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Woman Says She Sat In Urine-Soaked Airplane Seat

Air Tran Investigating Incident

POSTED: 6:27 pm EST December 19, 2007
UPDATED: 11:54 am EST December 20, 2007

A Winchendon woman said an airline did not help her after she sat in a urine-soaked seat on a West Palm Beach, Fla., to Boston flight on Sunday night.

"I was sitting maybe 30 seconds to minute and realized that my pants were soaked," Jennifer Castellano said.

Castellano said she went to the lavatory to check her jeans and long sweater.

"I then realized I was saturated in urine from the smell," she said.

Castellano said a flight attendant told her someone had gone to the bathroom in the seat during the previous flight.

"A flight attendant told me that on the previous flight a man had urinated on himself in that particular seat. And I said, 'I'm not sitting on a three hours flight soaked in someone else's urine. That is absolutely disgusting,'" Castellano said.

Castellano took off the wet clothes, wrapped herself in a blanket and changed seats. When the flight arrived in Boston, airliner personnel said they could not get her luggage.

"I get off the plane in Logan, I had to walk through the terminal in a blanket to retrieve my bags from baggage claim. It was humiliating, degrading to walk through an airport dressed like this. They did not offer me any clothes vouchers, to get my bags from baggage claim. They did nothing -- absolutely nothing," she said.

An Air Tran representative said it is against federal regulations for airline personnel to retrieve passenger luggage. They said Air Tran is investigating the incident and will refund Castellano the purchase price of her ticket and refund the cost of the damaged clothing.

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