A woman flying back to Dallas from a weekend getaway in Tampa was greeted with a shredded suitcase and destroyed belongings.
Kristen Horabin flew into Dallas Fort Worth with American Airlines on Sunday.
She waited for her suitcase to show up in baggage claim.
After a while, what was left of her bag appeared.
Her suitcase and some of her belongings were shredded and what remained was covered in black grease and toothpaste.
Horabin said she received no explanation and no empathy from American Airlines employees.
She filed a claim immediately and within 24 hours, the airline apologized and said they were sending her a $3,500 check for the damaged and a $300 travel voucher.
American Airlines said the images appear to indicate Horabin’s bag may have been caught on a piece of machinery.
Horabin said next time she hopes the airline won’t send a damage bag through a carousel without an explanation and an apology.
The full statement from American Airlines reads:
We apologize for the damage that occurred to Ms. Horabin’s bag; we know how difficult it is to arrive at your final destination and a find a bag extremely damaged. Our team has received the claim, and reviewing what may have transpired during its transit. We are also in touch with Mr. Horabin directly and have resolved her claim. In 2017, American transported more than 160 million checked bags. While it extremely rare to receive a report of a broken and/or damaged bag such as this one, our team will always work with our customers directly to resolves these claims.