Flying can be really stressful. You have to make it to your gate in time to board while also getting through the TSA line, dodging thousands of other passengers, and checking your luggage.
One woman found her trip to be even more stressful than most, all because of what happened to her checked bag. Nope, it wasn’t lost — what actually happened was creepier.
A woman realized her underwear and swimsuits had been stolen from her checked suitcase.
TikTok content creator Phoebe Burke shared her bizarre and, honestly, terrifying experience with her followers on the video-sharing app.
“Okay, this is, like, the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me,” she said at the beginning of her TikTok. “And also, like, really creepy.”
Throughout the video, Burke kept the camera focused on her suitcase, where it was sitting open on the ground.
“I checked my bag with United and literally went to go open it, and all my underwear is missing,” she stated.
“All my underwear was packed away in this,” Burke said, pointing to a zippered compartment inside her suitcase. “I also have a video of myself packing, and there was underwear in there.”
In the confusion of finding her underwear missing, the woman thought that perhaps she was mistaken and had just forgotten to pack it.
“And then I was like, ‘Oh, weird. Whatever. Maybe I forgot it,’” she said. “Um, before I looked back and watched the video.”
But the video did confirm Burke’s suspicions — she had packed her underwear in the now-empty compartment.
Burke tried to make the most of the situation and find a quick fix for her problem. “I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll just wear swimsuit bottoms before I go get underwear,’” she stated.
She then held up a small orange bag that was inside her suitcase.
“Uh, this. All my swimsuits were in this bag,” she said. “Um, it was empty.”
“And also, like, they tore this bag,” Burke said, showing viewers a second zippered compartment next to the first. “This was not torn before.”
It did indeed feature a decent-sized tear in the front mesh.
“So, very scared,” she admitted. “Called them. Like, no help, really. So, go United.”
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Sadly, commenters shared similar stories of stolen personal items from luggage.
It would be nice to believe this was an isolated incident and that whatever happened to Burke’s bag was a one-time thing. However, TikTok commenters proved that was not true.
“Same thing happened to me,” one user said. “They stole all my underwear and Dolce and Gabbana perfume.”
Someone else said, “I had my bag inspected at an airport a few years back and someone stole all my dirty underwear and I have never been the same since.”
Unfortunately, another person admitted, “I work for the airlines putting suitcases on the plane and I’ve seen a lot of my guys do this.”
Statistics show this is more common than you might think.
It’s easy to think that your checked bags are safe. Nothing is supposed to happen to them, so you assume nothing will. They’re just supposed to get from point A to point B, like you.
Oleksandr P | Pexels
That’s not always the case, though. HuffPost cited research from CNN that found “the Transportation Security Administration saw 30,621 claims of missing valuables from 2010 to 2014, equaling a total property loss of $2.5 million. In some cases, items reported as missing were actually stolen.”
Discovering just who is stealing these items is what’s truly disturbing. HuffPost went on to say that the TSA sent what they called “bait bags” through airport security and actually found their own employees were the culprits more often than not.
This is very troublesome, as these are people that most think they can trust.
As for Burke, many commenters suggested she hire a lawyer or contact the police, which she would have every right to do; unfortunately, there’s not much recourse available. And frankly, she probably doesn’t want the stolen property back.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
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