Turns out they won’t have to file written requests after all, each passenger of US Airways Flight 1549 that downed in the Hudson River last week got a $5k check from the airline to compensate them for lost baggage.

In a letter sent to passengers with the checks this weekend, investigators say they have to weight “all items in their current state, dry them for eight weeks and then weigh them again,” which could take up to 8 months. “Valerie Wunder, an airline spokeswoman, said the $5,000 checks were not intended to “shut down” any other claims, like lawsuits, that passengers might file,” reports NYT.

That was nice of them. They could probably easily pay for the PR boost with the slush fund of fees for every luggage bag and bag of peanuts.

$5,000 to Each Passenger on Crashed Jet for Lost Bags [NYT] (Thanks to Andrew!) (Photo: bmunch was bunglemunch)

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