Woman Finds Dead Rat in her Checked Bag

A passenger who flew American Airlines claims that she found a dead rat in her checked luggage after a trip to Europe. Merry Cannon said that after many delays, cancellations, and a missed flight on her way to meet her husband in Europe, she was relieved when she finally got to Belgium—sans luggage. While she didn’t get her luggage until the end of the trip, she was still relieved when it finally arrived. When the couple arrived back in the US, she noticed a rancid smell coming from her bag. It “smelled like a dead body” she said.

According to reports:

“…an American Airlines customer-service representative told Cannon that the bag may have developed mold after being left in the rain before it reached Europe, but Cannon said she hadn't noticed a similar smell before coming back to the US.

The representative then said the luggage may have been exposed to sewage from the airplane bathroom on the flight home and told Cannon the airline would compensate her for the damaged luggage only if she could prove that her efforts to wash its contents were ineffective, Inc reported.”

She then went to go wash her clothes from the bag, and she found a dead rat at the bottom.

"I screamed, ran inside, started washing my hands over and over," she told Inc. "I was just crying.”

Canon was given $1,600 as a result.

"We have apologized and are not aware of any similar issues of a rat making its way into a checked bag before," the representative said. "While we are unable to determine if the issue occurred in the United States or overseas, we did apologize to the customer, and they were compensated earlier this month."