A single overflowing toilet created a stinky mess at the Nashville International Airport this week — contaminating up to 200 pieces of luggage, according to reports.

The evil commode, in the woman’s restroom on the C Concourse, began overflowing at about 5 a.m. on Wednesday because of paper towels stuffed inside, airport spokesman Tom Jurkovich told The Tennessean.

The filthy water flowed into a Southwest Airlines baggage area directly below, soiling “a good number of bags” on a conveyor belt, Jurkovich told the paper.

Though it wasn’t clear how much sewage was in the water, 200 bags may have been affected — all of which are being sanitized, the airline said in a statement to the paper. A total of around 380 bags needed to be pulled off the conveyor belt.

Some replacement bags were being offered to passengers, the airline said.

No one came in contact with the water — and an environmental team was called in to clean the baggage handling area, Jurkovich told the paper.

It wasn’t clear whether someone stuffed the toilet intentionally, but the leak will be addressed, he declared.

Some passengers opted to fly without their luggage, and the leak didn’t cause any flight delays, ABC reported.</s>A sewage leak at Nashville International Airport may have contaminated about 200 Southwest Airlines passengers' bags, the airline said in a statement Thursday.

Airport officials told ABC News that the source of the problem was a single toilet in a women’s restroom inside the terminal, closely positioned over the baggage handling area. The sewage flowed through the bathroom floor, leaked into the bagging handling area and seeped into some bags that were checked in for Southwest’s early morning flights, according to the officials.

The bags are currently being sanitized, and replacement bags are being offered on a case-by-case basis, the airline said.

According to the airline’s statement, its employees “identified which bags may have been affected” and are “proactively contacting customers, processing bags and reuniting customers with their luggage.”

The airline said the leak didn’t cause any flight delays.

Baggage handlers identified the leak and sorted through the affected bags before beginning the clean-up process, according to the airport officials. They added that some passengers opted to travel without their damaged bags.</s>Hundreds of passengers' bags may be contaminated by a single overflowing women's toilet at Nashville International Airport.

Around 200 checked bags with Southwest Airlines passengers may have been affected by the sewage leak, officials said.

The airline is now sanitizing the bags and offering replacements on a 'case-by-case basis'.

Southwest's employees 'identified which bags may have been affected' and are 'proactively contacting customers, processing bags and reuniting customers with their luggage.'

The leak did not cause any delays after some passengers chose not to travel without their damaged bags.

Airport officials told ABC News that the sewage leak stemmed from a single toilet in a women's restroom inside the terminal, positioned over the baggage handling area.

The toilet overflowed, and sewage leaked through the bathroom floor and into the bagging handling area, seeping into some bags that were checked in for Southwest's early morning flights, according to the officials.</s>An overflow coming from a single toilet caused multiple bags to be coated in sewage water inside Nashville International Airport's baggage claim area.Folks at the airport began noticing the problem before dawn Wednesday. It appeared paper towels were stuffed down a toilet bowl in the women's restroom causing the water backup. WTVF reports the leakage ended up sending contaminated water on bags. About 380 pieces of luggage were taken off the carousel shortly after the discovery, but officials believe just some of those bags were affected.The leak also caused a 10- to 20-minute delay of 10 flights as officials sorted through the bags.It's not known how many bags were withheld from passengers.Southwest Airlines, which was the affected carrier of the leak, said it would replace some of the bags, but did not offer flight vouchers.Unfortunately, this was not the first time the airport has suffered a leak, and officials are mulling "structural changes" to its drainage system.</s>A clogged toilet is to blame for a stinky situation that trickled through the Nashville airport on Wednesday morning.

Airport officials at the Nashville International Airport were forced to hastily remove approximately 380 pieces of luggage from Southwest’s baggage-handling area after sewage-tinged water began dripping from the ceiling onto the checked bags, reports WRKN.

However, despite their efforts, up to 200 of those bags may have been contaminated, a representative for Southwest Airlines told Fox News.

Cleaning crews reportedly traced the source of the overflow to a ladies’ restroom in C concourse, near Gate C5. According to airport officials, someone had stuffed or tried to flush paper towels down the toilet, which caused the drainage system to back up and overflow.

Eventually, the water began dripping down onto the a baggage-handling room, where the 200 bags were "potentially affected,” the Southwest spokesperson confirmed.

The airline also said the bags were cleaned, and in some cases replaced.

"We appreciate our Nashville Employee’s efforts to contact our Customers, process the bags, and reunite our customers with their luggage," Southwest wrote in a statement. "We estimate about 200 bags were potentially affected, and they were sanitized, and in some cases, replacement bags offered.

"There were no flight delays attributed to this, and the issue was resolved by 1 p.m."

Southwest passenger Kate Riley, however, told WRKN that her flight from Nashville to Florida was in fact delayed. She further claimed that passengers weren’t initially notified of the problem, but rather told that “issues with the luggage” were delaying the flight. She explained that she was only notified of the sewage issue upon landing in Florida.

Riley also confirmed to WRKN that she was offered $100 per day as compensation for her baggage, which airport officials held for cleaning purposes.

“The Airport Authority regrets the mishap with the plumbing and we apologize to all who may have been inconvenienced,” said a representative for the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority in a statement to Fox News.

“We also salute all who responded so quickly to remedy the situation and return luggage to passengers.”

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Airport officials further stated that they will be making structural changes to the airport’s drainage system, as a similar incident occurred on June 1, reports WRKN.</s>A toilet at the airport in Nashville, TN overflowed causing sewage to leak through the floor onto luggage.

Officials said the toilet overflowed because it was stuffed with paper towels.

The sewage leaked onto the luggage on a Southwest Airlines conveyor belt.

Southwest said no passengers were exposed to the sewage and the bags were sanitized because being put on the planes.

Southwest also offered to replace some of the luggage.</s>NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A sewage mishap at Nashville International Airport left luggage with a coating of sewage water and several passengers without their luggage.

Airport officials said a toilet near the C5 gate near Southwest clogged around 5 a.m. Wednesday.

Cleaning crews noticed someone had stuffed paper towels in a toilet in the women's restroom which caused the toilet to overflow.

The sewage water dripped down through the ceiling and onto the Southwest baggage claim on the floor below it.

When officials noticed the problem, they began removing about 380 bags off the convert belt, but officials said a small amount of those bags were potentially exposed.

In the meantime, 10 flights were delayed about 10-20 minutes as officials sorted through the hundreds of bags. Airport officials said a "number" of bags exposed with the water were not placed on planes. The exact number was not released.

An environmental cleanup crew was brought in to clean up the spill.

 

 It was unclear how customers would need to go about retrieving those bags or where they would be placed in the meantime.

A similar leak has happened at the airport before. Therefore, airport officials said they were looking into making structural changes to the drainage system in the bathroom to make sure a leak like this does not happen again.</s>At least 200 bags at the Nashville International Airport were soiled after an overflowing toilet leaked through the floor.

Kassie Clanton said at first Southwest Airlines said her luggage should be fine. Her child's car seat that was destroyed in the sewage leak. She said Southwest got her a new car seat and shipped the suitcase to her this morning.

"It's gross. That's just gross," Clanton said from her mother's home in Arizona. She flew out with her infant son to help her mother recover from a surgery.

Clanton said a representative at Southwest told her the bag didn't smell and that an agent looked through some of it. The airline then sent the bag to Clanton's mother's home Friday morning. Clanton said at first it looked OK from the outside.

"Everything on top was OK, but everything on the bottom of the bag, there were brown stains. Like clear brown stains on lots of it," Clanton said.

She had packed the bag full of necessities for herself and her baby, including a new pack of diapers and baby formula.

"You can see the brown on the tops of the diapers. My makeup bag where my toothbrushes were. I'm not going to use that stuff. I'm never going to use those things again," she continued.

A spokesperson for the Nashville Airport said the problem started around 5:15 a.m. Thursday, when someone in the women's restroom stuffed a toilet with paper towels at the C-terminal where Southwest transports its bags. The sewage leaked into the floor and spilled into the ceiling where at least 200 pieces of luggage were on Southwest Airlines conveyor belts.

Some bags were destroyed. Some were cleaned and sent back to passengers like Clanton.

"People don't realize how sick babies can get from things like this. It's unacceptable. It should have never been brought into our home," Clanton said.

"We deeply regret the mishap with the plumbing," said Tom Jurkovich, Vice President of Strategic Communications and External Affairs at BNA. "We certainly apologize to all who may have been inconvenienced and had other issues with their baggage."

This isn't the first time, BNA has had water leak down onto bags. In June, water seeped down onto luggage. The airport initially thought it was from an overflowing toilet. They later learned the leak was clean water coming from another pipe that was being unclogged.

They say they're now working to stop the problem for good.

"We're instituting some structural changes to the drainage system in that bathroom to a way where this could never happen again," Jurkovich said.

"I want to make sure that I can have my stuff replaced, that I can have a new bag that I can travel home in and safely," Clanton said.

She told News 4 that Southwest is only offering reimbursements for dry-cleaning. She said it has amounted to extra expenses she did not plan for during a trip to take care of her mother.

BNA officials said they are leaving the bag handling to Southwest and are assisting as needed. Southwest operates the affected baggage area, not BNA.

Anyone who has been impacted can call the BNA Information Center is 615-275-1675.

Click here to send comments to Nashville International Airport.</s>NASHVILLE, TN (WKRN) – The luggage of around 380 Southwest Airlines passengers was sprayed with sewage-tainted water at the Nashville International Airport Thursday morning.

An airport spokesman told News 2 a toilet overflowed in a women’s bathroom around 5 a.m. after someone stuffed paper towels in the toilet. The water soaked the bathroom floor and leaked down onto a secure baggage handling area.

The water then sprayed a lot of bags as they passed by on a conveyor belt. As many as 380 bags got wet, some more than others.

The bags were held so they could be treated and cleaned, according to Tom Jurkovich, Vice President of Communications. He told News 2 no one was exposed, and they are not sure how contaminated the water was, but it did come from a toilet.

“You have to act like it is, as a practical matter,” Jurkovich explained.

Ten flights were delayed due to the problem.

Southwest passenger Kate Riley told News 2 she did not know her bag was involved until hours later.

“We were in Nashville, and they came on right before we boarded and said, ‘Oh, we’re having some issues with the luggage. Don’t worry. We’re getting all the bags on; there’s just an issue. But we’re just gonna load up and we’re gonna take off,’” she recalled.

Riley said her flight was delayed but did take off for Ft. Lauderdale. Passengers did not discover their luggage was missing until they went to baggage claim in Florida.

“And the issue is, things happen. I mean, if a pipe bursts and our bags are covered in sewage, OK. But why did they board us and make us leave?” Riley questioned. “People had issues that we could’ve dealt with in Nashville. They knew that getting us on the plane, letting us happily fly out of Nashville with no luggage.”

Riley said the airline offered her $100 per day for the trip. She was also told she can claim restitution.

News 2 has reached out to Southwest Airlines for more information and has yet to hear back.

This is not the first time a toilet has overflowed and led to a similar situation at the Nashville airport. It also happened on June 1 just two months ago.

The airport is now looking at making structural changes to the drainage system in the bathroom so a leak doesn’t happen again.</s>Yesterday morning, water from a restroom directly above the baggage handling area at Nashville’s airport leaked through the floor and onto hundreds of bags below. While the water came from a plugged toilet, officials treated it as sewage, and removed 380 bags from Southwest flights that were on the carousel to check for, um, dampness.

The leak occurred because someone plugged a toilet in the women’s restroom with paper towels, flooding the area. While that isn’t the same as splattering bags with raw sewage, airport officials still took precautions, and brought in an environmental cleanup crew.

“The affected bags are being sanitized, and in some cases, replacement bags are being offered,” Southwest said in a statement.

This isn’t the first time that this has happened at Nashville’s airport, though. TV station KTRK reports (warning: auto-play video at that link) that the airport authorities are considering restructuring the airport’s drainage system to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

“Second time that has happened? First time that’s OK, but a second time?” one passenger told CBS (warning: auto-play video at that link) after he learned about the incident last year.

Another Southwest passenger told TV station WKRN that her plane simply took off without her bags, and she wasn’t the only traveler affected in that way.

“People had issues that we could’ve dealt with in Nashville,” she told the TV station. “They knew that getting us on the plane, letting us happily fly out of Nashville with no luggage.”
A sewage leak, due to a single toilet, contaminated about 200 passengers's bags at Nashville International Airport, according to Southwest Airlines.