While we understand that helping an elderly person with carrying their heavy items should be normalised, this should very much be avoided at airports or in flights. In fact, helping ANYONE carry their bag in airport and in flights should be avoided at all costs.
Here’s why.
Òmóbà Dèó took to her Facebook page to share how she almost became a drug mule after an elderly woman latched onto her on a flight to Dubai. The elderly woman had asked for her help with her bags but thankfully, another passenger had stepped in to assist and noticed what was happening.
She wrote, “If you travel by air a lot, beware of overly friendly, chatty seat neighbours. The older lady comes and sits next to me inside the plane. She asked me to help her put her bag in the overhead luggage compartment. But, a gentlemen sitting across quickly came through.”
After sitting down next to Òmóbà Dèó, the elderly woman started a conversation with her and they chatted up until the point where their flight was descending towards their destination.
And then things got weird.
“Suddenly, when the pilot announced that we were now proceeding to begin our descent into DXB, my good friend (the elderly woman she has just met) ‘developed’ stomach pains. Me with my good heart, I pressed the steward’s button and the stewardess came to find out what the problem was.”
“I told her my seat mate was not feeling well. And this lady, she suddenly began to address me as ‘my daughter’.”
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The flight attendants could do nothing but give the elderly woman some painkillers and have her wait for medical attention until they landed the plane. The pilot had then also announced that they were having a medical emergency on board.
“She refused to let go of my hand… everyone assumed we knew each other.”
“So, we landed at DXB and the same gentlemen who helped put up her luggage in the overhead compartment removed her luggage. But as he removed the luggage, he advised me to distance myself from this lady and make it clear to the cabin crew that we were NOT travelling together. He was a Godsend.”
“So indeed, the cabin crew came and asked me if we were related, I categorically told them we had met on the plane. I didn’t know her at all. So, we began to deplane and as I said goodbye, she kept begging me to carry her handbag. I was so torn… but the gentleman looked me in the eye and emphatically shook his head,” she explained, adding that the man had then informed her to let the cabin crew handle the elderly woman.
Hence, Òmóbà Dèó ended up leaving the woman with the cabin crew, who were getting the elderly woman a wheelchair, and headed to the baggage claim area of the airport.
But wait, there’s more.
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“As we waited for our luggage to come through, I hear this commotion. My ‘new friend’ was running, trying to escape the cabin crew, having gotten out of the wheelchair!”
“She left the stewardess with her handbag and just ran towards the exit with the rest of her hand luggage! Luckily the airport police were faster than her. They got hold of her and brought her back in handcuffs,” Òmóbà Dèó went on.
Upon seeing Òmóbà Dèó, the elderly woman started shouting for her.
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“This lady starts calling out to me.. ‘My daughter… my daughter! How could you do this to me!‘ That’s when I caught on. She was carrying drugs and she was trying to implicate me!”
“Luckily for me, the gentlemen who had helped her with her luggage came forward and told the airport police that me and her had just met on the plane. The police took my passport and asked her to reveal my full name if it was true that we were travelling together. By God’s grace, I had not even told her my first name!”
Òmóbà Dèó was still investigated at the airport where she was questioned extensively, and her luggage was searched and dusted for fingerprints. They also dusted the elderly woman’s bags for prints and found none of Òmóbà Dèó’s.
This photo is for illustration purposes only.
“I was let go with the advice to never, ever touch anyone’s luggage either in flight or at the airport. So from that day, I don’t care how much luggage you have, you will deal with it yourself.”
“I will not even offer you a trolley to put your luggage on! Your luggage, your problem, is my policy. And if you can’t reach the overhead compartment, and I am the nearest person, please call the cabin crew because all I will do is give you a blank stare and then look away,” Òmóbà Dèó ended.
What a close call! Should she have helped the elderly woman ‘in need’, she could very well be in an insanely bad situation as we speak.
So, here’s no not touching other people’s luggage and bags at airports and on board planes.
Have a similar experience? Do feel free to share in the comment section.
Also read: S’porean Sentenced to 7 Days in Jail & RM80k Fine for Trying to Smuggle Macaws into M’sia
