guv1976

The moral of the story: If you're going to fall asleep on an airplane, wait until after takeoff.

NextTrip

Awwww, a little fib: yes, the most logical explanation...and something that makes the whole story finally make sense!

rickg523

He probably misplaced his bag. I've sat down on WN flights and within a few minutes decided to change my seat.
Tired guy. Maybe he moved up a row. Maybe he went to the head and came back and sat a row forward in error. Okay. Whatever. Not terribly interesting.
But the OP asked two questions. One is sort of theoretical. Should a bag be removed without first questioning who's it is? No it shouldn't, but maybe he dozed and missed the FA inquiring. I mean there had to be some amount of discussion that he missed.
The second question is more interesting. Should he have to pay for its return? Shipped FedEx?
I consider that pretty chintzy on WN's part. It's not like they aren't flying planes on that route every day and couldn't sent his bag up.
But airlines are notoriously chintzy, so maybe this is just another one of those series of unfortunate events that sometimes occur when traveling and he'll just have to take it.
I'd call back though and make clear that I'm able to pick it up at the airport. Loading a bag that's already at the airport onto a plane going anyway doesn't seem like a huge ask.

roberto99

I wonder if the OP is full of it....

BTW, has the OP returned yet?

bocastephen

If someone shoves their bag under their seat and takes up my foot space, guess what I'm going to do - call a FA and either ask them to have it moved, or in the case of one rather obnoxious corporate-type in F on a UA flight years ago who felt she could put her stuff wherever she wanted, I told the FA the previous person left their laptop and handed it to the FA - lucky for the obnoxious corporate-type, she saw it and said something as it was being carried away to the door.

I suspect the person sitting behind the OP did the same thing - either on purpose to punish the OP, or by accident thinking someone really left their bag.

Either way, I think by now the thread is in agreement this is 100% the OP's fault for putting the bag under their seat....which means the small Fedex fee is likely a lucky gift, it could have been worse. At least they got their bag back.

thestrauch

I would like to point out that I am 20 years old. I could not have been drinking of I wanted to; airports won't sell alcohol to a minor.

nsx

Many of us, including me, have been conditioned by experience to disbelieve unusual stories on FT. There have been so many over the years, most prominently media reports of mistreatment by airlines. Often those turn out to have been attempts to gain money or notoriety at the expense of the airline. Other times facts are omitted to avoid embarrassment while seeking advice here ("The airline cheated me!" rather than "I tried to cheat the airline and they caught me!").

I want to state categorically that in my opinion this is not one of those cases. The OP has no reason to fabricate anything. I mean, we are talking about a measly $50.

I believe his account. The story is incomplete, but the OP has given us all the information he or she has. I agree that we can't figure out exactly what happened or why, but that is not the fault of the OP. He can't tell us what happened while he was asleep.

Everyone wants to solve this mystery, but that's apparently not possible without adding unsupported assumptions. Please don't do that. We were not there. You can speculate politely all you want, but further attacks on the OP will be deleted.

Members who have engaged in attacks here should take a close look at themselves. Presuming the worst of others is loser behavior.

lougord99

I must disagree. It is simply wrong to have your carry-on under your seat rather than under the seat in front of you. That is the basic facts of airplane travel. Because this occurred the OP should absolutely suffer whatever consequences come from that. It follows that the OP has no cause for complaint.

strickerj

nsx

The OP does not believe this to have been the case, so your premise is not factual.

And: "whatever consequences"? Including having your items stolen, as has happened in other cases? If I park my car illegally, do I deserve to have it burned to the ground? Sorry, but even stipulating your faulty premise the punishment would not fit the crime. We need to practice the Golden Rule.

dmbolp

WillCAD

My previously stated opinion is based on the following:
1) It is virtually impossible, while in-flight, for a carry-on to shift from the seat in front of you to the seat behind you on a WN aircraft without human intervention
2) It is COMPLETELY impossible, while the aircraft is stationary, for a carry-on to shift from the seat in front of you to the seat behind you on a WN aircraft without human intervention
3) OP stated plainly that he asked the person in the seat behind him about his bag
4) OP did not mention asking the person in front of him about his bag

1 and 2, IMHO, give cause to doubt OPs assertion that he placed his bag under the seat in front of him and that it shifted to the space under his own seat without his knowledge, while he slept, prior to takeoff.

3 indicates to me that OP placed the bag under his own seat.

4 is not conclusive; OP may have asked the person in front of him and simply omitted that part from his story.

I don't believe that my previously stated opinion reflects anything other than a simple extrapolation based on available information, tempered by my own personal experience (I know what the seats and underseat spaces on a WN aircraft are like). I don't consider my speculation to be wild, nor unsupported by the available information.

I think he put the bag under his own seat, and when he went looking for it later it was gone, so he asked the person behind him where the bag went. I don't think he did so out of malice, entitlement, or any other negative motivation, I think he made a simple mistake - one which I made myself on my first WN flight lo these many years ago - and was subsequently embarrassed about the mistake and tried to minimize it with a little white lie.

strickerj

dmbolp

So how did it get from under the seat in front of her, to under the seat she was sitting in, without the plane even moving? How did this "shifting" take place at all?

BrlDsguise

If I placed a bag under the seat in front of me and it was missing it would never occur to me to ask the passenger behind me (and two rows behind my bag) about its whereabouts.