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Cargo Shipment in the News

cday
Frequent Flyer C
You may have seen recent media reports referencing a Cargo Shipment containing human specimens that was refused by Southwest Airlines in Little Rock on June 9.  Although it is common to transport human specimens for medical purposes, a longstanding Southwest Cargo Customer attempted to transport a shipment without following policies  in relation to labeling, packaging, and properly declaring the contents. Southwest Employees immediately alerted all relevant parties to investigate the shipment and ultimately, refused to transport the items. Given the contents of the shipment, the local authorities were notified and assumed control over the shipment. 

6 Comments
Massage_Gal_Nik
Explorer C
I have a friend who runs a shipping/copying store and yes, there are *very specific rules* on transporting human tissue samples. It has to be packaged a certain way, it has to be IDENTIFIED what it is on the package and on the shipping manifest and there have to be all sorts of stickers placed on the package declaring special handling. So, I can only hope that this was a new person with the customer who did not know this. If it was a person trying to pull a fast one and not follow proper procedures - shame on them!
jones36
Explorer C
Interesting find.
Jacob
Explorer C
I'm just curious as to how the "human specimens" were discovered. Was there some sort of labeling, or did the cargo agent literally open it up to discover the "specimens"? Yeesh, imagine being that guy.... "I wonder what's in here...? OMG!"
Darek
Explorer C
"REAL MAN OF GENIOUSSSS! Today we salute you Mr sneak a human specimen on board Guy"
7hr33
Explorer C
Well, I'll tell you one thing. Getting cut up into little pieces and going cargo has to be more comfortable than flying coach on American! Haha, just kidding AA, you know we love ya! Cap'n 7hr33
w5pda
Adventurer B
Regardless of who's at fault here, it's good to hear that the crew at LIT was on their toes, no pun intended :-) Paul In CRP