Last month, college student Sydney Fowls bet her disbelieving family members $20 that she could baggage-check her pool noodle under Southwest Airlines' "two bags fly free" policy without issue.
Not only did she win that wager, but she also scored big with a series of TikTok videos that has since gone viral, in which she comedically documents her foam noodle's journey from check-in to baggage claim during her travels from Columbus to Tampa and back.
The popularity of her first video prompted the Ohio native to follow up with a post outlining the "top 3 reasons why I checked my pool noodle", in which she wrote: "It was a $20 bet!! As a broke college student who is an education major…I just couldn't resist."
Her second post continued, "I DID NOT have to pay to bring my noodle!", captioning a screenshot of Southwest's "two bags fly free" policy and explaining that the noodle counted as her second baggage item. Next, she wrote, "I am aware that I can buy a pool noodle in Florida…but dang they are expensive!" alongside a photo of a bin full of swim noodles that are presumably erroneously priced at $228 apiece.
Fowls' TikToks caught the attention of someone at Southwest, and the airline decided to jump in on the fun, reposting the videos to its Twitter feed and coming up with a couple of surprises for her return trip to Ohio.
At Tampa International Airport, airline staff had decorated the terminal and gifted her a Southwest-branded pool noodle. "Southwest came together and planned some really cool things for my trip home!" Fowls divulged in a follow-up TikTok.
"I got a warm welcome home in Columbus," she captioned in her post, along with a video of the local runway crew wildly dancing and waving multicolored pool noodles at her plane as it taxied in. Lastly, "The amazing Southwest employees filled the baggage claim with pool noodles and beach balls to show their appreciation, saying it made their day," Fowls told Nexstar Media reporters. She told the outlet that the trip would be forever memorable.
@sydneyfowls05My pool noodle made it back home to Ohio! Thank you Southwest Airlines for everything you did for me! @flysouthwest @junebug2433 ##viral
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