Advertisement

Dramatic final twist after Air New Zealand lost luggage is returned home

One airline passenger faced the dreaded reality we all hope to avoid during her round the world trip.

Megan Stephens lost her luggage during her flight from Auckland to Sydney but pressed on with her travels, flying on to San Francisco with her partner despite now only being armed with one bag each of essentials.

Air New Zealand passenger and her partner.
Air New Zealand passenger Megan Stephens and her partner set off on a round the world trip. Source: Facebook / Megan Stephens

The pair travelled from San Francisco to Frankfurt, before moving on to Paris, and despite speaking with staff at each city's airport, they were no further forward in retrieving their bags.

“I don’t think anyone knew what was going on. Nobody could tell us where anything was," Ms Stephens told Stuff.

While in Paris, Ms Stephens received the call she'd been waiting for when staff informed her the lost luggage was at the airport waiting for them. The pair dashed over to retrieve their items but were left empty-handed again when only their hand luggage was received, with the whereabouts of their large suitcases still unknown. The search continued.

After more travel and unsuccessful attempts to locate their bags, Ms Stephens was finally informed her large suitcases were located back in New Zealand. Communicating with Air New Zealand, it was decided the luggage would be couriered to her residential address, before she decided last minute to collect her luggage instead in attempt to prevent any further delay.

Lost luggage becomes stolen luggage

In an unexpected twist, Ms Stephen's received a text message from her flatmate days later informing her that her van parked at her home had been broken into.

Ms Stephens noticed a shirt in the picture that she had packed in her suitcase and asked her flatmate to search for it. Source: Stuff
Ms Stephens noticed a shirt in the picture that she had packed in her suitcase and asked her flatmate to search for her case. Source: Stuff

When looking at the photo Ms Stephens did a double take, after noticing an item of clothing she had packed in her suitcase.

"Hold up, that's my shirt," she reportedly said, and her flatmate went to investigate and found the suitcase halfway down the road. It turns out the lost suitcase had been couriered to Ms Stephens' home and was caught up in the burglary.

It is reported that Ms Stephens is now asking for compensation for the debacle but Air New Zealand believe they are not liable.

A spokesperson from the airline told Yahoo News Australia they had located the lost luggage in the "spirit of helping" as Ms Stephens had travelled on a codeshare flight from Auckland to Sydney, making the lost luggage not their responsibility.

As Ms Stephens had authorised the airline to send the luggage to her home, this was carried out prior to her second email asking instead to collect.

"The courier would not leave the bag unattended at the address unless the passenger has given authorisation, which this customer previously had," the Air New Zealand spokesperson said.

"We appreciate the burglary would be upsetting for any customer, and our teams did all they could to help reunite the bag with the customer."

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.