CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is on the lookout for a woman allegedly stealing luggage at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
After a long trip out west with her family, Erin Hager got caught up in a game of finders keepers. But it's a game that she didn't want to play.
"They got their luggage stolen from the carousel," Hager said.
She was getting off of her flight due to a medical issue. Hager noted the bags were at baggage claim longer than she would have liked.
But when she got there, her mind was racing.
"It wasn’t there," she said. "Maybe it didn’t make it, maybe it got lost in translation, maybe it would get there at some point."
But after realizing her bags likely weren't going to show up on the carousel, Hager went up to Spirit Airlines and asked for help.
"Of course, they weren’t helpful," Hager said. "And by the time we finally got to talk to somebody, they had this little card that said 'is it lost, did it not drop' -- there is no option for I don’t know.”
Hager then got CMPD involved and filed a report. Later, the department shared photos from surveillance cameras showing a woman with the same luggage walking out of the airport and placing them into a car.
But getting further action to be taken was another unwanted game for Hager.
"The police officer, after multiple conversations with Spirit -- they say no, they rent the carousel, it’s their responsibility until that person gets it back," she said.
Airport officials directed us back to CMPD, who told Hager it's the airline's job. WCNC Charlotte reached out to Spirit Airlines and got this statement back:
The baggage carousel we use at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) is in a public area of the airport and is shared with other airlines. Questions regarding airport security measures should be directed to CLT.
Is there a solution to at least get the luggage back if it's stolen? Travel experts like those at Gear Patrol say the best thing you can do is put a tracker like an AirTag in your luggage so you can watch your bag's location in real-time and share the location data with law enforcement.
Contact Austin Walker at awalker@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.