The possibility of an airline losing your luggage is just a part of life. Of course, there are ways that may (emphasis on “may”) decrease your chances that your bags will be lost. But then you hear stories like how American Airlines lost Dave Bautista’s bags. Or the woman whose prosthetic leg was lost by Allegiant Air and she didn’t get it back for 12 days.
United Airlines apparently just said “hold my beer.” Well, they didn’t JUST say it…they apparently said it just shy 4 and a half years ago, in August, 2018.
On August 4, 2018, Oregon resident April Gavin took a business trip to Chicago. She flew United and although her luggage arrived with her on her way there, her checked bag – the brand new dark one with white polka dots – disappeared on the way back.
She described the incident on her TikTok:
“Okay, so, four years ago, August 4 of 2018, I went on a business trip,” she said in her video. “And while I was on that business trip — I went to Chicago, I live in Oregon —, on the way home, United Airlines lost my luggage.”
She continued that they tried for “months and months” to find her luggage, with phone calls all the time, but the airline told her they had “no idea” what had happened to it.
And then, out of the blue, her phone rang in early January.
“Last week, all of a sudden, I get a phone call from Texas – Houston, Texas – saying they found my luggage, and I was confused. And they said, ‘Did you lose a suitcase?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, 4 years ago.”
But it was true – they had found her luggage! Gavin said the airline “thought it was a typo that it had been missing for four years.”
“It was in Honduras. And who knows where else it went. But it came from Honduras. Went to Houston, Texas. And they called me.”
They shipped the bag to her from Houston – it even had the original luggage tag on it, dated August 4, 2018.
No one knows where else the bag may have been since 2018. Gavin said that when she got the bag, she let it sit on the porch for a week, because she had a huge phobia of bugs. But now she was ready to open it, on TikTok, so her family could see what was in the bag (she didn’t know if she had any food in it or anything – it HAD been 4 years).
Here’s the video with her opening her bag. “It’s like Christmas opening up all my stuff,” she said.
@aprildgavin Thanks for excitment United Airlines! #LostLuggageReturned
TL/DW: She went through the bag and said it looked like everything she had put in it when she packed was still there. That included some gifts for her family – they were still in the suitcase too, with the tags still attached. Yay for good news!
Gavin made a follow-up video, mainly to respond to some of the comments and questions she had gotten on her original video. She brought up a couple of interesting points:
- She said United told her when she had arrived at the airport in Chicago, her bag was never scanned in – that’s why it was so difficult for them to find it.
- She clarified that she had received compensation for the majority of her lost when her bag went missing in 2018.
The rest of the video was to respond to the more inappropriate comments she got. But in case you want to see everything:
@aprildgavin
So yeah…if an airline has ever lost your bag, have hope – maybe it’ll show up again, years down the line.
Of course, nowadays, with Air Tags and Tiles out there, it’s easier to find stuff when it’s lost. But they, of course, weren’t available in 2018.
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