Woman settles into her plane seat. Then allegedly spots a worker abandoning her suitcases at the gate

A TikTok user named Anna Lappe (@annalappe0) shared a video in which she says she watched her luggage miss her flight in real time, while she was already seated on the plane. In the video, the moment was captured from her seat as she looked out the plane window.

Lappe’s video, which has gained over 1.7 million views, shows the view outside her plane window, with a pinned location that appears to indicate she was at Philadelphia International Airport. The clip captured what she described as her bags being left behind.

In the video, a man can be seen standing near the gate, wheeling two suitcases while looking at a handheld device. After a few seconds, he makes a cut-throat motion and walks away from the bags, seemingly unable to load them onto the plane. 

Travelers have a few options when they spot their luggage being left behind

Lappe wrote in the video’s overlay text, “POV: you watch your luggage miss the flight in real time.” In the caption, she added, “Looks like our suitcases weren’t ready to come home and extended their vacay without us.”

According to NPR, U.S. airlines reportedly lost about 2 million pieces of luggage every year. If the bags are eventually found, their owners can reclaim them, and otherwise, they are sold at a discount to interested buyers, contents and all, per the same report. More than 3 million passengers reportedly fly into and out of the United States every day.

If travelers find themselves in a similar situation, there are apparently a few steps they can take. As Brobible said, as soon as a bag is checked, a gate agent will give the traveler a luggage tag, and it is suggested that travelers also take a picture of the tag and the bag before setting off, so they can provide exact evidence of what the bag looks like and how it was tagged if there is an incident.

For passengers who are already on the plane and can see a problem developing, there is reportedly still time to act. A traveler can tell a flight attendant what they saw and, if needed, provide their seat number and baggage tag number. The crew may not be able to recheck the bag for the current flight, but they might make the gate or ramp team aware of the issue.

When the passenger arrives at their destination, they can go to the airline’s baggage desk and report the issue with all relevant information. Other frustrated flyers have taken matters into their own hands, including one Delta passenger who used a gate microphone to demand help.

Having a bag fully disappear is apparently rare, though it does happen. According to the Department of Transportation, airlines in the United States are “required to compensate passengers for reasonable, verifiable, and actual incidental expenses that they may incur while their bags are delayed” on domestic flights.

Travelers reportedly cannot claim their bag that was filled with expensive items and run up a major bill, but they can make reasonable claims to replace lost items. For example, someone who has to spent their planned beach day without their bag could buy an outfit, swimsuit, and towel, then submit the receipts to the airline for compensation, per the report. In other cases, travelers have shared their own methods for recovering belongings.

In the comments section, several users tried to reassure Lappe that her bags would still reach her. “No worry it will come with the next flight,” one user wrote. Another suggested, “It’s fine, just go to the customer support desk, and they will help you.” One commenter offered a possible explanation for what happened, writing, “They either showed up late or had a tight connection loading was completed.”

Other users shared their own experiences. “This actually just happened to me. They had it sent out with the next flight. I wasn’t gonna wait for it so they had it shipped with FedEx right away. I got it the next day,” one user recounted. Another, however, described a less positive outcome, stating, “its my luggage story, ruined my holiday.” 

If a bag is “delayed” for between five and fourteen days, depending on the airline, it will likely be declared “lost.” If that happens, the DOT requires the airline to compensate the passenger for the bag and its contents up to a limit of $4,700 for domestic flights, and to refund baggage fees. If a passenger claims to have expensive items, the airline may ask for evidence, such as receipts.