Keyonne Brooks was headed home to Los Angeles from a stay in New Orleans when he mistakenly left his carry-on bag at the Spirit Airlines ticket counter of Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
When he realized his bag was missing, he filed a lost-and-found claim, but his bag could not be located. That’s when he filed a public records request for the airport’s security footage, according to CBS News Los Angeles.
“I had a gut feeling that something went wrong,” Brooks told CBS News.
The footage Brooks received shows his bag being placed behind the counter by a gate agent, where it stayed until after the boarding process was complete. Brooks alleges he got into an argument with this particular agent prior to boarding the plane.
The agent can then be seen going through his bag once the passengers were through the gate, appearing to put things in her pockets from the bag.
Afterward, she takes the bag to a nearby trash can and allows coworkers to also go through the bag before throwing the remaining contents and the bag itself away.
Among the contents she trashed were lifesaving medications, according to Brooks.
“My heart just sunk because for instance there was a family heirloom in there. If they don't find the garbage bag with my contents, then I'll never get that back,” Brooks said.
Since the revelations of the surveillance footage cleared up the mystery of the missing bag, Spirit Airlines has refunded Brooks for the cost of his flights.
Spirit Airlines also released a statement addressing the situation:
“We are aware of this matter, and our vendor suspended four of their employees at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) pending an investigation into the matter. Spirit Airlines is committed to treating all Guests with respect and delivering high-quality service, and we will take appropriate action as necessary following the completion of the vendor's investigation. Spirit has already issued a refund for the flight on February 23, and the vendor is expediting the compensation for the items.”
Brooks says his takeaway is that he believes he’s not the first victim of such behavior.
“If it happened to me and I got the video footage, how many other people has this happened to?” he asked.
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