A Southwest Airlines passenger is alleging an employee urinated on her guitar and mother’s ashes. Even worse, she says the airline is not taking the incident seriously.
TikTok user @s1llys4lly posted a video detailing her allegations on Oct. 17. It has since amassed more than 500,000 views. “A Southwest employee urinated in my guitar and on my dead mom’s ashes,” reads the on-screen text.
The creator says, “Yesterday, an incident occurred, and I’m deeply concerned with how it was handled.” She explains that the airline lost her guitar during the flight and made arrangements to send it to her via its delivery service.
How did she know someone urinated on the guitar?
“And when it arrived, I opened it up, and it was very wet inside,” @s1llys4lly says. “It smells like urine. And it’s very obvious that someone has urinated in my guitar and in my guitar case. Also, my dead mother’s ashes were in my guitar case.”
The TikToker then shows a censored object, which is presumably the bag containing her mother’s ashes, which does appear urine-stained.
“I spoke to a number of people, and I explained that my guitar has obviously been urinated in,” @s1llys4lly says, “and I don’t think it was taken as seriously as it should be.”
@s1llys4lly @Southwest Airlines #southwestairlines #biohazard ♬ original sound – S1LLYS4LLY
@s1llys4lly says not only did she handle the urine-soaked guitar with her bare hands, but like many guitarists she has tiny cuts on her hands. “This is a biohazard,” she says.
Viewers express outrage
In the comments section, viewers expressed outrage over her experience and many urged her to contact a lawyer about what happened.
One user wrote, “Honey, talk to a lawyer. They may be delaying 30 days because they want to put you off past the point of when they have to speak to you about it or they might be destroying evidence of who it was.”
A second user wrote, “Bring it to the local news. That’ll get it handled faster. That’s awful!”
A third user said, “I also think that they said 30 days so you miss some kind of deadline and they can pretend it didn’t happen. You need to find the secretary of a higher up and call them.”
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, airlines must acknowledge consumer complaints within 30 days of receiving them and they must address the complaint within 60 days.
“It’s often best to email or write to the airline’s consumer office at its corporate headquarters,” the site reads. “If you feel that the airline does not resolve the issue to your satisfaction, you may want to file a complaint with DOT.”
How did Southwest Airlines respond to the allegation?
Additionally, @s1llys4lly says the airline told her she would have to wait 30 days for a response from Southwest Airlines.
“I’d like something to be done immediately,” she says. “Because there’s a [expletive]-covered guitar from one of your employees, who decided to open up my guitar and pee all over my dead mother’s ashes.”
In an update with more than 350,000 views posted a week ago, @s1llys4lly reveals that she received an incident report from Southwest Airlines and is going through their complaints process. She thanked many users in the comments for tagging Southwest Airlines and bringing the matter to its attention.
@s1llys4lly @Southwest Airlines #southwestairlines #biohazard ♬ original sound – S1LLYS4LLY
The Daily Dot reached out to @s1llys4lly via TikTok comment and direct messages. We also reached out to Southwest Airlines via email for comment.
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