Baggage scam
 

Hello,
I just wanted to make fellow travelers aware of a possible scam that is going on in large airports. I approached my gate in Miami to board a Delta flight connecting in JFK and then an ITA airways flight to Milan. I had a small rolling bag (appropriately sized) and a personal item. I also had a small bag of food items I purchased in the airport. When I approached the gate, the gate agent told me to consolidate my bags. I complied while she watched and viewed the contents of my bag, then stepped back in line. She let several people board before stopping me and making an announcement that no more rolling bags can fit on the plane. I calmly explained that I had medication and expensive items that I could not check and that I was making an international connection. She yelled at me to move aside. I asked to speak to a supervisor. I was told the supervisor was talking to the steward on the plane. She scanned my ticket to board but would not allow my to bring my carry on. When I got to the entrance of the plane, the supervisor and steward told me there was room for my bag. I asked to go get it and was informed it was already checked. I again asked to have it retrieved as I had medications and other necessities in the bag and was refused. The gate agent who took my bag said “your bag is going to Milan with it without you”. I asked again for my bag to be retrieved as I did not want to travel without it and was refused. My bag did not arrive in Milan (I had AirTags in all of my luggage) until the last day of my trip. When it arrived, it was virtually empty. I had all of my luxury contents stolen. Purses, shoes and clothing totaling 25,000 dollars. If I had chosen to check my bag I could understand but I did not. My bag was checked without my consent and believe that the gate agent knew exactly what she was doing.

25k worth of stuff in a cabin bag?

I hope you've contacted law enforcement as well as FT.

Yeah this is a law enforcement issue, I would be reaching out to the heads of both Miami, New York and Milan, don't assume it was stolen in Miami.

could easily hit that with one piece of jewelry or an Hermes bag. Would only take two or three Chanels to make that total too.

Sooo… hoping FT wasn’t your first stop, what did the airline say?

How did they get her bag from her to check it? Did they rip it out of her hands? Did she go down to board and left it at the gate? To gate check it they would have had to take it right by her. It’s all confusing. She also states the agent said the supervisor was speaking to a Steward. That’s not a term an agent would use. Why AirTags in a carry on?

Also why would a DL agent stand and watch yiu repack everything. Why did need to repack everything anyway? Per OP description the only item at issue would be their meal. (Which is an allowed exception to the one carry on and one personal item rule) Why not just stuff the meal quickly in carry on?

Also the user just joined to post this. While this could be legit, there's just too many flags.

Having an air tag in the bag made sense to me, other details, not so much.

A carry-on isn't necessarily something you're going to tote around all day, every day, while traveling, It may get left in the hotel room, or it might be left at coat check at some point, or set down while you transact business at a hotel or airline counter and are distracted. Italy is somewhat notorious for thieves on mopeds snatching bags from people on the sidewalks, maybe that was a concern. Why not make it easier to keep track of all of your bags?

For when it’s gate checked, either because it’s an RJ or involuntarily. Or as a back-up in case your bag isn’t anywhere near you in the OH bin and someone takes it either or purpose or accidentally and you don’t realize it until you actually get to the bin where it was and discover it’s not there.

I have an AirTag in my backpack (and, now my wallet - partially thanks to the social media clown who left his on a plane but also because I thought I left mine in a restaurant).

I totally believe the OP (although this is their first post).. but would have loved to be a fly on the wall for this situation as it happened/played out.

Too late for OP now, but everything of value (cash, medicine, emotional support hanky etc.) in a roller should be easy to get from the bag and keep on you. Alternatively, it just goes in the personal item to begin with.

"personal item" is usually about the size of purse, maybe a little bigger.

If your roller has luxury/designer "Purses, shoes and clothing" as the OP stated, they're not going to fit into something the size of a different purse. Not my sort of thing, but I know designer purses can cost many thousands of dollars.

I will say this - Delta (and other airlines that I've seen) have gotten far more aggressive about deciding on a cut-off point where they say the plane is full and no more bags are going to fit on the carryon. The problem is, they also tell you not to check any valuable or medications. If I ever reach the point where they decide they're going to cut off before I get on the plane, I'm going to stand right in the middle of the entrance to the jetway taking everything out of my bag while everyone behind me waits so that Delta can check an empty bag - because quite frankly, in general, most of what's in my carryon qualifies as either medications or valuable items. My problem at that point is I have no idea how I'm going to carry all that loose gear onto the plane, where undoubtedly it'll be obvious that at least a third of the overhead bins are still empty because they've cut off bags too early. These days this nonsense of telling people there's no more room on the plane has nothing to do with there being no more room on the plane and everything to do with them trying to get the plane out on time.