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  • 2022-06-21 (xsd:date)
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  • Is the 'Never Touch Anyone's Luggage' on Airplane Story Real? (en)
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  • In June 2022, readers inquired about Facebook posts that told the story of an older lady who asked a female traveler for help to load her luggage in an overhead storage compartment while boarding an airplane headed for Dubai International Airport (DXB). The story, which had been copied and pasted numerous times on Facebook since at least August 2021, sometimes began with the words, Beware as the sky’s open for travel. Older posts that shared the same story started with the sentence, Luggage experience in a plane. Basically, the story's purpose was that of a cautionary tale to warn travelers against touching other people's luggage in airports and on airplanes. Fingerprints left on baggage could supposedly implicate travelers in other people's crimes, the posts claimed. According to the story, which was told from the young female traveler's perspective, a gentleman was the person who helped the older lady load her bag in overhead storage. Later, after landing in Dubai, it was revealed that the older lady had brought drugs in her luggage. The older lady claimed to airport police that the female traveler was her daughter, supposedly as a way of implicating her in the crime, as if the younger woman had stashed her own drugs in her mother's baggage. The gentleman from earlier then stepped forward to defend the female traveler from the older lady, the story said. This story bore striking similarities to other purported schemes we reported on from past decades, which we ended up tagging with our Legend rating. Such ruses often supposedly involved a kind stranger purportedly taking advantage of the person telling the story. This claim may also end up with a Legend rating. However, first, in order to cover all of our bases, we reached out to the media contacts at the Dubai International Airport. We asked if the story of the older lady with drugs in her luggage who claimed the illegal items belonged to her daughter happened to ring any bells. We await their response and will update this story's rating soon. The earliest posting of the story that we could find was from Aug. 26, 2021. It was posted on the Inspiration life quotes, sayings, and lessons Facebook page. The story also previously went viral as a Twitter thread in October 2021. The cautionary tale about touching other people's luggage on airplanes and in airports went like this: Air travelers who frequently fly the friendly skies have likely heard many times various airport announcements that ask passengers to not agree to watch or handle other people's luggage. The official @AskTSA Twitter account for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration once tweeted, Passengers should maintain control over their own items and property at all times. We were unable to find any specific advice regarding helping other passengers to load their luggage in overhead storage compartments. This story will soon be updated with a more firm rating. (en)
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