As you start packing for a holiday, your thoughts most likely drift to the feel of the sand between your toes, the smell of the ocean, or perhaps even the feel of snow in your hands. Maybe you’re thinking about how wonderful it is that you won’t have to set any alarms or attend meetings, and of course, daydreaming about all the new sights you’re hoping to see.
The last thing on your mind is the possibility of your luggage being damaged thanks to inconsiderate airline workers. If you weren’t going to take the insurance option on your flight to save a few dollars, we bet you’ll be thinking differently after reading through this list of ruined belongings. Buckle up and get ready for turbulence because this is going to be a bumpy ride!
Shocking Stats
Although it doesn’t happen on every flight, according to a report by flight compensation firm Claim Compass, 5% (a staggering 28 million bags) are mishandled annually, leading to irretrievable losses. Sadly, most are returned to the owner, damaged beyond repair.
From hilarious posts by passengers to shocking stories as a result of irresponsible airline workers, this list will make you laugh – and it will make you cry. Just imagine if you were the owner of such a bag, for example. Yeah, there must have been tears here, for sure.
But Why?
Imagine you’ve just spent over 10 hours on a flight just for you to land and discover your suitcase is lost. You’d probably gone on a work trip, and this is the bag that held gifts for your family and the only souvenir you’d bought the one time you had a few hours to explore.
As bad as that may sound, it happens. Especially when there’s an increase in travel demands or even a decrease in airline staff. Such instances can make you wish you found your luggage in a state like the one pictured above rather than it being lost.
Absolute Horror
There is absolutely no way anyone could make us believe that some animals didn’t chew this poor passenger’s stuff! Just look at this collage of horror! The first thing you should do if you find your luggage looking like this after landing is to report.
We cannot help but feel a bit of rage every time we look at this photo. Especially because of those heels. They certainly didn’t deserve such a horrendous ending to their sparkly lives. We can only hope that a claim was filed and compensation was arranged.
Argh, Matey
Apparently, if you want to rock the pirate look (and not the attractive “William Turner” kind), then all you need to do is book yourself a flight with this airline which must have tossed this passenger’s luggage into a sea full of piranhas.
There’s no feeling of despair quite like the one he must have felt when unpacking his luggage, only to discover that every item of clothing was shredded to pieces. Judging by the smile on his face, he’s at least got a good sense of humor.
Airmageddon
Instances of airlines losing people’s luggage is nothing new. It’s become a sad fact of life, like traffic or pineapple toppings on a pizza. Fortunately, some airlines have been looking into ways of reducing these occurrences, and most of them have recorded a decrease in lost bags.
However, it doesn’t help when scenes like these are still seen at airports. It appears that these suitcases somehow ended up in what looks like a dumpster. Why would they throw away bags that look fine? Now, we’re not so sure we love traveling all that much.
Nike No-Air
Okay, so the “logical”- and we say that lightly – reasoning here is that perhaps the people working security at the airport thought that somehow the transparent, see-through bubbles on this Nike Air Max backpack could be used to store (invisible) drugs.
So, naturally, they popped every single bubble with what we can only guess must have been a box cutter to inspect. It’s not surprising that the only thing that was “hidden” there was air, resulting in a distraught passenger.
Pro Tip: Insure Your Flight
Having something happen to your luggage is the same as missing your flight, losing your phone, or misplacing your ticket. It’s stressful and pretty much the opposite of what you’d like to happen during the first or last few hours of your trip.
Luckily, there are ways of dealing with this sort of mishap. For example, you can always insure your flight. This will give you peace of mind as you travel. Additionally, if you find your suitcase looking like this, at least you’ll have a way to get a new one.
More On Insurance
Insuring your flight and baggage will not only ensure that you will be compensated accordingly in case your luggage is damaged, lost, or stolen. It will also guarantee that you are protected financially over the course of your well-deserved trip.
For example, this passenger not only had to replace their bag, but they also had to get new products. Which was undoubtedly expensive and an unplanned cost. Judging by the content, we think they were probably going on a vacation somewhere with plenty of sandy beaches. Too bad.
Getting A ‘Handle’ On The Situation
Before you lock up your suitcase and get ready to head to the airport, ensure that you’ve itemized every item in it. Or that you at least know everything that’s inside. This will come in handy when you find your beloved suitcase looking like this and have to establish if something is missing.
We can only imagine the range of emotions the owner of this bag went through at baggage claim. They probably got there and stared disbelievingly at the suitcase as they thought to themselves, ” There’s no way my favorite sneakers survived this ordeal.”
Secret Santa
Sometimes, the inspectors checking people’s baggage take things a little too far. In this passenger’s case, not only did they open their bag and rummage through its contents, but they also decided that Christmas had come early for them that year.
The poor passenger involved didn’t even know they were a part of this apparent “Secret Santa.” It was so secret, in fact, that the owner had no idea who had been “gifted” with their belongings. We hope they were insured because whatever was in those jewelry boxes was probably expensive.
What To Do
What do you do when you find your luggage looking like this? As we mentioned before, the first step is to report. Find your carrier’s local baggage service office, usually near the baggage claim or ticket desk areas, and talk to the people in charge about the incident.
Our advice is to always document the condition of your bags at check-in so that you can prove that any damage your items may suffer took place after you checked them in. How do you even explain the level of destruction here?
This is Why the Important Things Should Be in Hand Luggage
Imagine spending weeks, if not months, planning your dream vacation. You go shopping for a brand new summer wardrobe for the 2-week-long trip, and you even pack days in advance to ensure you don’t forget anything. Excitement doesn’t even begin to cover how you’re feeling by the end of it.
You also thought ahead and reserved a window seat. Then, when you’re on the flight listening to your pre-planned playlist on your air-pods, you notice something on the tarmac. Is that your bag?! Good thing your laptop is in the overhead compartment above you.
And Again
Here’s another example of the same scenario. Apparently, carelessly leaving people’s luggage on the tarmac, right outside the plane, is a common occurrence. It’s so common, in fact, that it makes us wonder whether misplacing and losing luggage is sometimes done intentionally for kickbacks.
Just look at this sad picture, for example. Not only was a passenger’s suitcase left on the tarmac, but it was also rained on. Hopefully, whoever it belonged to had packed a spare bikini somewhere in their carry-on because the rest are definitely soaked, and not in a fun ocean-water-soaked kinda way.
Beyond Recognition
You typically have up to 24 hours to report a claim for domestic flights and seven days for international flights. However, this might vary slightly depending on your airline. The best place to check is the Terms and Conditions of the airline you’re using.
We hope the owner of this bag knew this. It’s puzzling how you can confidently leave your bag on the conveyor belt at one airport only for you to find it looking like this when you land at another one! We can’t even tell if this was a suitcase or just a simple bag.
World Tracer
Once you’ve reported your missing luggage to the airline, try logging it on World Tracer as well. World Tracer is a software system that is utilized by over 440 airlines. It is one of the best ways to track down lost baggage.
Logging your missing luggage here will increase your chances of finding it. Your airline and all the other companies using the system will be aware of it. Just cross your fingers that by the time you find it, it doesn’t look charred up like the suitcase pictured above.
Cut Up
If your luggage is returned looking like this, then knowing your airline’s policies is not enough. Did someone use a pair of scissors to open this bag because they were unable to use the zippers? It sure looks like it.
From the pictures at the top, it looks like someone at the airline tried to ‘remedy’ the situation by wrapping the suitcase in plastic wrap. Imagine getting to your destination and waiting for your bags only to find them wrapped like this! Sounds like the start of the worst vacay ever.
Important to Note: Small Damage is Still Damage!
Even if the damage is minimal, like a small fabric tear or a broken zipper or handle, it is still considered damage, and a passenger can still claim that with their airline. Take photographs of the damage even if you’ve shown the bag to someone when reporting at the airport.
Airline policies can be sneaky and often require that your baggage tags remain attached to your bags. So, ensure you’ve taken photographs with them attached before you remove them from your bags. Also, make sure your pictures are as detailed as possible. Capture every dent or tear clearly.
Sometimes, Being A Karen Is the Only Way
Suppose your airline isn’t getting back to you regarding your claim, and you find yourself waiting days – if not weeks – for a response. In that case, there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of social media exposure to get their attention.
For instance, if the owner of this bag decided they’d had enough and put the airline on blast, no one would blame them. This was clearly such a beautiful suitcase, and the fact that it looked like this after one trip is simply heartbreaking.
A Suitcase’s Journey
The photo below shows how your suitcase gets from the conveyor belt to the plane. As you can see, the bags are not exactly fastened to the luggage cart, and unfortunately, that’s how most of them end up getting damaged since they fall off, and some even get run over accidentally.
While some airlines are apparently far worse at taking care of luggage than others, how these airlines handle such issues is what matters. So, share your experiences – good and bad, and help other passengers make informed decisions. We really hope that red suitcase got home safe!
Knowledge is Key
It is crucial to arm yourself with this kind of knowledge. Before booking your flight with your selected airline, do your research. Check online forums and reviews to see if complaints by other passengers have been made and how those complaints were handled.
For example, we would really love to know how this passenger’s complaint was handled. Why would someone step on another person’s suitcase? This was probably the work of a rude customer who just couldn’t care less about another person’s things. Much less a little girl’s.
Lock Your Bags
If you’re planning on traveling, remember to keep your baggage locked. Whether you’re flying, hopping on a train, or riding a bus, we can’t emphasize this enough. You don’t want to risk anything since it’s people you don’t know handling your stuff.
You never know when a crook will strike, and a lock won’t always stop them. However, an unlocked suitcase might be tempting enough for them to steal your belongings. For example, this passenger’s move has now been tainted after someone stole her games.
Ruined Laptop
Alright, folks, if you were debating whether or not to bring your work along with you – then this is your sign. Leave your laptop at home! Or, at the very least, in your hand luggage. If you don’t, it might end up like this.
Apparently, this poor guy’s luggage was run over by a baggage cart – causing this level of damage. The passenger’s entire bag was torn open, and by the end of it, it looked like the laptop was attacked by a shark or some other equally terrifying beast.
Fun Fact
Here’s a fun, albeit sad, fact we bet you didn’t know. Lost and unclaimed luggage gets sent to stores all over the world, where the contents are sold at low prices. There is a huge controversy surrounding this because there’s a big difference between these stores and thrift shops.
People willingly donate or sell items to thrift shops, whereas these stores sell lost and unclaimed baggage items that are incredibly personal and significant to the person who once owned them. Despite this controversy, the stores are still going strong.
Remember How We Suggested Insurance?
Whoever said that using a hard-shell suitcase is better than a soft-shell one clearly never booked a flight with the airline responsible for this damage. It looks like someone dropped the bag from the top of a skyscraper several times.
We wonder what happened here – was a luggage cart to blame? Did someone working for the airline leave the bag on the runway to be mauled by the wheels of a plane getting ready for takeoff? We just hope the owner had insurance!
Tape Doesn’t Fix Everything
Someone evidently broke this suitcase and actively tried to fix it in the dumbest way possible – using tape. They didn’t even bother to splurge on clear tape, either. Instead, they used brown boxing tape to try to fix their mess.
Obviously, because it’s made its way to this list, the owner of this package was not the least bit impressed by this attempted repair. We sure hope that the airline took responsibility for this and covered the costs of the damages.
Ferrar- oh -no!
If that’s a genuine Ferrari suitcase that has been damaged, then we are grateful we are not the ones responsible for replacing it. The cost of one of these luggage sets is super high compared to a standard, unbranded case.
In fact, we’re pretty sure you could buy a Moped or small car with the same amount of cash – hey, we didn’t say a good car! Anyway, even a hard-shell case can break (with enough brute force). Looks like no one is safe in these guys’ hands.
Chewed Up Luggage
There is nothing as disheartening as heading to baggage claim after a long and tiring flight only to discover that your suitcase looks like the world’s most vicious moths ate through the fabric during the flight. We wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
To make matters worse, if you’re like us, the thought of moths or anything munching on your suitcase is pretty disturbing. Especially if there are creepy crawlies still lurking somewhere beneath your packed undies. We wonder what really happened here.
So Many Questions
It’s no surprise that there are tons of what seems to be the same image over and over again. It’s almost as if airline workers in charge of loading the cargo make a habit of leaving at least one bag on the tarmac.
That purple suitcase looks so lonely on the tarmac. The sad part is the owner was probably picking a movie to watch during the flight at this particular moment. Completely unaware of the nightmare that awaited them when they landed. From now on, resolve to always have a complete outfit in our carry-on.
Damaged Goods
Did you know that airline security has the right to inspect your baggage at anytime? That means they are legally allowed to open your suitcase and rummage through your things, sometimes even unpacking those delicately packed fragile items that you triple bubble wrapped.
Unfortunately, that right sometimes comes with a cost to passengers. Your things may not be stolen, but the people looking through your baggage won’t be nearly as careful when repacking your items. This disappointed fan of The Haunted Mansion knows this only too well.
Inspected
Here’s another example of how the lovely airline staff treats items marked as fragile. They even had the decency to let this passenger know that they had inspected their luggage, thanks to the colossal amount of tape wrapped around the box. It’s a pity they didn’t use the tape to seal the box entirely.
It takes a lot of audacity to carelessly rip open someone’s box and skimp on tape when it comes to repairing it. Was this also due to a massive increase in travelers and a decrease in the number of workers? We highly doubt it.
Break The Lock
Here we have yet another example of the unfortunate carelessness of security workers at the airport. This bag was evidently cut open for inspection – and the result is one more social media user sharing their experience with the internet.
We get that airlines have the right to search luggage for the safety of all passengers, but surely there’s another way they could have done this, like using the zippers. If the bag had been locked, breaking the lock would have certainly been a better option than this.
Screen Time (More like Scream Time)
Remember that laptop from earlier, the one that looked like it had been eaten by a shark? Well, here’s another example of why you should consider taking your laptop with you in hand luggage, where you can keep it safe.
Sure, your clothes might cushion it enough to keep it safe. Still, if the luggage cart runs over your suitcase (which is quite common) or it’s dropped from a considerable height, it might end up like this one. Be smart; carry your laptop in your backpack. Or better yet, leave it at home if you can.
Completely Shredded
It looks like this piece of luggage was chowed down by the same shark that decided to eat that other passenger’s laptop. Not only is the bag completely ripped, but we’re also guessing the contents inside aren’t in very good shape, either.
In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if half of the contents were missing entirely. It’s not like whoever let this checked this suitcase into the plane bothered to check if anything was spilling out of it before they tossed it into the cargo hold.
Lookout Below
The irony here is that the owner of this suitcase tried their best to keep their belongings safe. They went for a suitcase with a hard shell casing, which is meant to be more durable than softer bags. Additionally, they marked their luggage as fragile.
Unfortunately for them, someone working at the airport took that fragile sticker to mean “drop this case from the highest point possible” because we can’t think of another reason for the massive dents. Makes you wonder how it would look like if it was a fabric case and didn’t have the ‘fragile’ label.
Where Have These Shoes Been?
This one is pretty bizarre. First of all, anyone who would damage a perfectly gorgeous pair of Rihanna Pumas has some issues. If you don’t like the bow – that’s your problem. Just don’t spend your workday ruining other people’s valuable footwear.
It’s as if someone opened all the luggage that they could just to damage other people’s things out of spite. The worst part is the inexplicable red stain. Were they bleeding when they touched the shoe? Did they smother it with lipstick? All the options sound terrible.
Stomp
How a bottle of hair product can be so severely damaged during a flight, we don’t know. What we do know is that it’s not because of turbulence or air pressure. It actually looks like someone intentionally stomped on it.
We’re not sure if this can of styling gel was squished to this extent because it wasn’t packed well or if it somehow rolled out of the owner’s bags and got damaged. We can only hope that whoever it belonged to still managed to get their edges done the following day!
Oops, There Goes Another One
This is disappointing. At first, we thought that using a hard-shell suitcase would help to protect one’s luggage. But it appears that even the most durable suitcase is no match for the whims of airline workers and the dreaded baggage cart.
Was this also dropped from the highest point of the airport? It looks like it landed with such force that a piece of it snapped right off, damaging the casing forever. We have so many questions and such few answers right now.
Looks Like A “Case” For The Vet
Perhaps that suitcase fell onto this one, which is also so badly damaged that it looks as if someone took a hammer and hit it intentionally. Or maybe, going by the massive hole, one of the sniffer dogs thought it was a treat.
If that is what happened, then perhaps this is a “case” (see what we did there?) that the airline security – or maybe the local veterinary clinic – should look more closely into. Dogs shouldn’t be eating plastic, after all.
Finders Keepers
If you’re a neat freak like us, then you are not the kind of person who just throws clothes into their bag and hopes that everything fits. Rather, you’re far more meticulous. You fold each item to ensure your bag is organized and tidy.
Unfortunately, if that’s you, you’re likely to become pretty frustrated if you opened your suitcase to discover that it was inspected by airport security and your belongings were stuffed back haphazardly. Judging by the look of this, they probably did a bit of “shopping” for themselves, too.
Some Advice For The Road (Well, Air)
With the holidays fast approaching, here’s some advice to avoid baggage loss and damage. Aside from investing in good travel insurance, you can also consider purchasing a tracking device to put in your luggage. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t utilize readily available technology to ease your nerves.
With the holidays fast approaching, here’s some advice to avoid baggage loss and damage. Aside from investing in good travel insurance, you can also consider purchasing a tracking device to put in your luggage. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t utilize readily available technology to ease your nerves.
