A woman traveling from Texas to California had to spend her vacation one leg down after Allegiant Air sent a bag containing her custom prosthetic leg to Utah by accident.
“I remember feeling sick to my stomach when I didn’t see my bag going around the carousel,” Emily Tuite told USA Today. She was heading from Austin to San Diego.
Another traveler’s information had been applied to the suitcase, causing the mishap.
“They were calling that person saying we have your bag, and that person was saying, it’s not mine. Meanwhile, I’m frantic, panicked, thinking that my items are gone, like just stolen from the airport,” Ms. Tuite explained to KXAN-TV, an Austin NBC affiliate, about the Sept. 1 flight.
Ms. Tuite could not afford to lose this bag in particular, since it contained the waterproof prosthesis she’d need to swim and shower.
“When someone loses a medical device, it’s incredibly serious. Medical devices, like my prosthesis, provide assistance to help me function and participate in everyday activities. Without it, I’m disabled,” Ms. Tuite told USA Today.
Ms. Tuite would spend her eight-day vacation on the phone with Allegiant Air, trying to track down her missing leg.
“They never called me back after promising to do so. It seemed near impossible to get in touch with them,” Ms. Tuite told the Daily Mail, calling the ordeal “traumatic.”
The leg would not arrive back to Ms. Tuite in Austin until this past Monday. The airline at first did not offer to refund the cost of the flight.
“My whole trip was spent on the phone trying to contact them. It’s frustrating to think that there’s no other compensation for losing someone’s medical device for 12 days,” Ms. Tuite told KXAN-TV.
Allegiant spokesperson Rachel Christiansen told USA Today that “we make every effort to reunite customers with their luggage immediately” and that the airline “prioritized her claim.”
On Wednesday, Allegiant Air reconsidered and offered Ms. Tuite a full refund.
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