Passenger Finds Beer and Soiled Clothes Thrown in Her Checked Bag

When a West Jet passenger returned home and began to unpack from a recent trip, she discovered that someone had left an unwelcome surprise in her bag.

After returning home from a trip to Las Vegas, West Jet passenger Nichole Squires found evidence that someone had tampered with her checked bag in transit. Fortunately, Squires said nothing was missing from her luggage. Instead, she found a few unwanted items that she never packed in her bag.

In addition to her own personal items, Squires found a few cans of beer and a dirty pile of mens clothing in her suitcase. To make matters worse, she says the stranger’s clothes smelled awful.

“I’m not exaggerating,” Squires told CBC News. “These clothes are soiled.”

Squires said she called West Jet immediately to report the issue. Although the customer service agent she spoke to was sympathetic, Squires didn’t feel like the airline took the matter seriously.

Fearing the incident could be a security issue, Squires took to Twitter in order to get an explanation from the airline. West Jet’s initial response to Squires’ tweet didn’t give much hope that the airline would be treating the issue seriously. The airline simply tweeted “What happens in Vegas…”

West Jet officials, however, reached out to Squires soon after. Company officials eventually got to the bottom of how a stranger’s beer and laundry ended up in Squires’ luggage.

It turns out baggage handlers were actually trying to do Squires a favor, according to the airline. Ramp workers noticed the beer and clothing on a conveyer belt near Squire’s checked bag and, assuming the items had spilled from her nearby suitcase, the agents accidentally returned the beer and dirty laundry to the wrong bag.

“As weird as it sounds, that’s what happened,” West Jet officials told CBC News. “We are very sorry that our guest found items in her bag that did not belong to her, but they were put there by people with the best of intentions who were only trying to help. We appreciate her understanding.”

[Photo: Nicole Squires/Twitter]