A nightmare for one flyer came true when she realized her bag was missing after passing through airport security.
Helen Huang, originally from Macao, China, and now living in London, was traveling from London Heathrow Airport to Thessaloniki, Greece, on October 5.
The 26-year-old was selected to go through a screening machine when passing through security checks before boarding her flight, which meant that she was temporarily away from the two trays she had put through, one of them containing her suitcase.
“I noticed that the second tray with my liquids, tote bags and lv [Louis Vuitton] bag was side lined for further checks but my blue suitcase was nowhere in sight,” she told Newsweek. “I thought the blue suitcase might have gone through the scanner again or something so [I was] waiting for my second tray to be checked. When that was done I asked the security person checking it where my suitcase was and she didn’t know and told me to look around.”
Photos of Helen Huang. She was traveling from London Heathrow Airport when her bag was taken by a stranger.
Helen Huang
Huang and staff at Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 searched the area for the bag, but it was nowhere to be seen. “At this point I realised it was gone,” she said. “I was honestly in shock so was acting quite chill because I just couldn’t believe that this was happening.”
A spokesperson for London Heathrow Airport told Newsweek: “I have shared the details with our services team who will reach out to the passenger directly to see if she would like to share specific feedback about her experience.”
She posted a video to TikTok, which has received over 154,000 views, detailing the experience and telling viewers that the staff member she sought help from has only seen this happen once before in his 20 years of working there.
She reported the incident at around 8.10 a.m. and her flight was at 9.30 a.m. She also said that a staff member asked if she definitely had her suitcase with her in the airport.
After around 30 minutes, Huang says, staff went to check CCTV footage, which revealed that someone had in fact taken the suitcase, telling her that it appeared to be an older man who might have made an “honest mistake.”
She was then told by staff to go to her boarding gate and that the suitcase would be brought to her. “I spoke to the staff on the gate and they didn’t hear about my incident so I wasn’t sure who I was waiting for or how I would get my case back,” she said.
“I sat for another 10-ish minutes and boarding was concluding so I tried to speak to someone and a guy in high-vis jacket was by the staff area and he asked if I was Miss Huang. I said yes and he said his colleague is coming with the case now.”
Finally, a man in a high-vis jacket, who she calls “my hero,” appeared at the gate with the case. Huang is still away from London and is awaiting updates on the incident.
According to Statista, London Heathrow was the U.K. airport with the largest share of lost luggage claims between 2017 and 2021.
TikTok users took to the comments of Huang’s video to share their thoughts, with some saying they have had similar experiences. One person with the TikTok name Subtle Simon wrote: “Same thing happened to me with my jewellery! They said it was an old man and he’s already on a flight. Couldn’t get it back.”
Meanwhile, Rae said: “This just definitely cemented my idea of always putting airtags in my luggage.”
@Skgdkgdkhflh commented: “I read an article ages ago about a guy whose laptop was stolen. As he had to put it separately on a tray. And I’m super paranoid now.”
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