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A Spirit Airlines passenger arrived at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) recently and waited for her checked bag to arrive. An employee of a retail store in the airport snagged her bag before she could retrieve it and stole her laptop and other items from it. He was caught on camera and now faces felony charges.
Paola Garcia was forced to gate check her bag before her Spirit flight. She didn’t specify if this was because she arrived late or if her bag was over the allowed carry-on size by the low-cost carrier. Her pink, hard-shell suitcase was checked and for some reason she left her laptop inside (always remove your computer, phone, keys, medicines, and lithium batteries, folks).
When she got to Carousel 4 at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) her suitcase did not appear. Along with the suitcase, she lost a MacBook, two Apple watches, an iPad, jewelry, and designer clothing. Again, I’m not sure why she would leave all of these valuable items inside, but she left the airport. Spirit told her that her suitcase had been located and would be sent to her. She received it, but without her valuables. The next morning she found one of her Apple watches pinging on her phone. She called 911 and gave them the location. Then, she went to the address her iPhone supplied.
According to Garcia, there were suitcases all over the place at the residence. Police were there and told her that she should not have come. A Broward Sheriff’s Office detective put the address into an internal airport database and found 29-year-old Junior Bazile was a resident (he also worked for a retail store at the airport).
While Bazile had already gotten rid of the items by the time he was confronted by authorities, surveillance footage from his employer shows him taking the items out of the baggage and then putting the suitcase in a clear plastic bag. He was arrested and charged with grand theft.
Spirit Airlines gave a statement to WPLG Local 10. It reads:
We issued a reimbursement check to the guest as a courtesy, even though we are not currently aware of any evidence that any Spirit employee was involved. We take any allegation of this nature seriously, and we are investigating.”
Luckily, Garcia was compensated for her stolen items, but this is another lesson in not checking valuable items.
Anthony’s Take: I’m not sure that Spirit Airlines reimbursing the passenger was really a courtesy, but it’s good that they did and that she will be able to replace her things. It also seems that there was a pattern of behavior stopped with this bust. You should feel secure in checking bags and I’m glad that this woman was so tenacious.
(Image Credits: WPLG Local 10.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
3 comments
I was seated in a bulkhead seat and there was no remaining room for my very small carry-on in the small commuter plane from Boston to Montreal. I had put my watch in the bag to clear security and walked right on the plane, where my bag was taken to be put underneath. Of course the watch was gone when I got the bag on the jetway upon arrival. I am always so careful not to check bags with valuables. I’m sure this lady thought she was carrying on and the bag was taken.
On May 18 I left a small pack pack in a taxi at Port Everglades in Ft Lauderdale. Has some sunglasses, $20 , a piece of ID and a few other small items. My air tag tracked it back and forth from FLL airport for about a week. Now it is, presumably, sitting at the cab drivers house … wish he would turn it into the police.
Had a similar incident with Air France in April.My checked bag missed my connection in Paris but was sent on the next flight. Air France recorded it being loaded on the plane but never received in Madrid. I had 2 trackers inside, an Apple tag and a Samsung, and saw it arrived but then left the airport. I used these to locate the bag the next day. It was dumped on a street in a residential area, cut open, everything inside gone except the Apple tag which was still hidden. Air France kept referring to it as ‘delayed’ despite me sending photos, a police report and screenshots of the tracking info. I am still fighting with them for compensation.