A Houston man who paid to check his baggage on a Continental flight to Seattle says he got more than he bargained for out of the deal. His luggage was doused with jet fuel.
Charlie Menefee says all he wanted were clothes that he could wear on his 4-day vacation; but continental airlines only offered him $100.
"It wasn't like the slightest whiff," explained Menefee. "I mean you open the bag and it knocks you out."
Menefee's bag wasn't in baggage claim when he landed in Seattle, so Continental delivered it to his hotel about 12 hours later. He said he noticed the smell as soon as he opened the bag. He called Continental right away.
"I told them, 'look, I got a lot of things going on. We got things planned.' I said, 'at least let me get on with my trip. Let me go get some clothes so I can get moving.' and they said, basically, unless I took it back to the terminal and let them inspect it, they wouldn't consider anything."
After 3 hours at the terminal Menefee says all Continental offered him was a voucher for the dry cleaners or $25 a day to get some new clothes, not to exceed $100.
"I just told them $100 would not be enough for me to buy enough clothes to get me through the next few days," said Menefee.
A Continental spokesperson told Local 2 that $100 is the airlines standard amount to pay for interim expenses resulting from lost or damaged luggage. Once Menefee determines if his clothes are ruined, he can file another claim to get continental to replace the items. Menefee says what he can't replace is his lost vacation.
"Instead of me being able to enjoy my trip, I'm wasting my time chasing a problem that Continental seemed completely uninterested in trying to resolve," Menefee said.
The Continental spokesperson said someone will call Menefee to follow up on his claim. If all of his clothes are permanently damaged, Continental may reimburse him fair market value up to $3300. The spokesperson couldn't explain what happened with Menefee's bag that caused it and all of its contents to smell like jet fuel.