Another CBC article : lost bags on AC affecting wedding
 

Yet another reminder to me that I'm doing the right thing by cramming up to 8 days worth of stuff in my carry on, despite the fact that I can check bags for free.

If something is so critical/so valuable, why wouldn't you carry it on? Its one suit....

I always carry on only, but if I'm gone for a long time or need a checked bag, I make sure to only check things that I can easily replace, and keep the most valuable/favourite things in my carry on.

1) Lost bags, especially for that long, is a big mess up.

2) aways pack important things in carry on.

First, you have to remember, never sweat the small stuff. Did the people make it? Yes. A ring bearer without a suit will just be an interesting twist to the wedding. It's small stuff.

Second, I get why people who rarely fly, trust the airline to deliver them and their bags. There is nothing wrong with expecting that. AC needs to find the bag and get it there.

The responses to this family's crisis show a lack of empathy and an understanding of how disruptive Air Canada's baggage services are.
I too have suffered the AC baggage ineptness. Short or longhaul flights, it doesn't matter, because AC is a chronic bungler and is not held accountable due to the lack of passenger protections as there are in the USA and EU.

Passing through YUL, I observed the following AC disarray on a day of good weather. And this was after the AC personnel moved one row of bags away. Unfortunately, this is often my experience with AC baggage. People were lined up 10+ deep at the counter trying to get some help. It is so frustrating trying to get one's bag, because the information that is provided by the tracking website is often unreliable. It's worse when one is making a connection, because AC says it only has to deliver to the ticket destination.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f66fc04ae3.jpg

AC Baggage



Seriously? Do you not see the state of some flights where there is no room onboard for even a carry on and the bags are "gate checked? Well, when Ma and Pa kettle are traveling with larger than usual carry ons, they are the first to get singled out at checkin. At other times they are carrying a lot of stuff like gifts and other valuables that they prefer to carry on, so there is no room for the suit.

And what of people who cannot carry around the bag? It's great that you are physically fit to do so, but on any given flight a large number of the passengers may be unable to carry a heavy carry on. I did exactly as you have done on my last TPAC. However, I knew that coming back to YYZ, the hike from the E Gates to Immigration is long. I was not in any condition to carry that bag all that way. And why should I? I paid $5K+ for a ticket and the airline should certainly be able to take care of one small checked in bag.

Almost every Flyertalk thread revolves around the concept of responsibility. Some believe that when it hits the fan, responsibility is on the person/the customer/you/me. Some believe that the responsibility should be on someone else, the carrier, the organization, the employer etc.

There is no right or wrong answer here, just a belief as to which is right or wrong.

I'm so tired of these, there's fault all around. Yet all the blame gets laid at AC's feet. It's entirely possible the belt system sent the bag to the Westjet bagroom.

There's so many things that are unknown. I will fully admit there are s****y airport employees and that bags get missed sometimes due to the fault of 1 singular person. But this isn't news, if I wrote 1 paragraph a day about all the missed bags I see here at YVR, you'd have hundreds of paragraphs every single day. All it is is an attack at AC. Where's the hatchet job on WS who pushed their LGW flight yesterday, brought it back to the gate, then hours later told everyone it was all good on they were on the way, then cancelled the flight and flew them out today. Was not a mechanical issue.

That wasn't news, neither is this.

I recognize that I came off like a donkey, and people are right, it's perfectly reasonable for an inexperienced flyer to expect their bags to be delivered along with them on the metal they arrive on.

I guess I'm a fairly cynical guy, but it seems to me that lost bags are a fate that hundreds of people suffer daily in this country and I don't see every one of those people contacting national media outlets hoping for their moment in the spotlight.

As far as physical strength goes, what kind of carry-on are we talking about here?! I'm not one of these people that has a bag 7 inches bigger than it should be and 4 random plastic bags. I have a compact roller that moves through the airport almost entirely effortlessly. I rather expect it's the same for you since you're a flyer with status.

Nothing can excuse the airlines for lost bags. They're all deplorable, and the payouts they give when it happens is laughable. Having said that, EVERYONE knows this yet continue to act surprised when it occurs.

There are two responsibilites here:

1. Personal responsibility to consider and mitigate risk (i.e. if you really must have something, keep it in your possession).
2. Contractual responsibility to deliver the bag or provide compensation.

1 - is a matter of degree and personal judgement, and your comment is correct.
2 - is a fact, and is unquestionably a "wrong" if not fulfilled.

Air Canada has conditioned customers (including me) to accept being treated shabbily. It has done this by limiting the amount of information available to customers and the public that reflect the airline's customer service deficiencies. In the USA, airlines report to the US DOT their monthly data for all reports of mishandled baggage, including reports of damage to wheels, straps, zippers, handles, and other protruding parts of checked baggage beyond normal wear and tear.

In Canada, there is little reporting and even less publication of data from the government like this; https://www.transportation.gov/sites...-july-atcr.pdf
Few injured Canadian passengers are aware of how to file a complaint or what they are entitled to. The airline certainly doesn't tell them and the government sits on its hands

In all my years of flying EVA TPAC, never once did they lose or not load my luggage, including some odd and tight connections both with EVA and with other carriers. Same for NH and TG. During this same period, AC on which I had fewer flights, lost or failed to load, or failed to transfer etc. my bag on multiple flights. Trying to get information from the airline was an exercise in futility. It amazes me that in the same winter weather conditions, EVA could unload its aircraft at YYZ in a prompt and timely manner, while AC could not unload their own aircraft.

This will only change once there is transparency and Canadian airlines are forced to publish their results like in the USA. There is a big difference between a sudden and unexpected mishap, and a policy of limited resources and intentional service constraints that underlies the mishandled baggage issue. In plain language, some airlines have poor results because they don't put much emphasis on obtaining better results. They are like that because they can get away with it.

Like Peter Greenburg once said, "there are two types of luggage carry on and lost". With very few exceptions, I'll carry on whatever bags I'm taking with me because I don't want to have to wait to check in the bags, wait for the bags to arrive on the carousel and worse lose the bags. Whenever I do check in a bag it's when it's absolutely necessary (i.e. moving, visiting a USDA/TSA zone like HNL or SJU, or carrying fragile items in carry on bag forcing a checked bag). Whenever I've had to check bags on UA, LX, or MS there were never any problems with lost luggage *knock on wood*. Have never experimented with AC but will see in September when I fly to MAN to start my studies @ York.

That being said it's still crazy how AC could screw this up. We aren't talking about an international itinerary where they have to fly the darn bag half way across the world, we're talking about a short haul flight where if they fail to load the bag they could easily push it onto the next flight and the bag will be delayed perhaps a couple of hours (certainly not days). In AC's defence at least they offered cash this time and not one of those 5% off base fare vouchers :p

Safe Travels,

James

If the two boys aren't wearing matching suits, it's not the end of the world. The wedding will still go ahead. Nothing needs to be cancelled. The day isn't ruined.

That said, AC sounds appalling.

On simple itineraries we take our stuff as carryon. If we have connections making carrying on more painful, we check. In nearly 2 million miles, I recall only two or three times when checked luggage did not make it on the same flight, either on LH or on flights that involved an LH connection.

But yes, we know it can happen that things get messed up, and one needs to plan accordingly.

Bottom line, this is a non-event. How to dress at a wedding, big deal? Nobody died, this is not the bride. So they could have planned better, sure, if the thing was so critical.

Once, in Moscow, I was chairing the first session of the first day of a conference, luggage delayed. Very pleased to be there wearing jeans and tee shirt.

Coincidentally, we just flew to YYT on Sunday for a wedding this week. Traveled with the bride and two octogenarians. Carry-on was just not an option so we packed up all the wedding gear and everything else into 6 big bags and hoped for the best. The wedding dress did get hung in the front closet though. Everything made it just fine, but I had the benefit of knowing that the concierge would help if something went astray for us. I can't imagine how frustrating it would be for the family dealing with the lost baggage call centre. The last time I did that I was in Wabush, trying to explain that I was still in Canada, and then once that was made clear why it wouldn't help if they got my luggage to St. John's for me to pick up. I suspect AC now has some fixers on this case and I hope the bags are located in time for the wedding!

All airlines lose bags, some more often than others. In most cases, it is the service recovery that is an issue. On a simple trip like this one, even if the bags did not make it there should be a easy way to track and the bags should be on the next flight. It is this failure that is making the news, I doubt very much that this would be newsworthy if the bags were on the next flight.

Step by step guides available for dealing with all lost/delayed or damaged baggage here - https://airpassengerrights.ca/en/pra...guides/baggage - including useful info on limits of liability, how much you can spend when bags go missing and have the airline reimburse you, what your rights are so you know where you stand if the airlines try to hoodwink you into believing you don't have all the rights that you do. Plenty of citations of previous legal cases in the FAQ

Big deal. Bags get lost some times. AC has promised compensation.

Get over it. Find a Tip Top and buy the kid a new suit. Send the bill to Air Canada and let them sort it out.

I've checked a bag ~5 times since gaining status. It was delayed on 2 of those occasions.

I no longer check bags.

My ability to get by with just carry-on makes it not worth the risk for me.