Southwest Airline employee personally delivers cancer patient's lost luggage

A Southwest airline employee has been called a guardian angel. Photo / 123RF

A Southwest airline employee has been called a guardian angel after her ultimate gesture to a sick passenger.

Sarah Rowan, 27, was manning the customer call centre of Southwest's Pittsburgh office when she received a distressed call in the evening from a passenger who had lost their luggage.

Stacy Hurt, 46, had just arrived back home in Pittsburgh from Nashville. However, her luggage. which contained vital medication she needed in it for her chemotherapy, hadn't.

Ms Hurt, who is battling Stage 4 colon cancer, had to change to a direct flight in order to make it home in time for her monthly chemotherapy appointment the next morning, according to ABC News. But her luggage remained on her previously booked connecting flight, which was rerouted back to Nashville due to mechanical issues.

"I sort of panicked," Ms Hurt told ABC News.

"I said, 'I need that luggage. It has a lot of items I need for chemotherapy tomorrow.'"

Packed away inside the bag was medication Ms Hurt takes to ease the side effects of chemotherapy.

Ms Rowan assured Ms Hurt she would track down her luggage and when it eventually arrived at Pittsburgh International Airport around 2am, she knew it had missed the last courier and would likely not get to Ms Hurt before her appointment at 9am.

So she took it upon herself to personally deliver the bag.

Sometimes going the extra mile means actually going extra miles. We're pulling for you, Stacy!

Posted by Southwest Airlines on Monday, 7 August 2017

"I looked up her address to see how far away she lived and she lived about 20 minutes away," Ms Rowan told ABC News.

"So in my head, me getting home a little bit later was less important than her getting the bag she needed for her chemotherapy treatment."

Ms Hurt woke the next morning to find her luggage on the porch with a handwritten note wishing her good luck.

She post the heartwarming story on Facebook, where it has gone viral.

"Sarah, I don't know you, but THANK YOU! You give new meaning to the words 'exceptional customer service'," Ms Hurt wrote on Facebook.

She has since been able to thank Ms Rowan personally over social media.