- An airline passenger got a message from a stranger saying they'd found his bag in Amsterdam.
- Sunil Saith hadn't known where his bag was after it failed to arrive on his flight to Newark.
A passenger says he only found out his lost luggage was in Amsterdam when a stranger contacted him on social media and is still waiting for his bag despite informing the airline.
Sunil Saith told Insider that he took business-class flights with Turkish Airlines from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan to Istanbul and then on to Amsterdam on August 27. He ended his journey with an economy-class United Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Newark Liberty Airport, New Jersey, which arrived on August 28.
Saith told Insider that his bag did not make it to Newark and he filed a report with United Airlines. He said that when he checked in at Bishkek, Turkish Airlines had tagged his bag with Newark as his final destination.
Saith wasn't sure what had happened to his bag. But then, on August 31, he got a Facebook message from a stranger saying that they'd found his suitcase in Schiphol. The bag had a tag with Saith's name and address on.
The stranger said that they had found the bag after flying into Schiphol. "It seems it hasn't been catalogued yet and is waiting (probably indefinitely) for someone to pick it up," they said in one of the Facebook messages, screenshots of which were viewed by Insider.
Saith said that he then contacted United Airlines "immediately" by phone and using its online chat function. He said he also contacted Turkish Airlines by both email and Twitter direct message.
Saith had traveled to Bishkek for a wedding. He said that his suitcase contained clothes, including his tuxedo and a kurta, but no electronics apart from a phone charger and electric toothbrush.
He called the situation "very frustrating." He said he had been using Schiphol's lost and found webpage "every day" but hadn't found his bag on the site.
"We are dedicated to delivering bags to customers' final destinations on time, and when we miss the mark we work hard to connect customers with their bags as quickly as possible," a United Airlines spokesperson told Insider, adding that it customers can track their bags on the airline's app. Turkish Airlines did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
Airlines have always lost a small percentage of passengers' bags, but the problem has become much worse this summer, largely due to a combination of understaffing and technical issues. In many cases it has occurred when flights have been changed last-minute or during two-leg flights where the luggage wasn't transferred onto the second plane.
The chaos has led to mounds of lost luggage swamping airports. Some travelers have been turning to devices like Apple AirTags to track their bags, while others are packing hand luggage only.
On average, airlines lost 6.2 of every 1,000 hold bags taken on nonstop domestic flights in the first half of 2022, according to DoT data.