THERE are quite a number of rules imposed on travelers mainly for their safety and maintain a sense of order especially in an airport and one of the most common ones is to never carry a stranger’s luggage since you, as an innocent person, may be implicated in some criminal activity eventhough you were only trying to help.
A woman recounted her tale of being almost implicated by the airport authorities for smuggling contraband due to her overly friendly seat neighbour.
The woman, Òmóbà Dèó, took to Facebook remembering that fateful incident, when an older woman asked her to help load her bag in the overhead luggage compartment, while they were boarding a plane to Dubai.
Fortunately for Òmóbà, a man seated across helped instead as she had trouble with the overhead compartment due to her height.
After that, Òmóbà and the older woman began to strike a conversation during the journey to Dubai, remarking how “pleasant and well-spoken” the woman was.
“Suddenly, when the pilot announced that we were now proceeding to begin our descent into DXB, my good friend ‘developed’ stomach pains. Me, with my good heart, pressed the stewards button, and the stewardess came to find out what the problem was.
“I told her that the lady seated next to me was not feeling well. And this lady, she suddenly began to address me as ‘my daughter’,” she said in her post.
Unfortunately, due to the plane descending, the stewardess could only offer painkillers to the older woman and have her wait until the plane’s landing, which made the older woman anxious.
“My new friend was crying and sweating like crazy. And she refused to let go of my hand... everyone assumed we knew each other,” Òmóbà said.
After the plane had landed, the same man helped take down the older woman’s bag again and warned Òmóbà to keep a distance from the older woman, making it clear to the cabin crew that they were not travelling together.
“So indeed, the cabin crew came and asked me if we were related. I told them we had met on the plane. I didn’t know her at all. So we began to (exit the plane) 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. He passed me a note telling me to let the cabin crew handle her,” she explained, adding that the older woman had to wait for a wheelchair from the cabin crew.
Things took a turn when Òmóbà was waiting to collect her luggage, she saw the older woman running with her other hand luggage, noting that her handbag was left behind in the airplane. Thankfully, the airport security officials managed to apprehend the woman.
The older woman then spots Òmóbà and starts calling for her out loud, still addressing her as her “daughter” which is when she realised that she was being implicated by her since she was the one smuggling drugs.
The airport officials began to interrogate Òmóbà and took her passport, instructing her to say her full name to verify if she and the older woman were travelling together. While that was happening, the same man who helped with the older woman’s bag stepped forward and attested that both women had “just met on the plane”.
“By God’s grace, I had not even told her my first name! I was still asked to follow the police to a little room where I was questioned extensively. My luggage was extensively searched and dusted for fingerprints.
“They dusted all her luggage and my fingerprints were not found anywhere on her luggage or on her handbag! I was let go with advice never ever to touch anyone’s luggage either in flight or at the airport,” she clarified.
After the incident, Òmóbà learned her lesson on not assisting others with their luggage as she most obviously does not want any trouble.
“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!” she concluded in her post.
