A devastated Pennsylvania wife is suing US Airways for allegedly losing her dead husband’s ashes after she was forced to put them in checked baggage.
Angeline O’Grady said an urn containing the remains of partner Brian James O’Grady was lost from her suitcase as she flew from Philadelphia to England in November 2011.
The grieving widow had wanted to visit her spouse’s hometown of Hull so that she could scatter the 71-year-old’s ashes in his favorite spot.
But on her arrival at the airport, Transportation Security Administration agents said she couldn’t bring the cardboard box containing the urn through security “because its contents were not a solid substance.”
She went back to the front desk and put the box inside her case.
Running late, she almost missed her flight, and because the airline had given up her seat, she had to pay out an extra $500 for a first-class ticket.
The final insult was when, after arriving at her sister-in-law’s house in northern England, she she opened her bag to discover the urn was no longer there, she said.
O’Grady, who lives in Trumbauersville, now wants compensation from the airline, which she says has done “nothing” to help her plight.
“My kids — everybody’s upset, and US Air just blows us off,” she said. “He was a great guy. He doesn’t deserve this.”
A lawsuit filed in Common Pleas Court this week reads, “US Airways, rather than Mr and Mrs O’Grady, had the last word in determining his final resting place. He is not at peace.”
Andrew Christie, airline spokesman, told the Philadelphia Daily News that the firm sent its condolences to O’Grady.
But he added, “U.S. Airways’ investigation into this matter did not uncover any information indicating that it is responsible for this unfortunate incident.
“We, of course, will defend ourselves against this suit,” he added.
