Jetstar passenger's $3,000 suitcase mistake prompts warning to Aussie travellers
Brady Watson, 25, jetted north for a work trip at the end of March and, in a rush, grabbed the wrong suitcase at the baggage carousel. He took it home, opened it up, realised it was not his, and promptly returned it to the airport. He was told the other passenger did not take his bag, but it was nowhere to be found.
"I took the bag straight back and thought it would just be a seamless transition... but staff said, 'Oh, we actually don't know where your bag has gone'," he told Yahoo News. "It's now been three months and I still don't have it back."
Brady claims the airline has made it increasingly more difficult to chase up information, allegedly speaking to several different staff members from different departments who he said hadn't seemed to have communicated with one another.
"I've spoken to four different people and no one knows where my bag is. It's all very inconsistent, and it's annoying having to explain the situation to all these different people at Jetstar," he said. Brady said Jetstar make the process of getting your bag back as hard as possible "so eventually you just give up".
Brady is hoping for some kind of reimbursement but Jetstar and Brisbane Airport both believe his bag was stolen from the airport before he came back to return the other passenger's bag.
The airline told Yahoo News it "acknowledged this has been a really frustrating and inconvenient experience for Mr Watson and our customer service team has done everything they can to assist him".
Jetstar said Brady's luggage was flown from Melbourne to Brisbane, and it was put on the baggage carousel after his flight, but someone had taken his bag at the airport.
"On the day, Mr Watson mistakenly collected the wrong bag. After his bag couldn't be found, Jetstar understands airport CCTV showed his bag had been taken by someone else and a police investigation was launched," the Jetstar spokesperson said. "Despite everyone's best efforts, it has not been possible to recover Mr Watson's bag.
"We know this is an incredibly disappointing outcome, and our team is willing to provide any further assistance we can to the police investigation."
Yahoo News understands Jetstar will not be providing any compensation to Brady.
Brisbane Airport also say someone had stolen Brady's suitcase from the carousel and the issue is now a police matter.
"Despite reviewing video from multiple CCTV cameras, it has not been possible to identify who took the bag, and this is now a matter for police," Brisbane Airport said in a statement provided to Yahoo News.
"Incidents like this are extremely rare, and we understand how distressing it would be for the passenger involved. We'd like to take this opportunity to remind all travellers to carefully check that they have collected the correct luggage before leaving the baggage carousel area."
In written correspondence from Queensland Police to Brady, seen by Yahoo News, he was told that the CCTV footage was inconclusive due to the placement of the cameras near carousel 1 where Brady's luggage was allegedly collected from.
Brady is disappointed the investigation has not recovered his bag which had most of his belongings inside. He had just recently moved to Melbourne and bought clothing for the colder weather. He didn't have travel insurance, explaining he didn't think he would need it for a domestic flight.
"All my clothes were in the suitcase, I had just moved to Melbourne and wasn't ready for the cold... the clothes were worth about $3,000. It was a lot of stuff," he said. "You don't expect to need travel insurance when you're flying domestically for only two hours.
Brady claims he's now spent $1,500 replacing the lost clothes and is urging others to invest in AirTags.
"Put AirTags on your luggage so you can track it down Liam Neeson style," he warned. "And I guess don't fly Jetstar, but what other option do we have. They are definitely the cheapest airline, and they're the cheapest for a reason... Just hug your luggage extra tight the night before your flight because you might not see it again."
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