Agree that someone with high elite status with an airline, hotel, car rental company or other travel vendor should shop elsewhere if they are treated unfairly. If AC couldn't directly reimburse the OP in cash for stolen valuables in his luggage for the various possible reasons shown in this thread, it would have been reasonable to provide the OP with an apology for the incident (that costs nothing). They could have also offered indirect compensation in frequent flier miles, free upgrades or other AC perks as a token gesture without admitting any responsibility, even though the OP likely has plenty of these perks already.

As for luggage being pilfered on DL, there was a major DL luggage theft ring that was busted at BDL near my home a couple of years ago: http://articles.courant.com/2009-03-...ta-spokeswoman Sometimes customs/immigration in some countries will pilfer luggage, but it can also sometimes be crooked airline employees. The real culprit may never be found...

On high domestic AC fares, their international fares on non-competitive routes can be just as bad. Try looking up an Air Canada Jazz short hop flight from BDL to YYZ and back...they have the only non-stop service to YYZ and often charge a hefty premium for business travelers on tight schedules (used to occasionally take this flight for business when could get a reasonable deal compared to one stops on US carriers).

I'm surprised that no AC and/or DL rep has responded to this thread. Many travel vendors monitor FT threads and respond appropriately when something is reported messed up.