Luggage lost on American Airlines flight found in Hollywood homeless encampment

(KTLA) - A Southern California woman whose luggage went missing after an American Airlines flight into Hollywood Burbank Airport says she later found her bag in a Hollywood homeless encampment.

Aunny Grace said that after her May 29 American Airlines flight in Dallas, Texas, was canceled, she flew into Burbank on a different flight without her luggage.  

“Five days later, my luggage shows up at Burbank on a Sunday night,” she explained. “On Monday morning, I get a call from a carrier company that says they’ll have my luggage dropped off at my house.”  

However, Grace had an Apple AirTag inside her bag and could see that it was not being delivered to her home. Using the GPS tracker, she went to the area of Sunset Boulevard and Western Avenue to find her luggage.  

“When I arrived, my bag had slowly made its way down to Santa Monica and Western, and that is when I found my stuff, not my suitcase, but particles of my stuff in a homeless man’s shopping cart,” Grace said. “You kind of get to a point where you’re looking around the encampment and think, ‘I don’t even want my stuff back.’ I had toiletry bags that were dumped upside down. I had makeup bags. All the makeup was gone."

She said she has no idea how her bag ended up at the homeless encampment but told Nexstar's KTLA that she did see what appeared to be a lot of other stolen luggage in the area.  

“That day, I saw dozens of suitcases, brand new suitcases, name brand suitcases strewn across Western and Sunset,” Grace said. “Rows and rows of suitcases, bicycles, baby strollers with airline tags on them everywhere.”  

Now she’s demanding answers from American Airlines, filing a claim with the airline and reporting it to the police department. She has also hired an attorney.

Grace said the Burbank Airport area where the delayed luggage is stored is not secured and some bags are placed on the curb outside the terminal.  

“They showed me pictures of how American Airlines sets out luggage for people to pick up, but I don’t put this on the homeless people,” she said. “I put this on the airline. American Airlines is responsible for my bag that they practically force you to check at the gate. This is on them.”  

While she recovered a few personal items from her luggage, she says the things 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.