An American Airlines Passenger Found Her Lost Luggage — in a Homeless Encampment

A woman claiming that American Airlines lost her checked luggage used a tracking device to find her missing items — and located several suitcases in a Los Angeles homeless encampment.

According to KTLA 5, Aunny Grace traveled to Hollywood-Burbank Airport (BUR) last month. She said her American Airlines from Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW) to BUR was canceled. She apparently checked a bag for that trip.

She made it to BUR on a different flight but without her luggage, of course. That was still, well, somewhere.

“Five days later, my luggage shows up at Burbank on a Sunday night,” she explained. “On Monday morning, I get a call from a carrier company that says they’ll have my luggage dropped off at my house.”

FIVE DAYS? 

There are only two daily flights between DFW and Burbank. But c’mon. Wasn’t there space on any of those to put the lost luggage? Worst case scenario, American could’ve loaded the bags on one of their dozen-ish flights per day to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and had the delivery service pick them up there.

Ms. Grace says she used an Apple AirTag to track her missing luggage. She then visited the location where it was last pinged and then followed the luggage’s “progress,” eventually ending up at Santa Monica Blvd. and Western Ave. (That’s not too far from St. Andrew’s Place, a street made famous in the Jane’s Addiction song, “Jane Says.” It’s not a flattering reference, let’s say that.)

…I found my stuff, not my suitcase, but particles of my stuff in a homeless man’s shopping cart,” Grace said. “You kind of get to a point where you’re looking around the encampment and think, ‘I don’t even want my stuff back.’ I had toiletry bags that were dumped upside down. I had makeup bags. All the makeup was gone.”

It sounds like she might have found some other people’s missing luggage.

“That day I saw dozens of suitcases, brand new suitcases, name brand suitcases strewn across Western and Sunset… Rows and rows of suitcases, bicycles, baby strollers with airline tags on them everywhere.”

Ms. Grace said American offered her $1,700 — but she lawyered up instead. She said the items she lost — including some medical equipment for her job — were worth around $6,000.

There are images of how American purportedly leaves unclaimed luggage at the Burbank airport (cued up to the KTLA clip below and here.)

How Did All of This Happen?

I’m curious how all of this went down. The Burbank airport is over eight miles from where Ms. Grace’s luggage was found. I doubt some random person pulled up to the airport, saw a bunch of bags, took them without being noticed, and then trekked through the Hollywood Hills to a homeless encampment. (Granted, we see stranger things here in L.A.)

Plus, the Burbank airport has traffic security and armed police everywhere. It’s a small airport, so it’d be difficult to pull something like that and get away with it.

Was the delivery service’s vehicle stolen? Did someone break into it and hold a luggage sale? Is there some felonious social justice warrior who plays Robin Hood: they steal travelers’ suitcases and give them to homeless people? All of the above?

Final Approach

An American Airlines passenger said the carrier lost her checked luggage, which ended up in a Los Angeles homeless encampment. She said she also saw many other checked bags strewn about the street.

What do you think about this situation? How do you think it might’ve happened?