Although inconvenient, it’s not uncommon to have luggage lost while traveling. But when that luggage contains a prosthetic leg, it’s time to talk to customer service. ASAP. A St. Louis, Missouri man is speaking out after he claims American Airlines lost his limb.

Michael Williams says American Airlines refuses to reimburse him for the $26,000 prosthetic leg he allegedly lost while traveling with them in 2020. The St. Louis resident insisted he gave an airline worker a suitcase labeled “fragile” at check-in before he boarded a flight from Indianapolis to Charlotte and never saw his leg again. “You can’t do this to somebody that’s disabled. Just say, ‘Hey, we lost something of yours, but we’re not going to pay for it,’” he told Fox 2 Now in an article updated yesterday (May 10).

He then recalled what happened after he landed. “They roll me downstairs to the baggage claim. I’m sitting there waiting for my luggage to come off, and [it] never comes off,” Williams stated. He said that although he informed staff at the airport of his missing belongings, they capped his reimbursement at $600 — a price he said isn’t nearly enough to cover his custom prosthetic. “When I spoke with the young lady that was handling the claim, she told me this was to cover the clothes that you lost. I was like, ‘Ok, fine, great,’” the concerned customer shared.

Williams told the St. Louis news station that he waited for a few weeks, so American Airlines could conduct a thorough investigation regarding his missing property, but when he finally did hear back, it wasn’t the news he’d hoped for. Williams said a representative told him there was not “enough proof or evidence to pay for the leg.” He has since retained a lawyer. In the meantime, Fox 2 Now reached out to the company for a statement but did not hear back.