Last week, we were travelling YHZ-YYZ-PLS. Our original flight (AC603) from YHZ to YYZ was cancelled because the inbound aircraft had mechanical issues. We were rebooked on AC607, which made for a 65-minute dom-int'l connection at YYZ. Doable, if all went well. Our bags were tagged for a hot transfer.

Unfortunately, we arrived in YYZ almost 40 minutes late, which gave us about 20 minutes to make our connection to PLS. We charged through the terminal and arrived at the gate at 8.56 am (departure time was 9.05). It had already closed, and we asked the GA if we could still board.

She asked if we had checked bags, I said yes, and she replied that the bags wouldn't have had time to be transferred so therefore we couldn't board, because obviously we had to accompany our bags. My father was on the plane texting me, telling me that people were still walking down the aisle, etc., but the GA held firm and kept us off, saying we'd need to rebook for the next flight, the next day. The flight ultimately departed the gate a few minutes late, at 9.13.

At the customer service desk, we rebooked and got meal vouchers and a hotel covered, since the original cancellation we encountered was mechanical. The agent said we could pick up our bags if we wanted to, but we said no. In that case, we were told they'd be on the flight with us the next day. We were bummed about missing a day of our vacation but we got it: we missed the flight because of our checked bags.

Fast forward to the following day. When we arrived in PLS, our bags did NOT come off the carousel. After checking at the airport, it turned out that our bags HAD made our original flight and had been sitting in a storage room at PLS since the day before! Wait, what? So we were denied boarding based only on the GA's incorrect belief that our bags wouldn't make the flight? That decision cost us a day of our trip, allowed our bags to fly without us, and cost AC over $200 for meals and hotel to put us up in Toronto overnight. It seems like all parties came out behind on this one.

I've always been very lucky with checked bags and have never had to deal with anything like this before. I can't help but wonder: is visibility on the actual location of baggage really so poor that none of the agents we dealt with (at the gate, at customer service, and at checkin the next day) could see that our bags had been loaded and departed after all? My complaint to AC only got a canned response and the usual discount code offer, so I'd be interested in any insight from the experts.

Probably because they had to wait for bags to finish loading ;-)

Thanks - that was my thinking as well. I asked if we could still board now and have our bags go down the next day. I got a hard no on that, but the opposite scenario was not a problem, apparently.

Boarding was still underway, I went up the empty Z1/2 line and asked the agent if my bags were gonna make it, she said yes. I didn’t believe her but didn’t want to hold up general boarding.

We actually pushed back about 30 mins late, and luggage did make it.

Given the number of flights I’ve had delayed because of having to offload bags (for security reasons) from pax that didn’t make the flight .. it staggers me that this could occur. To my mind it’s quite a security lapse that AC should be made aware of and investigate. The intention is that bags can come late as long as the intention was to travel with them. They shouldn’t go early.

As to stopping loading, well this is par for the course with many airlines (not that I agree with it in cases like this where the plane was still loading) and not a huge surprise. I always wonder here how oversold the flight was and when (if) they offloaded the pax.