Another Reason Why Travelers Don’t Trust Airlines Not To Steal Their Stuff

As if checked-bag fees and stories of luggage vanishing into the ether weren’t enough to have you going carry-on only, here comes the story of a lovely couple who decided to take advantage of delays caused by the July 6 Asiana Airlines crash to allegedly help themselves to passengers’ goodies.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the husband is a United Airlines employee at San Francisco International, where the Asiana tragedy occurred earlier this month.

The crash and ensuing investigation resulted in delays, diversions, and cancellations for several days. But while the travelers booked on some of these waylaid flights had to wait to get home, their luggage did not.

And so that to-be-claimed luggage was just sitting there for this husband and wife team to scoop up, say prosecutors, who have security camera footage of the United customer service rep taking the bags and giving them to his wife and a second woman.

Police say the wife then took a lot of the expensive clothing in the luggage and returned the items to Nordstrom for around $5,000, which the couple were apparently going to use in Hawaii. Unfortunately for them, they were arrested while trying to catch that flight to paradise.

The husband has pleaded not guilty to charges of grand theft and burglary.

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