Airline staff shortages, an increase in travel and strikes all have resulted in mountains of lost bags. What happens when your luggage finally arrives home after 19 long days of travel?
Inside Edition, one traveler and his suitcase were reunited.
Grant Whitson had been waiting for his bag since July 1, when he returned home from Paris and his luggage didn’t make it.
“I was told that it’d probably show up within the next couple days,”Whitson spoke.
Not even close! Grant’s suitcase was trapped in what’s being dubbed “airmageddon” — tens of thousands of pieces of stranded luggage all over the world due to staffing shortages and strikes.
Finally, the bag arrived at Bakersfield, California.
Matt Mueller and his fiancée, Bekah, are also caught up in airmageddon.
Their three bags were not allowed to board the ship after they flew to Europe to embark on a seven-day Mediterranean cruise. Thanks to the Apple AirTags that they placed in their bags, they were able track the bags’ movements.
“It was nice to know that our baggage wasn’t technically, truly lost, but at the same time, it was confusing the path that some of our luggage had taken, Mueller said.
One bag spent seven days in Paris. Then it was flown to Barcelona, where it stayed for 30 minutes. Then, for some inexplicable reason, it was sent back to Paris, where it stayed a week. Then it was off to Los Angeles, but just for two hours, before flying back to Paris.
Finally, it arrived back to its final destination in Los Angeles.
“My fiancée said, never checking a bag ever again,” Mueller said.
They are still waiting for their bag, which according to AirTag is still in Barcelona.