Woman buys Heathrow Airport lost luggage for £130 and is left baffled by contents

A woman who forked out £130 for lost luggage from Heathrow Airport has revealed the contents of her mystery purchase on social media. While losing possessions is a traveller's nightmare, typically these items are eventually returned to their owners. But sometimes, bags remain unclaimed and after several months, airports dispose of them through auction houses.

In the UK, such unclaimed baggage is put up for sale in online auctions by companies like Mulberry Bank, BCVA, and Greasby's, with shipping options available for buyers. These lots usually fetch between £15 to £80, plus VAT and other additional fees. Lucia, a thrifty shopper, took a gamble hoping to profit from another's misfortune.

She described the suitcase she bought as having a "quite stale" odour and upon opening it, she shared on TikTok: "I unwrapped the suitcase and discovered it was battered with a broken handle. I was bit nervous due to the odd smell, thinking it would be full of a man's dirty pants and socks."

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To Lucia's surprise, however, the luggage appeared to have previously belonged to a Chinese woman. "The first things that fell out were two books [in Chinese] and period pads," she recounted.

Certain there were no identifying tags to return the luggage to its owner, Lucia pressed on with her exploration.

"There was no purse or identification inside, however, there was a Mexican coin to the value of around 8p - so I did recoup some of the money back," she quipped. Lucia then went in search of any clothing she deemed worthy of trying to sell on Vinted.

After her video racked up an astonishing nine million views, she quickly came back with a follow-up video showcasing her further delve into the clothing.

"The first thing that struck me is that the contents of this suitcase doesn't make sense," Lucia said. "There's no toiletries, no basics, and no underwear that you would need for a trip away."

Lucia then highlighted the best finds from her purchase - a "cheeky" Crewcuts skirt still sporting a $49.50 price tag, followed by a "cute" white Abercrombie & Fitch jacket and "one random man's" unworn size 8 shoes.

Meanwhile, a number of "weird" items also grabbed her attention, including shorts for a seven-to-eight-year old boy, an XXL teal dress, and a pair of "rusty, grotty" nail clippers.

The eclectic mix led Lucia to wonder if auction staff sift through such luggage items to remove anything valuable before they're sold off. "Do these companies open up all the suitcases, take out the valuables, jewellery, cash and expensive bags and shoes - and then top them up with other people's bits?" she queried.

Lucia concluded by admitting: "I've listed everything sellable on Vinted, but I'm not quite sure I'll make back my £130."

One individual responded with an explanation: "I work for an airline, they are absolutely opened and searched to find any possible items that link the owner. It's important to know exactly what's in your bag, if the tag rips off they catalogue the internal items and look for someone to report the same items as missing. It takes months before they finally decided to auction it away."

Whilst a second person highlighted: "The problem with all these mystery luggage pieces, parcel or whatever there is, is that if the original owner didn't claim it, the value of its contents obviously wasn't worth the effort."