Delta passengers receive luggage soaked in jet fuel

On Sunday, a group of friends were returning home from a vacation in Puerto Rico. Shortly after landing at Denver International Airport, they retrieved their bags to find out they had been drenched in jet fuel.
Delta Airlines Representatives had them fill out a complaint and sent them home with their bags smelling of fumes. They told them to wash everything they could and for everything else submit a reimbursement form within 24 hours.

"I'm not sure what to do with baggage that smells like jet fuel because to me that seems like a hazard and I should just dump it in my trash can. I don't really know how to handle it," Kathy Shoemaker, a Delta passenger, said.
9NEWS Aviation Expert, Greg Feith, says the contaminated luggage could be a serious fire hazard on the airplane, at the airport, and at the passengers' home.
A Delta representative told the passengers the soaking probably happened on the ground in Puerto Rico, meaning the bags flew with them all the way to Denver. That didn't sit well with Kathy.

"I don't think anyone wants luggage that's been soaked in fuel in the luggage compartment of their flight. I don't ever want to think that would ever happen again cause it seems to me there was enough luggage that was soaked that any kind of spark would have blown up our plane. "
Feith says the possibility of fuel leaking from an aircraft fuel tank into the cargo pit during flight is virtually impossible. But he says the airline should always try to find the source of any fuel contamination.

9NEWS tried to contact Delta representatives for comment but our messages weren't returned.