Overhead Bin Injury Scam Warning—Passengers Taking Down Bags Are Being Extorted For Hitting Someone

A reader reports seeing passengers staging injuries on flights in Asia, claiming another passenger hurt them taking their carry-on bags out of overhead bins. He says he first noticed this happening on an AirAsia flight earlier this year, with passengers in the first five rows being targeted. More recently he watched what he believes was a coordinated attempt in Singapore Airlines business class. It appears that people retrieving their bags are being set up. He describes people claiming to have been hit even when a bag didn’t touch them, or positioning themselves so close to a passenger’s bag that contact would be difficult to avoid. Even though you never touch them, they make a loud noise and say ouch, like you hit them accidentally with your bag. They claim to need medical attention, insist on a police report and even block the aisle, not letting anyone off the plane. On the Singapore Airlines flight, he says a person behind a traveler made a point of warning about taking down a bag, while another stood directly underneath the traveler’s own bag. He believes they were working together and says the person underneath complained after being touched. In both cases it appears that the more premium passengers on the plane are the ones being targeted in the scam. There is a documented case of someone using an alleged injury on a plane to extract money from other passengers. In 2011, prosecutors in China said a man had deliberately engineered collisions with passengers handling luggage on flights. He would claim he’d been hurt and that a diamond had been knocked out of his watch, then demand compensation. A flight attendant warned the passenger he might be getting extorted and suggested going to police. The passenger was afraid and didn’t. After landing, the man making the claim called police himself. At the police station he demanded 20,000 yuan. The scam victim paid 15,000 yuan (~$2,300 at the time). Airport police grew suspicious and investigated. Authorities said the man had obtained 29,000 yuan and a phone from four passengers in similar confrontations. He was arrested on suspicion of extortion. The payoff in that case came from the passengers. Someone might also try to pursue an airline or an insurer over a supposed injury. People really do get hurt by luggage. I wrote about an 80-year-old United million miler who ended up in the hospital after another passenger opened an overhead bin and a bag fell on her. On many international flights, the Montreal Convention can make an airline liable for bodily injury caused by an accident onboard or while boarding or deplaning, even when another passenger is the one that handled the bag (not the airline’s crew). If someone says they’ve been injured, get the flight attendants involved and ask them to arrange medical attention. Ask the crew to document your account and document witnesses (and their contact information, because passengers booked through third party sites may not have given the airline an email aaddress or phone number). (HT: Drew J.) Topics on this page