Melbourne comedian’s AirTag hunt for luggage lost by airline despite being located just 50m away

Australian comedian Michelle Braiser has followed her missing luggage around Edinburgh for days using AirTags, after landing in Scotland for her show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival on Wednesday.

She tracked six suitcases filled with expensive instruments and clothing for the opening night show, after staff were embarassingly unable to collect the luggage when it was first located just metres away in the airport.

“The luggage is 50m away from us,” Braiser said on social media, kick-starting viral efforts to retrieve the bags.

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The Melbourne-based comedian, musician, singer and actor arrived with her partner, actor Tim Lancaster, and backing musician Jordan White in Edinburgh on a KLM flight from Amsterdam, after an Etihad flight from Australia to the Netherlands on July 29.

She begged the airport staff to let her retrieve the luggage, but said they didn’t have the authority to do so and were unable to get someone else to provide assistance.

“We cannot get it without the report that takes a few days to process,” Braiser said on social media, kick-starting viral efforts to retrieve the bags.

“Our bags have been sitting at the airport for three days now, we’ve done the reports, we’ve gone to the airport,” she said in an update.

While she followed the protocol, and the opening night of her show approached, Braiser’s bags slowly found their way back to her, albeit in bizarre ways.

Knowing the bags were missing, a friend of Braiser who was arriving in the city on a later flight spotted a piece of her missing luggage.

“My friend found my bag,” Braiser said. “She got off her plane, (was) walking to pick up her bag and went, ‘That’s Michelle’s bag, can I have it?’ And the guy went, ‘I don’t give a f***’. Anyway, we have three more bags left to find,” Braiser said on social media.

One of the pair’s bags was eventually delivered to Braiser’s accommodation, after the team watched it via AirTags as it went “on an absolute tour of Edinburgh,” she said.

“All over the city and then just back to the airport.”

“I’ve just spent the last hour-and-a-half chasing the seal (the AirTag emoji connected to missing bag) around the airport, just chasing it as it pinged around,” Braiser had earlier lamented.

“(Our) show opens tomorrow, and we just want our own instruments (and) not to have to buy really expensive new ones. Nobody is helping.”

She blamed baggage handlers Swissport, and airlines Etihad and KLM for the embarrassing bungle, adding that they were unhelpful on the phone.

“It’s clear the staff on the ground at Edinburgh Airport need more support,” she told Edinburgh Evening News.

“I get that everyone has systems they have to follow, but surely, there has to be some common sense used too. This kind of system problem is what happens when you remove real people, and we can only communicate with chatbots.”

The opening night of her show Reform successfully went ahead on Wednesday night, with Braiser describing it as “full of chaotic energy”.

A spokesperson for Swissport told Edinburgh Evening News: “We are sincerely sorry to hear about these passengers’ experience and recognise how frustrating it is. We are in direct contact with Michelle and her team and are working hard to reunite them with their luggage.”

7NEWS.com.au has also contacted Swissport, Etihad and KLM for comment.