Photo: Sydnee Bryant

Combat airline baggage woes

Airline policies on lost buggage vary, but simple measures can help make travelling headache-free

As students pile into airport taxis and cars, towing suitcases for their reading week vacations, it's almost certain that some of those suitcases will end up where they're not supposed to be.

In 2007, 42 million bags were missing on arrival worldwide, according to SITA, the IT company that built international baggage tracking system WorldTracer. While only three per cent of those bags were lost completely, delayed baggage is a major inconvenience.

Jon Grosz flew Porter Air from Toronto to Halifax on the first weekend in January with two large bags. At check-in, a representative told him that only one of the two bags would make it on the plane because other passengers had already checked oversized luggage. Porter flies relatively small 70-seat turboprops.

"That's obviously not the answer I was looking for," said the King's student. "She said, ‘I can promise you that this bag is going to get on the plane.' Turns out that neither of my two bags got on the plane."

Grosz didn't receive his luggage for four days and eventually received a $100 voucher for another Porter flight.

"I basically felt used," he said. "In many ways, it's more upsetting than just being upfront and saying: ‘Listen, your bags aren't going to get on the plane. I'm sorry, we can give you this voucher for a flight' -- which is what they did anyway. And be done with it."

"I'm going to fly with them again, (only) because I have the voucher. ... And I'm going to do it at a time when I don't have any luggage, to avoid the whole situation altogether."

Porter Airlines did not respond to a request for comment.

Most baggage delays happen as a result of mishandling during flight transfers. Other common causes include passengers showing up too late for airport baggage handlers to load the plane and airport workers taking bags off to lighten it so they can add more fuel.

"Our goal is to always have baggage arrive on the same flight as the customer," writes Air Canada's media relations department. "This does not always happen due to a variety of reasons: late check-in of the customer, late arrival of baggage due to weather, transfer from another airline and/or tight connection times, baggage system breakdowns at the airport, security processing hold-up of baggage (like security hold-ups of pre-board passenger screening), inadvertent loading onto another aircraft, etc.

Available rebates

Each airline has a different way of compensating passengers for delayed or lost luggage.

Air Canada will pay US$100 against your expenses for toiletries and clothing if your baggage is delayed for more than 24 hours, but you have to keep your receipts. The airline's maximum liability for lost, delayed or damaged luggage is $1,500 per passenger for domestic flights and either 1,000 Special Drawing Rights (about C$1,900) or US$9.07 per pound for international flights (depending on whether the flight is subject to the Montreal Convention or the Warsaw Convention).

Two other students also say Porter gave them $100 in vouchers after their luggage was delayed for four days. Porter says its maximum liability for lost or damaged luggage is $1,000.

If your baggage is delayed with WestJet for more than 24 hours, the airline will reimburse you up to $25 a day for up to three days. The delayed baggage has to be reported within an hour of arrival for domestic flights and 24 hours for international fights. Their maximum liability for lost or damaged luggage is $250 for domestic flights and 1,000 Special Drawing Rights for international flights.

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