Woman warns of common mistake after her suitcase ended up in the wrong country
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Craig Hastings
A woman who jetted off for some sun in Mexico with her mother learnt an important travel lesson the hard way.
While it may be extremely fun, there's no doubt travelling can be a stressful experience.
Whether it be the dreaded security checks, or the constant checking to see if your passport hasn't grown legs and jumped out your bag, it can be tense.
Another worry comes when you arrive at the final destination and stand by the baggage carousel to see if your checked-in luggage has arrived safe and sound.
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Jill Schildhouse, from Arizona, shared in a first-person piece for Business Insider recently that after gracing Mexican soil in Puerto Vallarta, her mother's luggage was nowhere to be seen.
While Jill spotted her bags on the carousel straight away, her mom's obvious-to-spot pink luggage was nowhere to be seen.
"After the carousel stopped, an airport employee directed us to the lost luggage counter, where we hoped for a quick resolution," Jill wrote.
"Instead, we were presented with an enormous black suitcase with my mom's luggage tickets attached. Confused, we opened it to find clothes and belongings that definitely weren't hers.
"At that moment, it was clear something had gone very, very wrong."
The bag had not even arrived in Mexico and was instead taking a vacation without its owner in a completely different country.
As Jill and her mother filed the 'mishandled item report', the pair noticed something not quite right.
Jill added in the Business Insider piece: "Once I reached into my purse and pulled out the luggage-tag stickers the Phoenix-based crew at American Airlines had handed me — the papers I mindlessly stuff into my bag on every trip without a glance — I realized the mistake.
"My mom's sticker didn't have her name on it at all. Instead, it bore a completely different one with a destination that made my stomach drop: Delhi."
So, there must have been some mix up when checking in, and Jill's mother had ended up with the luggage belonging to a traveler heading for Delhi.
While it was a bit of a pain, Jill admitted the whole event has taught her a travel lesson.
"Always check the luggage stickers the airline hands you before walking away from the counter," Jill said.
The writer's mother was eventually reunited with her lost luggage, while American Airlines paid for clothes that meant she could enjoy the sun and many cocktails in the Mexican sun.