A Southern California woman who lost her luggage after an American Airlines flight to Hollywood Burbank Airport said she later found her bag at a homeless encampment in Hollywood.
Oni Grace said that after her American Airlines flight was canceled on May 29 in Dallas, Texas, she later traveled to Burbank on a different flight without her luggage.
“Five days later, my luggage arrived in Burbank on Sunday night,” she explained. “On Monday morning, I received a phone call from a moving company telling me that they would deliver my luggage to my house.”
However, Grace had an Apple AirTag inside her bag, and she could see that it had not been delivered to her home. Using a GPS tracker, she went to the area of Sunset Boulevard and Western Avenue to find her belongings.
“When I arrived, my bag had slowly made its way to Santa Monica and Western, and that’s when I found my stuff, not my bag, but particles of my stuff in a homeless man’s shopping cart,” Grace said. “You get to a point where you look around at camp and think, ‘I don’t even want my stuff back.’ I had toiletry bags that were thrown upside down. I had makeup bags. All the makeup was gone.”
She said she had no idea how her bag got to the homeless encampment, but she told KTLA’s Sandra Mitchell she saw what appeared to be a lot of other stolen luggage in the area.
“That day I saw dozens of suitcases, brand new suitcases, and brand name suitcases scattered all over the Western and Sunset area,” Grace said. “Rows and rows of airline-branded suitcases, bikes and strollers everywhere.”
She is now demanding answers from American Airlines, filing a complaint with the airline and reporting the matter to the police department. She also hired a lawyer.
Grace says the area of Burbank Airport where delayed luggage is stored is not secured and some bags are placed on the sidewalk outside the terminal.
“They showed me pictures of how American Airlines prepares luggage for people to take, but I don’t put it on the homeless,” she said. “I put this on the airline. American Airlines is responsible for my bag practically forcing you to check it at the gate. That’s on them.”
Although she was able to recover some personal items from her luggage, she says the items she lost, including medical equipment related to her job, were worth $6,000.
So far, according to Grace, American Airlines has offered her $1,700 for her lost luggage.