American Airlines Passenger Finds His Baggage Missing At Homeless Camp, Outraged By Offer Of 27% Offset

American Airlines Passenger Finds His Baggage Missing At Homeless Camp, Outraged By Offer Of 27% Offset

by Gary Lef June 19, 2024

An American Airlines passenger’s luggage is missing. Sam Brinton had nothing to do with the disappearance. Instead, his Apple AirTag allowed her to track him to a homeless encampment in Southern California.

After taking a flight from Dallas–Fort Worth to Burbank on May 29, Aunny Grace’s luggage went missing. American Airlines’ operations collapsed in late May, due to weather conditions in North Texas, a lack of reserve crew, and the refusal of flight attendants to accept increased hours due to prolonged labor negotiations underway within the carrier.

Her original flight on May 29 was canceled and she was reassigned to a flight the next day. She spent the night at the airport. His luggage was not transferred, and American promised to deliver the delayed luggage the next morning. Five days later, the wrong suitcase arrived at her house.

Grace’s AirTag showed the bag moving slowly down Western Avenue in Hollywood. She followed him to a homeless encampment on Sunset Boulevard. She goes there herself and discovers her belongings scattered and partially destroyed. A homeless man told him he bought his things “on the street.” She offered,

I found my belongings, not my suitcase, but particles of my belongings in a homeless person’s shopping cart. You kind of get to a point where you look around camp and think, “I don’t even want my stuff back.” I had toiletry bags that were thrown upside down. I had makeup bags. All the makeup was gone.

Her bag wasn’t the only one there. She found several other pieces of luggage with airline tags in the encampment. There were “rows and rows of suitcases, bikes, strollers with airline tags everywhere.”

It was just too easy to steal bags full of delayed luggage stacked on the sidewalk outside the Burbank Airport terminal, easily swept away by everyone passing by. “Anyone could walk by and just pick up bags…hundreds of bags out in the open, out of sight of the office,” she said.

American Airlines offered $1,700 for $6,300 in lost items. The passenger retained the services of a lawyer. According to the American,

We strive to ensure that our customers’ checked baggage and other items arrive at their destination on time and in their original condition. We are investigating what happened here and in the meantime a member of our team is in contact with the customer to apologize and resolve the issue.

American Airlines consistently handles more baggage than any other airline, both in absolute terms and as a percentage.

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