sokolov

Friends of mine were denied boarding by AC in FRA on their way to Canada because their luggage had not been loaded in time. I think they'll get Euro 600 each in compensation under EU rules.

They were traveling BUD-FRA-...-YVR. AC ticket with the first leg operated by LH.

Upon arrival in FRA, they went to the gate on time, but AC denied them boarding. The reason stated was that their luggage had not been loaded in time. According to my friends, several people who had already boarded were deboarded for the same reason.

I have never heard of a thing like that. I've heard that luggage was unloaded due to late passengers, but not the other way round.

My hunch: AC was short in staff and had to reduce the passenger count on that flight. So they made up a reason.

expert7700

Short staff wouldn't be a reason. Flight crew ratios are governed by the # of seats on a plane. Not # of passengers.

​​​​​​1 pax or 450 pax will result in the same # of crew.
​​​​​​

ChrisA330

100% agree. AC also crews their widebodies with more FAs than required by the regulations.

recreationaltimetraveller

This happened to me last year YWG-YYZ-LAX where my bag vanished when it was unloaded at YYZ and never made it through US Customs scanning so I was unable to go through pre-clearance (despite me pleading to fly without my bag) and I got stuck in bag jail and missed my flight to LAX. I ended up being delayed until the following day (flew YYZ-YVR later that night, overnighted in YVR and flew to LA the next morning). It took some escalation but AC after weeks of arguing offered me a $1000 CAD voucher, so I would absolutely push for more than the EC261 compensation especially if they're willing to take a voucher.

Stranger

Still, that's not the same situation, as in the OP's case US customs are not involved. Passengers are routinely allowed to travel even though luggage gets delayed.

Could juat be that the AC folks at FRA used that excuse to explain them getting offloaded, but that the real reason was something else. Such as, overbooking?

canadiancow

If we had flight details, someone might be able to determine that.

But I'm not sure baseless speculation is productive.

PTahCha

Does either Germany or Canada have a bag positive match requirement? Meaning the bag has to travel with the passenger.

Have to admit the situation is unusual, since delayed luggage happens, especially with what's going on in European hubs.

canadiancow

"Positive bag match" is a requirement that the passenger cannot be the one who causes the bag to fly without them. If I check a bag and no-show my flight (and there's a rule for the route/country/airline), they have to offload it.

If the airline screws up and doesn't transfer my bag properly, I'm still allowed to fly.

mahasamatman

Yep. My brother's bag was stuck in MUC for a week and they let him fly.

Symmetre

Lots of people arriving sans luggage these days, so the story of not being allow to fly without luggage seems suspicious.

sokolov

That's what I thought, but I am told the plane left with several empty seats. Some people who had already boarded were offboarded. All under the weird argument of "delayed luggage".

respectable_man

This almost happened to me a few years ago. After a much delayed arrival due to YYZ construction, I was allowed on a connecting TATL flight because I had carry-on, but others with checked luggage were not, as their luggage could not be transferred in time. An AC gate agent basically “re-authorized” my ticket at the gate and let me in. I was the very last pax to board and hardly had time to sit before the plane pushed back.

StuMcIlwain

This sounds weird. I've travelled many times when my bags have been delayed. With such a rule, there would be thousands of passengers stuck in major airports around the world right now, trying to find their luggage so they could continue their journeys. Maybe poorly trained new staff were working the gate?

blue2002

weight and balance?

kangarooflyer88

Just spoke with a friend who encountered the same situation trying to board AC33 in YVR having come off an inbound UA flight in ORD. This is now their second day being left stranded in North America due to Air Canada's incompetence (flight from YUL > YVR was cancelled and was forced a routing via ORD). Seems absolutely perverse to me that they would deny someone boarding due to their inability to load bags correctly. And it's clearly not a security issue because if that was the case bags would never get "lost" on flights since passengers wouldn't be allowed to board until bags were found. We also know airlines routinely put lost bags on passenger flights to reunite them with passengers.

It seems to me like AC is using this as a way to deny boarding to passengers without being held accountable for denied boarding.

-RooFlyer88