‘Is it in McDonald’s?’ AirTag reveals bizarre journey of woman’s lost suitcase following New Year flight – tracking it to-ing an fro-ing between an apartment block and food outlets
A flight passenger who used a real-time tracker to find her lost suitcase has gone viral on social media after recounting the luggage’s mysterious movements.
Valerie Szybala, who lives in Washington DC, was able to see exactly where her luggage was thanks to an AirTag, after it wasn’t returned to her, she claims, following a United Airlines flight over New Year.
In a series of tweets, a frustrated Szybala turned sleuth and documented the whereabouts of her luggage as her phone updated – with her Apple tracking device first locating it to near the dumpster in a residential apartment block.
A post about the extraordinary journey of a lost suitcase has gone viral on Twitter – with 20.5 million views. Flight passenger Valerie Szybala, who lives in Washington DC, posted how her suitcase had ended up by ‘a dumpster’ in a residential block after, she claims, United Airlines failed to return it to her
The thread, which she began on the afternoon of New Year’s Day, took a more bizarre turn when she relayed that her black suitcase had been taken to two food outlets before being returned to the same residential block.
Szybala was eventually reunited with the suitcase after visiting the apartment block and rescuing the case herself.
She wrote on Twitter alongside a photo of her own lugagge, and apparently another lost case: ‘My apple AirTag shows that it has been sitting in a residential apartment complex for over a day. Out back by the dumpsters, I have found other emptied United Airlines bags.’
The Apple tracker showed the case on the move…and Szybala assumed it was on her way to her home…but after a short sojourn in a food outlet, it returned to the apartment block where the AirTag had first located it to
Szybala claims she’d initially been told by United Airlines that her luggage was ‘safe’ and would be returned to her via a delivery distribution center instead.
After realising it was in transit when she checked her phone, she assumed the case was on its way back to her…however, after what seemed to be a half-hour stop at a food outlet, it returned to same residential block where she’d located it in the first instance.
Explanation? Szybala, left, wasn’t convinced by the delivery distribution center employee’s message, right, about what had happened to the case
She also shared a photo of another case, suggesting a fellow passenger had experienced the same ordeal
Reunited…but only after Szybala went to the apartment block herself and took the bag back
The thread, by now viral and currently with 20.5 million views on Twitter, saw Szybala write: ‘MAJOR UPDATE: for the first time since Friday my AirTag (and hopefully luggage) appears to be on the move… it’s at a McDonalds? The plot thickens…’
However, she quickly followed up with: ‘My luggage AirTag has left McDonalds and returned to the apartment complex where it is being held hostage!’
By yesterday – Monday, the frustrated flight passenger had been reunited with her luggage but only thanks to her own tenacity.
After travelling to the residential block, her ‘wild ride’ came to an end when a resident of the complex helped her retrieve the bag.
She penned: ‘WHEW this has been a wild ride y’all. I’m happy to report that I got my bag back!!! I’ll give more details & lessons learned later. For now wanna say thank you for all of the support, and shout out to the building resident and local news crews who came out to help =).’
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