Once upon a time, before checked-in belongings could be tracked by passengers, we would simply have to trust an airline when they told us a piece of baggage was lost and unrecoverable. However, a number of recent incidents have exposed interesting airline action (or inaction) after a missing baggage claim is filed by passengers. Let's look at a recent case where passengers tracked their 'lost' baggage to a storage facility destined for charity.

Four months of waiting (and watching)

Some time during the Fall of 2022, Nikita Rees-Wilson and her husband returned from Greece, having flown with Air Canada. Unfortunately, the baggage belonging to the couple somehow failed to make it to its final destination.

“We did our due diligence...We filed all the paperwork, we filed the missing baggage claim.” Rees-Wilson told Global News. At the same time, however, the couple was part of a growing wave of passengers tracking their bags using Apple AirTags. Because of these small devices, the couple could see that their baggage had been sitting in Montreal for about a month prior to being shipped out to a facility in the Greater Toronto Area.

Finally seeing this "progress" of the baggage moving closer to their location, the couple got excited, assuming that their belongings would soon be returned. Unfortunately, after moving from Quebec to Ontario, the suitcases were again stationary - this time for over three months.

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Couple reaches out to Air Canada - then to the police

The couple tried multiple times to contact Air Canada, but these attempts were unsuccessful in reuniting them with their baggage. Contacting local police, law enforcement officials secured a warrant to search the facility where the couple had tracked their baggage as being located. Located in the Greater Toronto Area community of Etobicoke, the storage facility was associated with a charity.

Speaking with Global News, Toronto police stated that the charity organization had been contracted by the airline to deal with the baggage, and that it had been "lawfully obtained" after the luggage was not claimed. Air Canada told Global News that its goal is" to always have baggage arrive with customers. We are working to resolve this matter.” The carrier's statement went on, saying:

"In this particular case, the situation was compounded by the disconnection of the baggage tag at some point on the journey. Despite our best efforts, it was not possible for us to identify the bag's owner. It was designated as unclaimed, and we moved to compensate the customer...Bags whose ownership cannot be determined can be disposed of after 90 days, which we do through a third-party company, which does make donations to charity."

"Zero effort" made to reconnect baggage?

Rees-Wilson argued that the airline "made zero effort to connect them to their luggage," even after telling the airline the exact location of the baggage as per tracking device data. Speaking to CTV News, she added that her baggage was easy to identify - although the video interview clip failed to discuss details. "How can we trust them, when they're, in my opinion, wrongfully donating luggage that they clearly could figure out whose it is? To me, there's no trust anymore."

A recent story covered by Simple Flying examined a similar situation where Air Canada passengers lost their bags and had tracked it to an unusual location. Flying from Mexico City to Vancouver, their baggage was lost for an extended time, only to be tracked to Madrid. Global News updated this particular case, noting that the baggage tag was likely torn off, and that the luggage ended up on a conveyor belt with other luggage destined for an Iberia flight.

What do you think of this incident? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

Source: Global News, CTV News

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