Someone took my bag at airport security or on a train
When someone accidentally or intentionally takes your bag at a security checkpoint or train station, you are left stranded without identification, cash, or electronics. Even when tracking devices like AirTags show where the luggage is traveling, victims find it nearly impossible to get meaningful help from airlines, stations, or security managers to recover their belongings.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Tracking the luggage using location-sharing apps like Apple Find My
- 2Filing police reports with local authorities
- 3Leveraging personal networks, WhatsApp groups, and contacts to find local assistance
- 4Filing insurance claims and assuming the items are lost
- 5Using AirTags to track luggage location
- 6Using a cable lock looped around multiple handles and secured to the rack
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“We were on a OuiGo train from Paris to Strasbourg and had our large bags stowed by the doors, my backpack on the floor at my feet, spouse’s backpack directly overhead.”source ↗
“Stopped at a station and two guys in their 20s got on, one sat behind, one in front, enough of a distraction that apparently the backpack was taken without us noticing.”source ↗
“It has an AirTag and the backpack is moving about northern France…but we have no way of hunting it down at this point.”source ↗
“No cash and no passports, but an external hard drive that had 1000s of travel photos and trip journals on it is now gone.”source ↗
“In the security check area, someone took my cabin luggage and left theirs behind.”source ↗
“Using my Find My app I can see the cabin bag is somewhere in Kenya.”source ↗
“That cabin bag is my life. It has a folder containing all my important documents and my laptop, on which some important files are not backed up.”source ↗
“I'm unsure what my next steps should be. I've raised a complaint with Heathrow airport but it seems the same security managers will handle it and I don't have much hope.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 3What to do when the airline loses your checked luggage
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- 3What to do when mailed checks are stolen and cashed
- 5Tenant taking other people's packages in the building
- 3How to set up MFA backup methods so you don't get locked out