One Southwest Airlines passenger’s suitcase looks like it was literally transported inside of the airplane’s engine; that’s how torn up and seemingly burned it appears.
This has been a summer filled with never-ending travel horror stories. One woman’s ticket number was seemingly lost in Delta’s system, forcing her to buy another international ticket worth thousands of dollars for her 11-hour flight (which had no working TV or Wi-Fi) back home.
Another woman felt discriminated against on an American Airlines flight (though American says that’s not the case), and a brief said Air Canada lost her wedding dress on a 1.5-hour direct flight. In another horror story, one Frontier passenger was stranded in Jamaica with a Category 5 hurricane on the way after she was removed from the flight without her consent.
And unfortunately, the stories keep coming.
Baggage destroyed beyond repair
In a viral video with more than a million views as of Friday, Courtnie (@feen4court), who was excitedly on her way to her Hawaiian vacation—which she’d planned and prepared for months—was surprised by what awaited her when she landed.
After 25 minutes of waiting around for her luggage to come out, Courtnie said she went to the help center to see what was up with her luggage.
“I asked the Help Center if they can locate my bag & this is what they gave me it looks like a monster took a bite out of it,” Courtnie said.
Her luggage is holding on in mere threads, has huge gaping holes in it, and looks somewhat burnt around the edges.
It looks like the bag was literally taken through a large-scale shredder. The damage is so bad that the luggage can’t even do its basic job of containing items—instead, the Southwest employees had to put Courtnie’s belongings in white trash bags.
@feen4court my bag was missing from baggage claim for a cool 25 minutes so I asked the Help Center if they can locate my bag & this is what they gave me 😭 it looks like a monster took a bite out of it 😩😭😭#airlines #flying #shouldvedoneacarryon ##neveragain #CapCut #allicandoislaugh #ismilebutitaintfunny ♬ original sound – courtnie:)
Viewers are horrified
“Did they stow the bags in the engine????” the top comment with more than 50,000 likes read.
Courtnie, who’s accompanied by her sister, tries to have a good attitude about the ordeal, but even her clothes, skincare, chargers, and makeup bags were damaged.
Going back to the seeming burntness of the bag, one of her plastic skincare containers looks melted all around the perimeter.
“As a person that has worked on the ramp, that bag for sure got dragged by one of the tugs on the tarmac. File a claim immediately for EVERYTHING!!!” a person said. For context, the tugs are the small vehicles that tug loads of cargo, including luggage.
“How are yall so calm, I would be livid,” another added.
“You about to go on that $4,000 shopping spree,” another added, punctuating the comment with a crying emoji.
Several people in the comments section asked Courtnie if she’d managed to get a refund for the luggage and damaged items, but she has yet to address these questions or post a follow-up video on the situation.
Instead, judging from her vlogs, it looks like she’s still making sure to live it up on her vacation despite the baggage issues.
According to Southwest’s policy, for international flights like Courtnie’s, a passenger must reach out to the company about the damaged luggage within seven calendar days. That report can be filed online or reported in person at the airport in the baggage service office located in the baggage claim area or at the ticket counter.
Now, if you’re traveling domestically, there’s more of a time crunch to get that claim going.
For domestic flights, the claim must be filed within four hours, and Southwest specifies that it’s not liable for “…manufacturer defects or for minor damage resulting from normal wear and tear, such as cuts, scratches, scuffs, stains, dents, punctures, marks, and dirt. We’re also not liable for carryon baggage or any items contained in a bag deemed overstuffed.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Courtnie and Southwest via email.
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