Girl on train needed to make a phone call, but nothing adds up

I’ve been reading a post on here about people asking to make a phone call and the corresponding scams that could follow and it brought back a memory from several years ago when I had a phone that could connect to the internet but it wasn’t a fully functioning smartphone as we know it now.

Tldr: Girl borrows phone to make a quick call for airport pickup, draws it out, doesnt communicate what needs to be communicated when running late to meet someone at the airport. Was that a scam/attempt at one or was she just a bit… slow?

A girl sitting next to me on a commuter train asks if this train was going to the airport. I say I don’t think it does. She says oh no, I’m supposed to meet someone there. She doesn’t have any sort of bags, so I’m thinking she must be going to meet someone who is about to land. She’s maybe in her early 20s. She says she has a prepaid phone and no credit left and asks if she could call her friend from my phone. I say okay, given that we are seated on a crowded commuter train and she can’t just run off with my very basic phone model. She calls. I’m right next to her. I expect the call to be succinct and to the point, e.g. « hey, it’s XYZ, I’m calling from a stranger’s phone since I’m out of credit. I’m on the wrong train and am running late to come pick you up, stay put/go grab a coffee. And please don’t call me back on this number, call my regular number. Again, I can’t call you myself because I’m out of credit. »

Something like that… She calls…and it’s nothing like that. They are having a regular chit-chat conversation. She doesn’t tell him to call her back on her phone. There also doesn’t seem to be some kind if urgency connected to the airport. Phone call ends. I go back to catching up on my phone. Guy calls back MY phone. Still on train. I hand it to her, telling her to tell him to call her back on HER phone. Other commuters are also looking on, perplexed. Hoewever, she doesn’t tell him that. I cut the conversation short, because i really need to go through a couple of things before my shift starts. As I get to my destination, she stays on. Weird, because this train is still not going to the airport. As I exit, the guy calls my phone again, but I don’t pick up anymore. I can’t remember if I texted him to call the girl’s number and stop calling this number.

Still, years later, I don’t quite understand what was up with that entire interaction? She called a regular cell phone number, not a crazy expensive overseas line. The guy also never called that number again and I didn’t get weird messages or calls after. It was also before banking or wallet apps were on everyone’s phone. Why didn’t she tell him within the first two seconds that her phone was out of credit and she was just borrowing someone else’s phone to make a quick call to let him know she was running late?

I have also contemplated she was just to meet someone for a coffee date at the airport or so…when my mind had gone to meeting someone at the airport = picking someone up. But even then, when it was just to flirt with that guy…she clearly had his number on her phone, so they were in contact before. None of it makes any sense to me.

It was a lesson regardless, since I’ve never let anyone use my phone after that, but at the time, I really thought she was on the wrong train to the airport and someone was just stranded there.