A woman who splashed out £130 on lost luggage from Heathrow Airport has taken to social media to reveal the intriguing contents of her mystery purchase.
Whilst losing belongings is one of the biggest fears for travellers when flying, normally when such a situation occurs they are eventually reunited with their luggage. However, occasionally bags and suitcases go unclaimed, and after a period of a few months are eventually discarded by airports via auction houses.
In the UK, unclaimed baggage is sold through online auctions via Mulberry Bank, BCVA, and Greasby’s – with shipping available to buyers. Such luggage tends to sell for £15 to £80 with fees including VAT and premiums on top.
One of those buyers, bargain hunting Lucia, took a chance in the hope that she could benefit from someone else’s misfortune. Describing the smell of the suitcase as “quite stale”, she proceeded to prise it open, revealing in a TikTok video: “I unwrapped the suitcase and discovered it was battered with a broken handle. I was bit nervous due to the odd smell, thinking it would be full of a man’s dirty pants and socks.”
However, it soon became apparent to Lucia that the suitcase had belonged to a Chinese female. “The first things that fell out were two books [in Chinese] and period pads,” she said. Confident the luggage contained no hidden tags that would have enabled her to return it to it’s rightful owner, Lucia continued her delve inside.
“There was no purse or identifcation inside, however, there was a Mexican coin to the value of around 8p – so I did recoup some of the money back,” she quipped. Lucia then went in search of any clothing she deemed worthy of trying to sell on Vinted.
After her video was viewed a staggering nine million times, she swiftly returned with a follow-up video showcasing her further rummage through the clothing. “The first thing that struck me is that the contents of this suitcase doesn’t make sense,” Lucia explained. She elaborated: “There’s no toiletries, no basics, and no underwear that you would need for a trip away.”
Lucia then pinpointed the highlights of her buy – a “cheeky” Crewcuts skirt complete with $49.50 price tag, followed by a “cute” white Abercrombie & Fitch jacket and “one random man’s” unworn size 8 shoes. “Weird” items also caught her eye, meanwhile, namely shorts belonging to a seven-to-eight-year old boy, an XXL teal dress, and a pair of “rusty, grotty” nail cutters.
Such a variety prompted Lucia to ponder whether auction staff open such luggage items to inspect them for anything of value prior to them being sold on. “Do these companies open up all the suitcases, take out the valuables, jewellery, cash and expensive bags and shoes – and then top them up with other people’s bits?” she asked.
Lucia closed by conceding: “I’ve listed everything sellable on Vinted, but I’m not quite sure I’ll make back my £130.”
Writing in resposne, one person claimed: “I work for an airline, they are absolutely opened and searched to find any possible items that link the owner. It’s important to know exactly what’s in your bag, if the tag rips off they catalogue the internal items and look for someone to report the same items as missing. It takes months before they finally decided to auction it away.”
Whilst a second person pointed out: “The problem with all these mystery luggage pieces, parcel or whatever there is, is that if the original owner didn’t claim it, the value of its contents obviously wasn’t worth the effort.”