As the summer of ‘travel hell’ continues, there have been more and more stories of lost luggage.
To avoid fees and the insanity at baggage claim, a passenger tried to take her bag on board an Air Canada flight. Due to space issues, staff said she would need to check the bag. She agreed, but the bag was lost in transit.
The passenger, Emily Maitino, isn’t alone. As noted by Yahoo! “her story is one of hundreds amid travel chaos around the world this summer.”
Maitino and her partner were flying to Barcelona from Los Angeles via Air Canada. They waited for two hours at the luggage claim in Barcelona and the bag never showed up. Maitino called Air Canada several times over the next few days, but frustratingly, didn’t get a response.
This isn’t Air Canada’s first experience with lost luggage. Recently, they lost the bag of another passenger during a flight from Lisbon to New York. The passenger called the carrier 20 times in one day to try to find it.
Negligence is the most obvious culprit, but there are other factors. With the worst of the pandemic in the rearview mirror, there’s been an unprecedented surge in airline travel, and not enough staff to meet the demands. Moreover, pilots, flight attendants and other aviation staff have been going on strike in recent years, which worsens the landscape for air travel.
A representative for Air Canada told Business Insider, “delayed and lost bags could be attributed to more passengers and luggage. Changes in operating environments could also be at fault. This includes longer security and customs lines, aircraft unable to unload at airports and limitations on the number of flights by air traffic control.”
Canada’s Toronto Pearson International Airport has had thousands of unclaimed bags in recent months.