The chance of your luggage going missing is among the most anxiety-inducing facets of any flight, especially one taken amid the holiday rush.
Unfortunately for Valerie Szybala, that’s precisely the scenario that she began 2023 contending with after a domestic US journey from Chicago back to her home in Washington.
In a viral Twitter thread beginning with a post that’s amassed more than 20 million views since New Year’s Day, she documented the “wild ride” her bag took on its eventual return to her – all thanks to an Apple AirTag.
While the small, disc-shaped devices have come under fire over fears that people can use them for criminal or malicious purposes, they are designed to be attached to keys, wallets, and other belongings to help find lost items.
Informed by airline United that her bag had not made it on to the flight to Washington, and safe in the knowledge an AirTag was attached, Ms Szybala took up the offer of having it delivered by courier.
Its apparent journey from that point on was one she could scarcely believe.
The apartment complex
Concerned about the whereabouts of her luggage, Ms Szybala investigated an apartment complex the AirTag suggested was housing her belongings.
On 1 January, three days after the bag was said to have departed the airport, she tweeted it had been “sitting in a residential complex for over a day”.
“Out back by the dumpsters, I have found other emptied United Airlines bags,” she added.
Ms Szybala shared screenshots of a conversation she had with a support representative from the airline, who had assured her the bag was still on course for delivery.
“I am sorry, I don’t know why it is showing there,” they said of the AirTag’s assertion that it was elsewhere, even suggesting that Ms Szybala “calm down”.
