Eight days. Over 40 phone calls and 30 emails, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.
My bag is still missing. It should be somewhere in the world; it cannot evaporate. Hopefully it is not at the Bermuda Triangle. It is a large suitcase with a name tag and my huge initials on it. It is heavy, bulky, and eye-catching; not a needle in a haystack. And yet Air Canada has not been able to reunite me with it. I have lots of priceless items in it that no money can buy.
On January 10, 2024, I was flying AC112 and AC8749 from YVR (Vancouver) to CLT via YYZ (Toronto). At the YVR boarding gate, Air Canada staff announced several delays due to "maintenance" issues, and finally announced flight cancellation.
An insider told me that that was a common trick used by major airlines: When they find out that multiple flights are under-booked, they will cram passengers into one flight in order to maximize profit, citing "maintenance" or "technical issues."
So, they crammed me into another flight from YVR to YYZ as a standby, sent me to the Sheraton Hotel for the night to catch the flight from YYZ to CLT the next day. Then the next day at YYZ, not surprisingly but habitually, Air Canada had another long delay, this time again, citing "maintenance issues."
Intuition told me that my bag would be in trouble, and I was right. At the CLT's baggage collection, I waited for hours with my eyes wide open, till all the passengers had left with their collected bags, till the baggage carousel became empty, and I never saw my bag coming out.
I rushed to the American Airlines baggage office. No answer. I rushed to the United baggage office; they said they did not handle Air Canada's bags. I went to the information desk. The woman put down her dinner box and paged Air Canada, but no one would ever show up at the Air Canada counter.
While all the fellow passengers were already home, reunited with family, enjoying dinner, laughter, and a rest, I was alone at the baggage carousel, browsing my cell phone to figure out what to do next.
I found the toll-free phone number of Air Canada's Central Baggage Department, 1 888 689-BAGS (2247), and dialled. It was a woman with a heavy Indian accent I had difficulty understanding. Frustrated, I hung up and dialled again. Then, it was another Indian woman whose accent was slightly better so that I could file a delayed bag claim. I described my bag and got my reference number, and was told to go home and wait for delivery.
No news the next day.
On the third day, I received an automatically generated email from Air Canada that my bag would arrive with AC8749 on that day. Then, I received an automatically generated email from a third-party company called "Where's My Suitcase," informing me that they would be retrieving my bag and delivering it to my door as soon as possible, and asking me to confirm my address and phone number.
Relieved. Liberated. Overjoyed. It was almost like I was going to receive a huge Christmas present out of nowhere.
But that present never came. Sadly, no news the next day. No delivery. No phone calls. No one showed up.
Then the next day, again, nothing turned up.
Then the next day, "Where's My Suitcase" posted a message on their portal, "Baggage Not Delivered. Contact Your Airline Directly!"
All these days were spent making phone calls to Air Canada's Central Baggage Department. Everyone was reading a script--
"Your bag was last scanned at CLT. Your bag has been signed up for delivery. Rest assured it will be delivered to you."
But one day, one of them did not read the script, but told me a bizarre story: It was United's baggage office that was handling my bag. She asked me to call United in the future, instead of Air Canada!
Well, I dialled that 800 number that would never be answered. Music was running on and on for hours and no one picked it up. On a lucky day, one agent answered the phone call. I gave her my bag tag number and delayed bag reference number. After a few minutes of searching on her computer, she apologized, "No, United does not have your bag. Contact your airline directly."
Back to Air Canada's Central Baggage Department. The same script--"Your bag was last scanned at CLT. Your bag has been signed up for delivery. Rest assured it will be delivered to you."
Determined to file a lost bag claim, but Air Canada requires all receipts for all listed items in the bag. Oh dear, who would travel with receipts?
