A Southwest passenger says her luggage arrived soaking wet after a storm delay, damaging her wrapped Christmas gifts

• Emily Andrews was on a Southwest flight on Christmas Eve that was delayed due to weather.
• She says her bag was left outside, and her bag's contents, including gifts, were left soaking wet.

It wasn't until Emily Andrews arrived at her mom's house in Connecticut to celebrate Christmas that she realized her wrapped gifts were ruined.

Andrews told Business Insider that the damage occurred while the gifts were in her check-in suitcase as she was traveling on Christmas Eve from Austin, Texas, to Hartford, Connecticut.

Her Southwest Airlines flight departed about 40 minutes late due to lightning, Andrews said. She had checked in her hard-shell suitcase filled with gifts like a matted picture frame for her sister and a stuffed animal for her niece.

Andrews said her main concern with the rainy weather was the delay — not her belongings getting wet.

But when she landed in Hartford and opened her bag at her mother's house, she said, everything in the suitcase — including her Christmas gifts — was soaking wet.

"My guess is they just left everyone's baggage on the tarmac," Andrews said, though BI was unable to confirm what happened after asking a Southwest representative for more information. "I would assume that Southwest would cover it and not let it just sit out in the pouring rain like that," she said.

In a statement sent to BI, a Southwest representative said, "We make reasonable efforts to load items with care and return them promptly at the destination city."

Thankfully, most of the gifts were salvageable, Andrews said. The frame for her sister was warped, but the matting wasn't ruined. She threw the stuffed animal in the dryer and borrowed wrapping paper from her mom to re-wrap all her gifts.

A Southwest representative suggested Andrews file a report with the airline. Andrews told BI she reached out to to the airline about the situation on the social-media platform X and via email after her flight. As of Tuesday, she said she's received confirmation that the airline got her email.

Damaged gifts weren't the only problem Southwest passengers say they faced this holiday season — not unlike the year prior

A number of Southwest Airlines passengers were left stranded in their departing destinations this Christmas.

According to FlightAware, a website that tracks canceled and delayed flights, Southwest Airlines canceled 110 flights on Christmas and 910 flights were delayed.

Across all airlines, Southwest ranked second in airlines with the most cancellations on Christmas day and first in delays, FlightAware's data shows.

On Tuesday, a Southwest Airlines representative said, "Our operation is currently healthy and stable and we do not anticipate any significant disruptions today."

This year's numbers are still an improvement after last year.

More than 2 million Southwest Airlines travelers were stranded last December, the Associated Press previously reported.

A winter storm and its aftermath caused nearly 17,000 canceled Southwest flights last year.

In response, the airline agreed to a $140 million settlement with the federal government, which includes $90 million in vouchers for future travel delays, the AP reported earlier this month.

As for Andrews, she said that next year she'll be wrapping presents in plastic, not paper.