Chicago-Bound Southwest Flight Delayed by Stinky Luggage

A Chicago-bound Southwest Airlines flight was briefly delayed at San Francisco International Airport Wednesday morning after runway crews smelled an unusual odor coming from two bags being loaded onto the plane, an airport duty manager said.

The incident involved Southwest Flight 2436, which was scheduled to depart at 6 a.m. for Chicago Midway International Airport, SFO duty manager Cathy Morrison said. Crews smelled an unusual odor coming from a bag and asked firefighters to inspect it. Nothing suspicious was found and crews continued loading the luggage onto the plane until they smelled a second bag with the same odor, Morrison said.

Hazmat crews were re-dispatched to inspect both bags and could not find the source of the smell. Eventually, it was determined that the odor was caused by an aerosol can of hairspray.

The flight eventually departed from SFO at 7:03 a.m., more than an hour late, according to flight status data on Southwest.com.

— Bay City News

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