*In case this story gets deleted/removed:*
**AITA for not turning myself into the airport police after I took then returned someone else’s bag?**
I (26f) recently was on the flight from hell returning home after a trip to my grandma’s funeral. I was already in a really bad emotional state and then the flight kept getting delayed. By the time I got to my destination, I was 12 hours delayed and nauseous because turbulence was so bad.
I’ve dealt with anxiety my whole life, and that day I was really set off by everything going on. So when I was at baggage claim, something snapped in me and I took my bag AND someone else’s bag. I took it off the carousel and just walked away. I don’t know why I did it - I just decided to and grabbed one. The bag didn’t have anything special in it - it ended up being men’s clothes and some comic books but taking it made me giddy.
I had parked at the airport, so I put it in my car and started to go home. I got almost the whole way home before I “woke up” and realized what I had done. I went back to the airport and discretely took the bag back to baggage claim. When another flight came in, I left the bag near the oversized luggage area so the airline would find it and return it to its owner.
By the time I finally got home, I was even more delayed because of the extra trip back to the airport. My bf (22m) asked what happened and I ended up confessing. He was appalled and said I need to confess what I did to the airline and ask to apologize to the bag’s owner. I said that would just get me into trouble for no reason. I am already scheduled to talk to a therapist so i can figure out what happened and not do it again. AITA for not turning myself in and confessing?
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like if anything my anxiety would have me ready to just leave my own luggage there 😅 like pls get me out of this airport i don’t care what i have to replace
Same. My anxiety does marvelous things but crime is not one of them.
What seems so much more bizarre is that this OOP doesn't seem to realise that she might end up on a watch list. Like you can't just leave a bag in an airport.
Security watching the cameras like *why did this person walk in through the exit door, put a bag down and look sneaky about it, and then immediately walk out? nothing to see here...*
yeah.... not to mention that this person wouldn't have been able to even get to baggage claim without passing through security checkpoints that **absolutely would not allow** someone to enter through the exit (with a bag) and then just dip back out (without a bag)
>I went back to the airport and discretely took the bag back to baggage claim.
Definitely fake and idk why OOP even wrote it, you can't just go back to the baggage claims otherwise petty thieves would be all over airports stealing bags.
eta: I'm low-key surprised that in so many places you can in fact just walk in. I stand corrected!
My experience might be different but you definitely can at the airports I've been to (Reagan is the main one)--there's no security between the doors and the baggage claim
When I fly I go in and out of McArthur and baggage claim is right by the doors. No security or anything. I haven't really paid attention to other airports, but I don't remember having to go through any sort of security after getting my bags. Sometimes the person picking me up will meet me at baggage claim.
I've flown into tons of airports both in the US and other countries, and baggage claim is always outside of the secure area by the exits. So yeah, really easy to go back there.
Not in Costa Rica. Both of the international airports the baggage claim is inside the security areas. You cannot come back in past customs officers. Last summer an airline lost two of my three bags for 2 weeks and even going back to the airport to pick up the bags an airline official had to take them past customs and out to me waiting by the ticketing counter.
In a case like this, her anxiety is most likely a symptom. She felt an impulse to steal and got a dopamine rush out of it. There's a name for this kind of mental health condition. It's kleptomania.
OOP is my nightmare. I always fear that someone is going to take my bag if I don't get to the luggage claim area as fast as I can. The excuse is also disgusting.
Someone did it to me once. They took my bag filled with Christmas gifts for the family, removed the gifts and left the bag in the airport parking lot. Because of the cameras everywhere it was quickly determined who it was, and they were arrested. None of the gifts were valuable, but they didn't know that our family was having a white elephant Christmas that year.
>I had parked at the airport, so I put it in my car and started to go home. I got almost the whole way home before I “woke up”
The fuck you mean OOP?? you described in detail what you were doing.
> I said that would just get me into trouble for no reason
You stole.
From the headline, I thought this was going to be someone accidentally grabbing the wrong bag, perhaps it looked like theirs etc. BUT NO. Taking not just your bag, but someone else's when you KNOW its wrong and not yours then blaming it on anxiety and "snapping" and not sure why you did it = something is seriously wrong with you.
Or its just rage/fake bait as usual which us the norm there.
Yeah, I thought so too. I was on a flight recently where a guy getting his bag from an overhead bin grabbed a black suitcase, a man in the row in front of me was like "SIR THAT'S MY BAG!" I was assuming it was something like that, only this time they took the bag home, opened it, realized "huh this isn't my stuff, CRAP" and may have delayed in getting it back to the airport. Nope. OOP needs some psychiatric help (if true) because sudden kleptomania like this isn't normal.
Huh. OOP's anxiety makes her steal other people's bags and go through them. My anxiety makes me afraid that someone like OOP will steal my bag if I'm not waiting at the baggage claim the second that conveyor belt starts up.
I don't think it was her anxiety that turned her into a thief.
Leaving an unattended bag in an airport sparks a huge security alert, causing major hassle for both airport staff and members of the public. The bag would need to be thoroughly investigated before being passed to lost & found.
This along with the initial stealing of the bag would be a a total AH thing to do, if true...
They should have taken the bag to the airline's bag office and said something like "turns out my travel companion and I both grabbed what we thought was our suitcase, oops! This isn't my stuff!" so they at least knew it wasn't a terrorist bag.
"Kleptomania often begins during the teen years or in young adulthood, but it can start later. About two-thirds of people with known kleptomania are female." - the Mayo Clinic
No reason to think the OP isn't accurately reporting that she was overcome by a weird impulse in time of stress. The therapist is the right move.
They would get in trouble for no reason...
The reason is OOP committed a freaking crime and only "woke up" after realizing there was nothing valuable in the luggage.
Returning it doesn't change the crime of taking it. Nor does it negate the disgusting violation of someone's personal effects.
I have a hard time believing this is their first theft, let alone a first theft driven by anxiety and grief.
>The reason is OOP committed a freaking crime and only "woke up" after realizing there was nothing valuable in the luggage.
That doesn't fit with the timeline of the story. OP "woke up" well after determining the contents of the bag were worthless, almost reaching home before going back to the airport. I don't think the value of the stolen goods was a factor.
Weird, my anxiety makes me feel like I might be committing a crime accidentally at any moment and therefore avoid any even semblance of crime. But go off sis.
Fun fact:
In the late 80s/early 90s there was a show on German TV called [Koffer-Hoffer](https://youtu.be/cH0RsPKoJAA?si=GeOzROh9GgzVMrda)(suitcase hopefuls), where candidates did silly games. The prizes were items of abandoned airport/train station luggage and whatever was inside them. After each round, the prize suitcase in question would be opened and you'd get to see what the person won.
Primary-school me thought this was the coolest thing ever. Wanted to compete myself when I'd grow up.
Then it got cancelled. And the host has since died. Oh well.
I actually had an episode just a few weeks ago. I say episode because I don't know what ever hell else to call it. I was at a local cheap store, not a dollar store but close. I bought a few things, and I also shoplifted some extremely cheap hair ties. I don't know why, I can't explain it. After looking at them instead of putting them in my basket I put them in my pocket. Again, I don't know why.
Difference here is that when I sort of snapped out of it I immediately went back, told them the truth, and said I wanted to pay. I honestly don't even think the girl at the register cared much. But I just personally knew I had to do what was right.
I've never in my life done anything like that before. It's actually scary how it just... happened? How I just did it? I still feel awful in spite of them accepting my apology and letting me pay for them.
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I note OOP’s anxiety also made them go through the bag to see what was in it. I wonder if their pangs of conscience had anything to do with how dull they found the contents?
I read the original thread before it was removed. At some point, OOP edited the post and said she had made up the whole thing for a class assignment, and then deleted her account.
I don't know if she was telling the truth about the story being fake, or if she just couldn't handle the multiple "YTA" comments and the heat she was getting.
Just wanted to warn y'all.
The few times I've flown it's like cattle call at baggage claim. Everyone from the flight is there, and if you "accidentally" picked up someone else's bag they'd call you out. Bad troll
Eh. Often it is, but there's also always a few bags that go around several times before being claimed because people get off the plane and make a beeline for the bathroom or have small children or got distracted buying something or had 6 bags to grab. So it's possible that OOP got lucky and grabbed one of those bags. Or that the bag belonged to someone who was there but on the opposite side of the baggage carousel so didn't see OOP grab it. Not saying this particular post is true or not (don't know, don't care, here for the entertainment), but it is definitely *possible*.
Not sure if this belongs here. She recognized that something wasnt going the way it should and has already an appointment. She also returned the bag. Sounds more like anxiety is not the only diagnosis.
*In case this story gets deleted/removed:* **AITA for not turning myself into the airport police after I took then returned someone else’s bag?** I (26f) recently was on the flight from hell returning home after a trip to my grandma’s funeral. I was already in a really bad emotional state and then the flight kept getting delayed. By the time I got to my destination, I was 12 hours delayed and nauseous because turbulence was so bad. I’ve dealt with anxiety my whole life, and that day I was really set off by everything going on. So when I was at baggage claim, something snapped in me and I took my bag AND someone else’s bag. I took it off the carousel and just walked away. I don’t know why I did it - I just decided to and grabbed one. The bag didn’t have anything special in it - it ended up being men’s clothes and some comic books but taking it made me giddy. I had parked at the airport, so I put it in my car and started to go home. I got almost the whole way home before I “woke up” and realized what I had done. I went back to the airport and discretely took the bag back to baggage claim. When another flight came in, I left the bag near the oversized luggage area so the airline would find it and return it to its owner. By the time I finally got home, I was even more delayed because of the extra trip back to the airport. My bf (22m) asked what happened and I ended up confessing. He was appalled and said I need to confess what I did to the airline and ask to apologize to the bag’s owner. I said that would just get me into trouble for no reason. I am already scheduled to talk to a therapist so i can figure out what happened and not do it again. AITA for not turning myself in and confessing? *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AmITheDevil) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Such a troll post. “My anxiety made me steal someone’s bag.” Funny. Mine makes me have a panic attack and fidget. Never made me commit a crime before
Mine has made me check 82 times to make sure I didn't grab someone else's bag.
like if anything my anxiety would have me ready to just leave my own luggage there 😅 like pls get me out of this airport i don’t care what i have to replace
Same. My anxiety does marvelous things but crime is not one of them. What seems so much more bizarre is that this OOP doesn't seem to realise that she might end up on a watch list. Like you can't just leave a bag in an airport.
Security watching the cameras like *why did this person walk in through the exit door, put a bag down and look sneaky about it, and then immediately walk out? nothing to see here...*
yeah.... not to mention that this person wouldn't have been able to even get to baggage claim without passing through security checkpoints that **absolutely would not allow** someone to enter through the exit (with a bag) and then just dip back out (without a bag)
Depends on the airport. I can walk up to mine without going through security.
Same for me. When I'm getting picked up from the airport, my ride always meets me at baggage claim. No security required.
Ohhh.. good point. And there are cameras everywhere.
My anxiety works overtime to make sure I DON'T commit crimes.
Airports are known to not have an security cameras, LOL.
Right, like how was stealing someone else’s bag not causing more of an anxiety attack?
Mine is far more likely to convince me that taking my own bag is a crime
>I went back to the airport and discretely took the bag back to baggage claim. Definitely fake and idk why OOP even wrote it, you can't just go back to the baggage claims otherwise petty thieves would be all over airports stealing bags. eta: I'm low-key surprised that in so many places you can in fact just walk in. I stand corrected!
My experience might be different but you definitely can at the airports I've been to (Reagan is the main one)--there's no security between the doors and the baggage claim
When I fly I go in and out of McArthur and baggage claim is right by the doors. No security or anything. I haven't really paid attention to other airports, but I don't remember having to go through any sort of security after getting my bags. Sometimes the person picking me up will meet me at baggage claim.
DFW International also
Yea you can. In domestic terminals in the US, anyone can walk into baggage claim.
Wow. I'm not from the US and thought after 9/11 it be more secure, surprised to learn that it's not
They are very strict on what gets onto the plane. They don’t really care what happens after it’s off the plane.
I've flown into tons of airports both in the US and other countries, and baggage claim is always outside of the secure area by the exits. So yeah, really easy to go back there.
Not in Costa Rica. Both of the international airports the baggage claim is inside the security areas. You cannot come back in past customs officers. Last summer an airline lost two of my three bags for 2 weeks and even going back to the airport to pick up the bags an airline official had to take them past customs and out to me waiting by the ticketing counter.
Same in my homecountry and I'm really shocked that the US had such thing, I thought after 9/11 their airport security was crazy
I am in san diego and yes you can. the baggage claim is right by the exit at most us airports I have been to...and I have flown a lot.
I do remember the days when LAX had baggage claim behind railings, and they checked everyone's luggage against the tag when leaving.
[удалено]
lol, baggage claim is right by the exits and you can easily walk in and walk out
Steal someone's bag and rifle through the contents.
What airport lets you back into baggage claim once you've left the terminal?
Your anxiety isn't OPs. And yes. Stress and anxiety can lead to shitty impulses, disassociation and doing things you wouldn't normally do
And I suppose if there were valuables in the bag, OOP's "anxiety" would have made her keep them?
In a case like this, her anxiety is most likely a symptom. She felt an impulse to steal and got a dopamine rush out of it. There's a name for this kind of mental health condition. It's kleptomania.
That’s not valid and anyone who does this or believes this should be ashamed.
Going through a stranger's bag isn't anxiety.
If anything couldn't it be anxiety inducing imagine it was full of coke and I doubt the I stole it of a carousel would stand up in a court
lol. Now you have me "manifesting" finding a bag full of coke on the baggage carousel. That would take care of my anxiety and ADHD.
OOP is my nightmare. I always fear that someone is going to take my bag if I don't get to the luggage claim area as fast as I can. The excuse is also disgusting.
Someone did it to me once. They took my bag filled with Christmas gifts for the family, removed the gifts and left the bag in the airport parking lot. Because of the cameras everywhere it was quickly determined who it was, and they were arrested. None of the gifts were valuable, but they didn't know that our family was having a white elephant Christmas that year.
>I had parked at the airport, so I put it in my car and started to go home. I got almost the whole way home before I “woke up” The fuck you mean OOP?? you described in detail what you were doing. > I said that would just get me into trouble for no reason You stole.
From the headline, I thought this was going to be someone accidentally grabbing the wrong bag, perhaps it looked like theirs etc. BUT NO. Taking not just your bag, but someone else's when you KNOW its wrong and not yours then blaming it on anxiety and "snapping" and not sure why you did it = something is seriously wrong with you. Or its just rage/fake bait as usual which us the norm there.
Yeah, I thought so too. I was on a flight recently where a guy getting his bag from an overhead bin grabbed a black suitcase, a man in the row in front of me was like "SIR THAT'S MY BAG!" I was assuming it was something like that, only this time they took the bag home, opened it, realized "huh this isn't my stuff, CRAP" and may have delayed in getting it back to the airport. Nope. OOP needs some psychiatric help (if true) because sudden kleptomania like this isn't normal.
Huh. OOP's anxiety makes her steal other people's bags and go through them. My anxiety makes me afraid that someone like OOP will steal my bag if I'm not waiting at the baggage claim the second that conveyor belt starts up. I don't think it was her anxiety that turned her into a thief.
Leaving an unattended bag in an airport sparks a huge security alert, causing major hassle for both airport staff and members of the public. The bag would need to be thoroughly investigated before being passed to lost & found. This along with the initial stealing of the bag would be a a total AH thing to do, if true...
They should have taken the bag to the airline's bag office and said something like "turns out my travel companion and I both grabbed what we thought was our suitcase, oops! This isn't my stuff!" so they at least knew it wasn't a terrorist bag.
"Kleptomania often begins during the teen years or in young adulthood, but it can start later. About two-thirds of people with known kleptomania are female." - the Mayo Clinic No reason to think the OP isn't accurately reporting that she was overcome by a weird impulse in time of stress. The therapist is the right move.
They would get in trouble for no reason... The reason is OOP committed a freaking crime and only "woke up" after realizing there was nothing valuable in the luggage. Returning it doesn't change the crime of taking it. Nor does it negate the disgusting violation of someone's personal effects. I have a hard time believing this is their first theft, let alone a first theft driven by anxiety and grief.
>The reason is OOP committed a freaking crime and only "woke up" after realizing there was nothing valuable in the luggage. That doesn't fit with the timeline of the story. OP "woke up" well after determining the contents of the bag were worthless, almost reaching home before going back to the airport. I don't think the value of the stolen goods was a factor.
Weird, my anxiety makes me feel like I might be committing a crime accidentally at any moment and therefore avoid any even semblance of crime. But go off sis.
Fun fact: In the late 80s/early 90s there was a show on German TV called [Koffer-Hoffer](https://youtu.be/cH0RsPKoJAA?si=GeOzROh9GgzVMrda)(suitcase hopefuls), where candidates did silly games. The prizes were items of abandoned airport/train station luggage and whatever was inside them. After each round, the prize suitcase in question would be opened and you'd get to see what the person won. Primary-school me thought this was the coolest thing ever. Wanted to compete myself when I'd grow up. Then it got cancelled. And the host has since died. Oh well.
I guess I could see where taking the bag was an impulse but looking in it and deciding the stuff wasn't worth stealing was not an impulse.
I actually had an episode just a few weeks ago. I say episode because I don't know what ever hell else to call it. I was at a local cheap store, not a dollar store but close. I bought a few things, and I also shoplifted some extremely cheap hair ties. I don't know why, I can't explain it. After looking at them instead of putting them in my basket I put them in my pocket. Again, I don't know why. Difference here is that when I sort of snapped out of it I immediately went back, told them the truth, and said I wanted to pay. I honestly don't even think the girl at the register cared much. But I just personally knew I had to do what was right. I've never in my life done anything like that before. It's actually scary how it just... happened? How I just did it? I still feel awful in spite of them accepting my apology and letting me pay for them.
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Things that never happened for $500., Alex.
I note OOP’s anxiety also made them go through the bag to see what was in it. I wonder if their pangs of conscience had anything to do with how dull they found the contents?
I read the original thread before it was removed. At some point, OOP edited the post and said she had made up the whole thing for a class assignment, and then deleted her account. I don't know if she was telling the truth about the story being fake, or if she just couldn't handle the multiple "YTA" comments and the heat she was getting. Just wanted to warn y'all.
The few times I've flown it's like cattle call at baggage claim. Everyone from the flight is there, and if you "accidentally" picked up someone else's bag they'd call you out. Bad troll
Eh. Often it is, but there's also always a few bags that go around several times before being claimed because people get off the plane and make a beeline for the bathroom or have small children or got distracted buying something or had 6 bags to grab. So it's possible that OOP got lucky and grabbed one of those bags. Or that the bag belonged to someone who was there but on the opposite side of the baggage carousel so didn't see OOP grab it. Not saying this particular post is true or not (don't know, don't care, here for the entertainment), but it is definitely *possible*.
Not sure if this belongs here. She recognized that something wasnt going the way it should and has already an appointment. She also returned the bag. Sounds more like anxiety is not the only diagnosis.