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Did your luggage really get “lost”…or was it mishandled?

“And are you paying extra for this?” Leaked footage shows airport luggage being thrown away like trash, and the internet is reacting to it

For frequent flyers, damaged luggage is not uncommon. Broken wheels, cracked shells, missing locks, or items that have mysteriously disappeared, well, this is a normal trip for many as it is. While airlines often attribute such issues to “handling errors” or “transit damage,” a video that has now gone viral has travelers wondering what really happens to their luggage once it disappears behind airport doors.

The clip, which has been shared widely online, claims to show footage from the baggage room at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. In it, workers appear to forcefully throw bags onto the conveyor belt, as the bags are thrown, dropped and “released” without hesitation.

The video reads: “Leaked footage from O’Hare Airport’s baggage room – this is what they do to your luggage when you’re not looking at it”

The bags are being released at full force like garbage.

No hesitation. No care. Just a straight effect.

This is the same bag you trust with everything you pack… thrown away just like that.

Airlines still charge you extra for this.

This is not a mistake.

It’s routine.

So, when your bag shows up broken open, missing, or completely destroyed… was it ever “lost”… or was it treated that way all the time?

How many times has your bag been handled this way?”

The footage sparked tension online, with many users saying it confirmed their worst suspicions about luggage handling. “It’s really hard to break two wheels of a Rimowa hard case, but somehow it happened on my last long trip and now that I see it it makes sense,” says one user.

Another said: “It’s like I work for a certain flooring company. Those who said ‘fragile’ always seem to get treated worse, I swear.”

I was the only one who cared about the late loading process just to make sure the packages were not full of holes, when they got to me. We all had tape guns! But no one wants to use it.”

Another layer to the conversation is cost. Many airlines charge extra for checked baggage, sometimes significantly, raising questions about the level of service travelers should expect in return. What makes a video particularly compelling is how relevant it is to the topic. Almost every traveler has a story – a bag arriving damaged, delayed, or worse. “So this is exactly what the $40 baggage fee funds? Good to know! It’s weird how they impose strict weight restrictions on us just to launch our bags into the abyss anyway. Makes me want to just get my clothes from FedEx. What’s the worst damage your luggage has ever had?”

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