One of the most common dilemmas of any airline passenger is when the airline loses his or her baggage. But one mother was particularly devastated when American Airlines lost her bag. Iddy Pierre-Canel chose American Airlines to fly from Baltimore to Tucson, Arizona but had the horror of her life when the bag containing her daughter's cremated remains was lost by the airline.
According to Travel Pulse, Pierre-Canel wasn't supposed to check in her bag in the first place. She said that an American Airline employee insisted on her checking in the bag even though she told them she prefers to have her daughter's cremated ashes near her. She was then caught unaware of another employee as they proceeded to check in her bag without her consent, something she only realized when she was about to board the aircraft.
The employees at the American Airlines check-in counter promised her that her bag would be the first priority when they get off the plane, but it was nowhere to be found when they landed in Tucson. "I begged American Airlines every day to find the urn," Miss Pierre-Canel said through a statement in 12 News.
After 19 days, the bag was returned to Miss Pierre-Canel, and she couldn't help being emotional about the ordeal. She then consulted her lawyer, attorney Lorraine Morey, and agreed to file a lawsuit against the airline for $10 million.
American Airlines already spoke about the incident. In their statement, they said: "When we need customers to gate check a bag, we always ask for customers to remove all valuables and important documents. Had we known there were cremated ashes in the bag, we would have had her remove them or found a place for the bag. We apologized for losing the items and certainly are very sorry for her terrible loss."
The airline also added that on the list of items included in the bag, Miss Pierre-Canal's daughter's ashes weren't included. In their defense, attorney Morey said that the urn wasn't included because there was no way her client can put a monetized value on her daughter's ashes.
