If you receive my newsletter, you already know I strongly recommend skipping checked luggage. My reasons are simple: you can cut it close at the airport, head right to security, avoid baggage fees, and never stress about whether your suitcase makes it or ends up rifled through. But a new lawsuit highlights an even more alarming reason to stick with carry-on only.
According to a court filing reported by KTLA (Dominguez v. American Airlines, Case No. 1:25-cv-24366, Southern District of Florida), Florida traveler Alison Dominguez is taking legal action against American Airlines. She says she was wrongly accused of smuggling opiates into the United States after an airline employee allegedly checked a bag full of drugs in her name at Lynden Pindling Airport in Nassau, Bahamas. The complaint states she had not even arrived at the airport at the time. Once the bag was linked to her, conspirators were able to collect it at baggage claim in the U.S., taking advantage of Nassau’s pre-clearance system that allows passengers to bypass customs upon arrival.
Back in April, Dominguez was arrested and charged with trafficking more than 100 bottles of codeine. She was later cleared when it was proven she never checked any luggage. Court documents describe that she spent nearly a week in jail under appalling conditions, including being forced to sleep on a concrete floor covered in human waste, threatened with sexual assault, and told she may have been exposed to AIDS.
Her lawsuit claims American Airlines could have prevented the ordeal by verifying whether the bag actually belonged to her before reporting the matter to Bahamian officials and U.S. Customs. It’s difficult to argue against her point, since a simple check would have revealed she had not checked any bags at all. Even more disturbing is the possibility this was not an isolated incident.
So the next time you find yourself weighing whether to check a suitcase, consider this case as another strong argument for traveling carry-on only.