Nashville Woman’s Bag Gets Lost On United Flight. Then It Arrives Days Later—But Something Precious Is Missing

A frequent flier says that she’s not generally the type to call out companies over negative experiences. But now she says something that happened on a United Airlines flight has inspired her to take her story public.

Daniela Howard (@daniela.howard), a frequent traveler from Nashville, Tennessee, recently flew from Switzerland to the United States. Her original flight was canceled, so she ended up on a different flight. When she got to the baggage claim in the states, though, her luggage wasn’t there.

“ Four days later, I still don’t have my bag,” Howard explains in her video. “I call them, I’m like, ‘Hey, where’s my bag? What’s happening? Can you track it for me?’ They actually put the wrong baggage tag, like serial number thing on my bag or on my case originally, so I was not receiving updates as to when my bag was going to arrive at my house.” 

It took days for her bags to arrive, Howard says. As she was taking stock of her belongings, she claims that she realized multiple heirloom pieces of jewelry were missing. Howard believes that the items must’ve been taken or lost in airport security in Switzerland.

How Did Howard’s Items Go Missing?

When Howard originally landed in Dallas, Texas, and realized her bag was missing, she didn’t think much of it other than as an inconvenience. She left expecting to get her bag back without further issue.

When it didn’t arrive, she contacted United. A representative named Debbie, who she called a sweet woman, told her that her baggage was going to be delivered directly to her home. She says she was relieved—until she started going through it.

“ My jewelry case is not in there. My jewelry case that had several family heirloom pieces is not in my bag,” Howard said. “ I usually never put my jewelry in my suitcase because of this. But the… one time I put it in there, it’s gone missing.” 

Howard started calling everyone she could think of to get her jewelry back—she made calls to  United Airlines, United’s Baggage Department, the United Help Department, FedEx, and the Zurich Airport. She had absolutely no luck finding her items. 

‘[I’ve] spoken to so many people spent countless hours trying to resolve this for myself because they’re not gonna help me, and now I just feel like I’m at my wit’s end. I don’t know what else to do,” Howard said.

By this point, Howard says she was convinced that her jewelry had been stolen. She filed claims for each of the pieces, but it was difficult to quantify the values, as these were priceless family heirlooms.

Is It Safe To Put Expensive Items In Checked Luggage?

While the vast majority of checked luggage shows up at baggage claim without anything missing or damaged, there are exceptions. That’s why many travelers keep precious items like family heirlooms in their carry-on.

Commenters agreed with this rule of thumb. Many suggested that Howard’s experience is a lesson to never put valuable possessions in checked luggage.

They advised her to contact the authorities and make an official report. “I’d make a police report. If you have any pictures of the jewelry I’d put that in file too. The police [have the] authority to pull camera footage,” one said. 

If items in your checked luggage go missing, Tripit recommends filing a claim with the airline and possibly renters’, travelers’, or homeowners’ insurance. Your insurance policy may cover the monetary value of items lost or stolen during travel. Filing an insurance claim usually requires some documentation, such as a claim with the airline or a police report.

Before flying, Tripit also recommends documenting every item inside checked luggage. Taking a quick photo of everything in your suitcase can help if you have to file a claim with the airline or police reports.

We’ve reached out to Howard via email and TikTok direct message and United via email. We’ll let you know if either party responds.

@daniela.howard Has this happened to anyone else? What did you do? @United Airlines @FedEx @Zurich Airport #unitedairlines #stolen #jewelry #theft #tsa ♬ original sound – DANIELA