When Steve checked in at London’s Heathrow airport for his recent Air Canada flight home, he decided to check his carry-on bag. It was bulging with the purchase of new shoes (yes, again) and he feared it wouldn’t fit in the overhead bin. When he arrived in Montreal his bag did not. Ok, it happens. But when he went to the lost baggage desk, he was shocked to learn they had no record he had even checked a bag. Now what?

There must be a mistake

At first he was sure there was a mistake. He retrieved his boarding pass and sure enough, there wasn’t a baggage tag receipt attached. Steve recalled that at Heathrow, the Air Canada agent asked him to turn his bag around on the luggage conveyor so she could tag it. In the end, she must not have.

Baggage Services informed Steve that he could not register a lost bag until he got to his final destination – Winnipeg. He also had to fill out a customs form saying that he was leaving the airport with unaccompanied goods to follow.

In Winnipeg, he filled out a lost baggage form and got a tracking number. He was told he would have to wait five days before making a claim while they tried to track it down. Five days! Steve cursed his decision to check his carry-on as he tallied its contents that were now who knows where. He was flying out again in a week and there were several items in his bag that he needed for work.

Not feeling the love

After a couple of days, Steve called Air Canada and talked to the department responsible for tracking bags and asked what they had done so far. He found out they had done nothing. It was only after insistent urging that they agreed to contact Montreal, London, and Winnipeg to see if the bag had surfaced. A couple of days later they called back to say there was no news about the bag.

But the agent did not tag the bag!

Steve was incredibly frustrated as the days passed without any news. He understood that bags sometimes get lost, but was not feeling that anyone was making a big effort to find his. His Air Canada Elite tag and I.D. were attached to the bag. Surely it would be easy to track what flight it was on. Given the fact that he practically sees Air Canada’s ticket agents more than he sees me, surely they couldn’t believe he was flying without any luggage from a week’s long trip to London. Could they?

Day 5 – No bag

Believing there was now no hope of the bag’s return, Steve began to itemize its contents. Total cost of the bag and all that was in it – $2,500 (never check electronic equipment of any kind). Reviewing the claim form, he learned that a number of items aren’t covered: cash, jewellery, and electronics (doh!). Nice. So with the clamp down on carry-on luggage, where are you supposed to put all your stuff?

Buying replacements

With no word on the bag and Steve having to fly out in a couple of days, we had no choice but to buy replacements for key items he needed. We made sure to keep receipts and buy at stores with a good return policy should the bag show up.

A week and a half later, upon his return to Winnipeg’s airport, Steve had a voice mail message from Air Canada saying his bag had been found. He walked directly to Baggage Services at Richardson Airport and there it was!

After returning the items we bought that we could, we were still out a few hundred dollars and we wondered if the lost baggage claim was still in play.

Apology and compensation

About a week after the bag surfaced, we received a letter from Air Canada apologizing for what happened. It included a coupon for a 20% discount on a future booking of our choice.

In the end, we felt we were fairly compensated, although it was a huge rigmarole of frustration. We’re not sure what would have happened had the bag never resurfaced.

Got your baggage claim ticket?

You’ve guessed the moral of this story by now. Always check your boarding pass for that little (but very important) baggage claim ticket.

If you enjoyed this post, why not subscribe to Tag Along Travel? Twice a month, you’ll receive an email with links to recent posts.