A woman who splashed out £130 on unclaimed luggage from London Heathrow has revealed on social media the unexpected assortment of items from her mystery purchase.
British content creator Lucia, who goes by @luciasland on TikTok, shared the moment she ‘unboxed’ the sealed suitcase after purchasing it from an auction house that sells lost luggage from the bustling UK airport.
In 2022, almost 22 million bags were misplaced globally at airports due to factors such as transfers, ticketing errors, bag switches, security concerns and customs – though almost 92 per cent of lost luggage were eventually reunited with their owners.
However, if a bag goes unclaimed for three months, some airports choose to send them to third parties or auctions, where they’re sold to buyers who are often unaware of their contents until they’ve purchased and opened them.
In a video shared to her TikTok page, Lucia revealed she’d paid £129.99 for the suitcase – which had been shipped to her house with missing zip handles and no lock attached.
As she opened up the suitcase, she described the aroma as ‘quite stale’ and joked that she expected it to be ‘full of a man’s dirty pants and socks’.
However, the content creator was left even more stunned – and somewhat disappointed – after uncovering a rather unremarkable mix of items rather than the ‘cash and Hermès bags’ she’d initially hoped for.
As she displayed her haul to the camera, she worked out that the suitcase may have belonged to a young girl from China.
British content creator Lucia, who goes by @luciasland on TikTok , shared the moment she ‘unboxed’ the sealed suitcase after purchasing it from an auction house that sells lost luggage from Heathrow airport
Lucia held up two Cantonese books, along with menstrual products, a pile of modest clothes and accessories, a plastic tiara and a Brazilian 1 Real coin – the equivalent of 14p, which she joked would help her ‘recoup’ the money back.
Undeterred, she continued to rummage through the luggage to snap up anything she could sell on Vinted, and was pleased to come across a skirt with its $49.50 tag still attached.
A number of other random items she’d discovered were a men’s pair of shoes in a size eight, a pair of shorts that may have belonged to a ‘seven or eight-year-old boy’, and a pair of nail clippers.
As Lucia concluded the video, she posed a curious question to her followers, asking: ‘Does the company I bought the case from open all the suitcases take out all valuable jewellery, any cash or expensive bags and top them up with other people’s bits?’
Hundreds of viewers chimed in with their thoughts, with many suggesting the airport removes items of high value before selling each suitcase on.
One person wrote: ‘100 per cent they take the valuables out. None of them ever have locks on. Same as the Amazon unclaimed packages.’
Another said, ‘They’re adding random stuff to luggage,’ while a third commented, ‘Bags are X-rayed before being sold and high value items are removed.’
One person shared: ‘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.’
The content creator was left stunned – and somewhat disappointed – after uncovering a rather unremarkable mix of items rather than ‘cash and Hermès bags’ she’d initially hoped for
Hundreds of viewers chimed in with their thoughts, with many suggesting the airport removes items of high value before selling each suitcase on
Another viewer joked: ‘I imagined someone buying my suitcase and opening it just to see that it’s just filled with cheese and tomato paste I tried to bring from my village in Turkiye.’
It comes as a travel insurance expert at MoneySuperMarket, has shared her top tips from ensuring your luggage doesn’t go astray.
Firstly, and even before stepping foot onboard a flight, Alicia advises travellers to be mindful of the specifics of their baggage insurance.
She insists that most travel insurance is likely to include ‘baggage cover as standard’, it is important to look into the specifics of what that coverage provides, with the travel expert recommending extra cover for those travelling with high-value belongings.
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