One of the trickiest things about solo traveling is figuring out what to do with your bag when you need to use the restroom at the airport.
A female traveler recently faced this dilemma, so she asked a fellow airport-goer to watch her carry-on luggage while she relieved herself — but the woman shockingly refused.
In a TikTok video — that has garnered over 100,000 views — with overlay text that reads, “do ya’ll watch someone’s stuff at the airport yes or no[?]” Cara (@carasdigitaldiary_) shared the bizarre interaction.
“I feel like I don’t want to talk too loud…I’m in the airport and I asked someone, ‘Hey, can you watch my stuff, I’m going to run to the bathroom really quick. I have a Beis carry-on and my purse,” the confused traveler said in her video.
“I fully expected her to say yes and she goes, ‘No, you should honestly take it with you.’ Keep in mind the bathroom… is a few steps away from where we’re sitting. I’ve never been so caught off guard…she fully said no….I’m not going to take all of my belongings a few steps away.”
While Cara was genuinely confused that the traveler refused to watch her items — many of the commenters on the video actually sided with the no-sayer stranger.
“They literally announce over [the] loudspeaker not to do this every 5 minutes at every airport in the country,” pointed out one person.
“Girl that’s the #1 thing you DON’T do at an airport,” chimed in someone else.
“I had 2 kids a stroller and 2 heavy packed full backpacks and didn’t even think of asking someone to watch my stuff,” quipped another commenter.
“I was kind of shocked by just how much it really bothered people,” the content creator told TODAY.com in an interview.
“I always assumed if you ask a stranger to watch it, you’re technically designating someone to just keep an eye on it, not be responsible for it.”
Technically, these commenters are right. In U.S. airports, TSA often makes announcements warning passengers not to leave unattended luggage and not to accept any items from strangers.
So the traveler who refused to watch the bag was just following the rules.
And this isn’t the first time this controversial topic has come up.
A plane passenger who refused to watch a fellow traveler’s bag while she and her son went to the airport bathroom took to Reddit to ask if she was in the wrong for doing this.
“I said I’m really not supposed to. She gives me the stink eye,” the user wrote.
“Not only is this a safety issue (probably not in this case, but in theory), but also I wouldn’t have wanted to miss my boarding group.”
“I used to have young kids, and if mine had to go to the bathroom, I would always just schlep my bags to the bathroom. I wouldn’t ask someone else to watch the bags,” the OP said, defending her decision.
Expectedly, many of the Reddit comments defended this woman’s decision not to watch the bag.
“TBH I’m more surprised that she trusted a stranger enough to watch her bags,” someone wrote. “But yeah that’s something airport employees mention every time you go through an airport. Don’t do that. Not worth it!”
“The list of possible bad outcomes is too large. It’s not a matter of being nice or not, it’s just not the right thing to do,” another comment read.
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