, quite loudly, that it wasn't his bag. I did say thank you as I took it from him. Then hubby joined me with his bag, and the man just walked off. I did tell hubby later that I thought he was trying to steal it.

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Educational_Skirt_81@reddit

My mum took someone’s bag once. Got to where we were going, went to unpack, and the thing was full of baby formula and little kids clothes. Fortunately we were just staying at my Aunt’s house which was only half an hour from Heathrow so it all got sorted out. She accepts zero responsibility for it to this day. She maintains she could only have made the mistake because the other person took her/our case first. There is no proof somebody actually took ours, not least the person whose case we took. Ours was waiting for us to swap when we returned so my guess is it had just been left.

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DameKumquat@reddit

Yes, back in the 80s there was a promotion by a trendy aftershave - buy two, get a free suitcase. Went abroad and there were about 20 identical bags on the belt, mostly collected by guys being taken to an oil rig. When we took the last one, we later discovered it contained all of a man's spare clothes. He had two sets of bedding and a big box of Weetabix. Two weeks later we met a helicopter bringing men off the rig, and swapped bags - after one cold night followed by a trip to buy duvets and sheets!

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Morris_Alanisette@reddit

Yes, I had quite an unusual case so just picked it up off the carousel without really looking. The other person with the same unusual case did the same. We ended up having to do a swap at a motorway services half way between us. Must have looked pretty dodgy, two cars pulling up and the drivers swapping identical suitcases and then driving off!

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Timely_Egg_6827@reddit

Done the exchange at motorway service stations a few times but with live animals. (rescue transport or courier delivery). You do feel furtive lurking in the caravan bit assessing all the vehicles.

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No-Structure-8125@reddit

No. I have quite a distinctive suitcase, and I still check the label before I go anywhere.

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barrybreslau@reddit

I was on a school trip to Romania and everyone's luggage went to Germany on the way home, except for me and another kid in my class. It was awkward.

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Upset-Woodpecker-662@reddit

No. I purposely choose the most random pattern and colour suitcases, then add lots of colourful stickers. Reasons are: - can not be mistaken for someone else - if misplaced or lost, easy to describe to the flight company. - easier to spot in a sea of suitcase. - less chance to get it stolen, looks like a kid suitcase who did some ugly art and craft on it.

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iamparky@reddit

Went to NYC on holiday with some friends from work, and got left waiting at JFK staring at a near-empty conveyor belt carrying a single bag that looked much like my own. I went on a shopping spree to get a whole new emergency wardrobe, and my bag got delivered back to my hotel room on the very morning we flew back. Later, I was able to claim the cost of the shopping back from the airline, but not before they'd decided that I must be married to the friend who booked the trip and so issued a cheque in our combined surnames, double-barrelling them.

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Boldboy72@reddit

British Airways Lunch in Paris, Dinner in New York, Luggage in Barbados....

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deadly__mouse@reddit

Yep. We deliberately bought what we thought was unique cases (blue floral ones). We came back from new Zealand and grabbed what we thought were our 4 case. 3 hour taxi home and started to unpack before we realised we had 3 of ours + 1 random one The airport/airline had no direct phone number to call, so we had to email. Thankfully the email was monitored and we had a call back in about 15mins. The people who took our bag made the exact same mistake, and had also been in touch. They passed on details and we arranged to meet the next day (my wife wanted to go straight away, but we had been travelling for 48 hours straight by this point and noone was safe to drive 3+ hours) All in all, it went as smoothly as it could have. We were lucky that the people who took our bag were UK based (Kent, so along way from us), and not travelling on further!

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BreqsCousin@reddit

Yes someone picked up my case, it was the same pattern as theirs but not even the same size! When their case was the last one going round the carousel I took it to the airline office and got them to scan the tag and phone the number associated with it. They hadn't left the airport so we could do a swap.

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LilacRose32@reddit

Boring, but no. In my experience most people check. If they have a generic looking case they’ll attach a tag/ribbon etc to make things easier.

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