(NEXSTAR) – United Airlines is investigating a lost piece of luggage after a passenger claims it was sent to a random apartment complex, then to a McDonald’s and then to a shopping mall instead of home.
Valerie Szybala flew home to Washington on a United Airlines flight after her vacation, but her luggage was delayed. United gave him the option of having the suitcase delivered to his home the next day, which he accepted.
But the next day, his bag did not arrive. He didn’t come a day after that.
Szybala, fortunately, had left an Apple AirTag inside her luggage, which allowed her to track the location of her missing bag – and was terrified to find it in an apartment complex elsewhere in the city.
Shibala documented his suffering on Twitter, at one point she claimed her bag was taken to McDonalds before being returned to the apartment complex. The next day, the AirTag on his suitcase said he pinged a suburban mall before being returned to a “mysterious apartment complex.”
He later visited the apartment complex himself, where he claimed to have found two more “Unchecked” pieces of luggage belonging to United Airlines passengers According to what he wrote on Twitter, behind the building, next to the dumpsters.
Szybala reached out to United’s customer service team to ask why her bag’s AirTag was pinging at an apartment complex and not at the courier’s distribution center.
According to a screenshot of the conversation, the representative replied: “Relax, your bag is on delivery.”
When Shibala was pressed to explain why the bag was in the apartment complex and why there were two other bags next to the building’s trash can, she was told again that the bag was “safe” at the distribution center.
“I’d like everyone to know that @united lost track of my bag and is lying about it,” he tweeted.
Finally, on January 2, Shibala visited the building again. He then received a text from a person identifying himself as a driver for Couriers United LLC, a third-party delivery service used by United Airlines. The courier said he had mistaken her bag for another passenger’s, causing the delay, and would now bring it home.
He called back and told her to bring him to the apartment complex instead.
“… He came back to meet me near the building,” she said. “He was a little surprised that two news crews were filming. He asked if he was in trouble or something, but at that moment I was too happy to get my bag back to ask more questions.”
As of Tuesday, Szybala still had not received an explanation as to the whereabouts of her bag from United or the courier service. But he made it clear all his belongings were accounted for, and speculated that her suitcase had simply been left in the courier’s car for a few days while he went about his business.
“I don’t know that [the courier] he was telling the truth, I suspect he wasn’t.” he tweeted. “Nothing this guy or @United told me explains why my bag was left in an apartment complex garage for 3 days on random shopping excursions. I would still like some answers.”
United Airlines confirmed in a statement obtained by Nexstar that it was investigating the incident, calling it a “deficiency in service.”
“We have contacted this customer to discuss this situation and confirm receipt of his baggage,” an airline representative wrote. “The delivery of the bag did not meet our service standards provided by our vendor and we are investigating what caused this service failure.”
A representative for Couriers United LLC did not immediately return a request for additional information.
Shibala said that he learned several valuable lessons from this test. For starters, he will “never” allow an airline to deliver lost bags again, but will choose to pick them up in person. He’s also a fan of luggage tracking devices, calling his Apple AirTag a “savior” in this particular case.
“It was $30, totally worth it,” he said earlier in the thread’s comments He asked Apple to reward him potentially for business development among airline passengers.
“Can I at least get a referral code?[?]” asked the tech company.