OMAAT reader François reached out with an absolutely wild story of what happened to him on a recent Vueling flight, where he was forced to abandon his carry-on bag (though perhaps it’s less wild than that other Vueling story). Even when the pilot intervened, the ground staff wouldn’t budge, so the pilot ended up paying for the bag out of pocket. Let me explain…
Vueling passenger in tough spot forced to abandon carry-on
On July 19, 2025, François was traveling on Vueling flight VY6935 from Ibiza (IBZ) to Paris (ORY). François’ wallet had been stolen the day before the flight, so he showed up at the airport with one blocked card, another card with a small remaining limit, and €30 in cash.
Not that this is directly relevant, but let me drop in that he’s a Flying Blue Ultimate member, which is Air France-KLM’s triple Platinum status. I simply mention this to point out that he’s a super frequent flyer, and also likely isn’t looking to scam an airline out of a small sum of money.
François says his bag was within Vueling’s size rules. Despite that, at the boarding gate, the agent “barely glanced” at his bag, and told him he had to pay €60. He asked if he could prove it fit in the sizer, but she refused to even entertain that.
He was told to step aside and wait for the rest of the passengers to board. Only when boarding was complete did the supervisor come over and say “€60 or the suitcase stays here.” He explained his situation, and offered to pay what he could with his €30 in cash, or try his card. They tried the payment with the card twice, but it declined.
The supervisor repeated, “no money, the luggage stays here.” They made it clear that there would be no gate checking of the bag, no lost and found procedure, and no paperwork — the bag would simply be left in the gate area. He had about 30 seconds to decide, and in shock and with no alternative, he boarded last, leaving his bag behind at the gate.
I asked him if he had considered just not boarding the flight so that he wouldn’t have to abandon his bag. He said he didn’t even consider it, as he absolutely needed to be back in France by noon that day. During the short period where he had to make the decision, he was mostly thinking of how to retrieve the suitcase afterwards.
As he walked down the jet bridge, François says his panic really set in — his suitcase contained everything, including his apartment and car keys. He was about to fly home with almost nothing but his phone.
Once he got on the plane, he explained everything to the flight attendants. At first, they reportedly thought that his suitcase had just been put in the cargo hold. He told them no, he had been forced to abandon it. The lead flight attendant was reportedly stunned, and moved him to the first empty row, so they could talk calmly.
The first officer overheard the conversation, and came out of the flight deck. So François recounted the situation, and the first officer said he would go and get the bag himself. After several minutes, the first officer still hadn’t returned, so the captain went to check what was going on. Around 10 minutes later, both pilots returned.
He explained that the ground staff had already left the gate, so the first officer had to call them to return. When they returned, he saw the suitcase sitting there unattended, but they wouldn’t allow him to take it back unless he paid the €60 fee personally.
So the first officer then paid the fee on his own card. The receipt showed it was paid at 9:51AM, one minute after the scheduled departure time.
This whole episode meant that the flight missed its initial takeoff slot, and ended up having to wait for another, resulting in a roughly 15-minute departure delay.
During the flight, the first officer came from the flight deck to speak to François, who was incredibly grateful, and offered to pay him via bank transfer upon landing. He told François that he comes from a business aviation background, so is used to going the extra mile for passengers.
So as soon as the plane landed, François sent him a bank transfer for that amount.
I don’t know what part of this story is wildest
I recognize that gate agents at ultra low cost carriers with high fee structures can’t simply listen to every sob story, and then waive fees at will. That would kind of defeat the point of the fees, because I’m sure everyone would have a story to tell — it’s like people with special occasions checking into hotels. However, there’s so much about this story that’s concerning:
- The gate agents wouldn’t even let the passenger prove that his carry-on fit in the sizer? What on earth?
- It’s not something I’ve ever thought about before, but is the process if someone doesn’t pay a fee really to just abandon the bag, and give them no chance to retrieve it in the future? Isn’t abandoning a bag at an airport a security concern in and of itself?
- It seems bonkers that gate agents won’t even let the captain and first officer of an aircraft have say over what goes onto “their” aircraft, literally forcing them to pay out of pocket
In his email to me, François concludes with the following:
This isn’t about the €60 – it’s about highlighting a wider problem with Vueling’s ground operations: aggressive upcharges, lack of accountability and serious breaches of security protocols. I do want to emphasize how exemplary the crew’s attitude was, both the cabin crew and the pilots throughout this flight.
To echo that point, huge kudos to the pilots for the level of customer service they showed. How lovely that the first officer was so proactive after overhearing this, and the extent to which he helped.
Bottom line
A traveler had his belongings stolen in Ibiza. Then when he prepared to take his Vueling flight home, the gate agents claimed his bag was too big, but refused to let him prove it wasn’t, using the sizer. They left him with no option but to pay the fee or abandon the bag. Since he couldn’t pay, he abandoned the bag.
The pilot kindly got involved, but ultimately the gate agents refused to even give the pilot the bag without paying the fee. What a world…
What do you make of this Vueling bag story?
