Boyfriend said he flew to Brindisi to visit his mother — she traced his flight to Nice. Then his story changed twice
'One to Reus in Spain, one to Nice in France, which is relatively close to the Italian border. But none to Brindisi, where he TOLD me he was.'
When you are in a relationship, trusting your partner's word is usually second nature, but sometimes a small gut feeling leads to a web of web searches and tracking apps that tear down that trust entirely. That is exactly what happened to a 35-year-old woman whose boyfriend of three months told her he was flying back to his home country of Italy to visit his mother and handle some family business. After dropping him off at the airport, her mild flight anxiety kicked in, prompting her to track his flight online. She discovered that his flight to Brindisi did not exist on any airport schedule. When she confronted him, his excuse about a redirected flight made matters exponentially worse. The story was shared on October 19, 2026, by user u/karmaismybff, and it quickly blew up, gaining 1,500 upvotes and over 700 comments.
The math's not math-ing
The situation began quite ordinarily when the woman's 37-year-old boyfriend boarded a flight from her Western European home city. She recalled, "I spoke to him on the phone when he was in line for boarding around 13.20 (1.20 pm). Then around 14.00 (2pm) he texted me that the plane was about to take off and he turned off his phone". While taking care of his car and dog, her anxiety over loved ones on flights prompted her to check departure boards. However, there were no flights scheduled anywhere in Italy around 2:00 PM. When he called her after landing around 4:15 PM, she asked where he landed, and he claimed he was in Brindisi. Defensive and quick with an explanation, he offered a bizarre story: "The excuse for the flight not showing up on the airport site, was that there was another cancelled plane that was supposed to go to Ibiza, that then went to Brindisi."
What happened on the boys' trip?
Uneasy with his reaction, she double-checked the arrival boards for Brindisi Airport, which showed no incoming flights from her country. Returning to her local airport’s site, she noticed only two flights departed near his boarding time: "One to Reus in Spain, one to Nice in France, which is relatively close to the Italian border. But none to Brindisi, where he TOLD me he was". Realizing the sheer impossibility of his timeline, she began doubting his previous trips as well, suspecting his August "boys trip" to Liguria might have been a cover for something else. He claimed he would have terrible cell reception and could rarely speak, a tactic he used back in August too.
Block and move on
The story unraveled further after she confronted him. He eventually admitted that she was right about the flight: he had flown to Nice. At first, however, he claimed he had then taken a train from Nice to Calabria — an explanation she immediately found implausible. After she pointed out that his scheduled return also appeared to line up with a flight from Nice, his story changed again. This time, he admitted he was actually in Liguria, where he had also traveled that summer. He claimed the wrist injury he suffered there had come from a fight rather than a fall and that he had returned for what she understood to be a legal reason. By then, she said the repeated lies were enough and arranged to return his dog, car and keys before cutting contact.
In a later comment, the woman said her ex asked if they could talk on Sunday and promised to tell her “the whole truth.” She replied that he could explain himself immediately and asked him to prove where he was by sharing his location and showing who he was staying with. According to her, he refused, saying he was “mentally going through too much,” before falling back on, “believe what you want to believe.” She said that only reinforced her decision not to meet him.
Cheat on a trip
Travel can also become a setting for relationship boundary-crossing. A OnePoll survey conducted between October 25 - 30, 2024 for eDreams of 9,000 adults across six countries found that 22% of men and 13% of women said they had cheated on a partner while on vacation. Among the 2,000 U.S. respondents, the figures were 27% of men and 14% of women. The poll also found that 47% of British respondents said they would not consider a romantic vacation encounter with anyone other than their partner — the highest share among the countries surveyed.
'ALL flights are tracked.'
The response in Reddit turned into an immediate consensus, with readers validating the author's instincts. User u/ccducingta noted, "He is a liar. You are not an idiot. Give yourself some grace. And be proud of yourself for making a decision to move on and not give him the opportunity to continue to lie to you." Meanwhile, user u/ParallelTrust wrote in sarcasm, "Your free trial of this relationship has ended. Would you like to renew or cancel?"
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