Passenger got his luggage back 30 days after it was lost, but everything inside was soaking wet

• A passenger travelling from Boston to Paris via Heathrow had his luggage lost by Delta partners.
• When Guy Elsmore-Paddock's bag was returned 30 days later it was damaged and the contents were wet.

A passenger got his luggage back 30 days after it was lost on a trip from Boston to Paris. There was only one problem: everything inside was soaking wet.

Guy Elsmore-Paddock booked with Delta and left Boston on June 28 on a Delta ticket on flight operated by its codeshare partner Virgin Atlantic to London Heathrow, and then Air France to Paris Charles De Gaulle.

His problems began on his first flight as the plane had to return to Boston due to a problem with the landing gear.

After eventually making it to Heathrow, a booking mix-up meant Elsmore-Paddock was not given a boarding pass for the Paris flight until the last minute.

He finally got to France, but his luggage was nowhere to be found. After filing a missing luggage report, a staff member told him not to expect to get it while he spent a week in the French capital.

Its loss meant Elsmore-Paddock had to spend about €800, or about $820, on new clothes and bags. He said he also had to get smart items "for a dinner cruise that had a formal dress code."

After boarding his return flight, passengers were asked to get off the plane because there was an "issue with water being somewhere it's not supposed to be," he said.

Elsmore-Paddock finally received his luggage on July 28 – a month after it went missing – but "it was soaking wet, one of the zippers was broken off, and one of the luggage tags was broken off," he told Insider. It is not clear why the items inside were wet.

There was one bright note for the passenger at least: his new bag did make it back to Boston with him.

Elsmore-Paddock said he had not heard from the airline about compensation.

Delta was contacted for comment.