Air Canada intentionally leaves baggage behind

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

http://travel.sympatico.ca/hot_topics/articles/baggage_left_behind

by Katharine Watts

Not only did the airline intentionally remove baggage from an aircraft—they failed to communicate this to the affected passengers

After planning a vacation, shopping for essential items, and spending days packing for anticipated needs on vacation, travellers expect to be met with their luggage when they get off the plane. Sometimes mistakes happen and luggage gets lost, but what if it’s intentionally left behind?

That’s what happened to Air Canada passengers Roland and Lynn-Ann Baumeister.

According to a CBC report, the couple’s bags were removed from the plane as they waited for their flight to depart from Kelowna, B.C in February. Instead of being notified that this was happening, the couple was told after the fact—and in the meantime ended up without luggage for days while on vacation in Barbados.

The reason, the couple was later told, was to keep the aircraft within legal weight and fuel limits. Strange, considering the Baumeister’s bags were within the allotted weight allowance given to them by the airline.

When asked, a spokesperson for Air Canada told CBC that baggage removal is common at smaller airports, “With a smaller aircraft comes a smaller baggage hold, and that's just the way it is,” she said.

If that’s the case, Air Canada should only book as many passengers as the planes can safely carry—including the expected weight of each passenger’s luggage. Another option would be to change the weight allowance for luggage. Or, at the very least, the airline should inform passengers that their luggage is being removed from the plane.

“If they had have told us that our bags were going to be removed from the flight, we would have taken out a few key items," Baumeister told CBC.

The Baumeister’s bags arrived in Barbados two and four days later, respectively. By that time they had already purchased doubles of the essential items they had previously packed in their absent suitcases.

 

[seashoreCM]

Depending on the weather or the wind, a plane's carrying capacity, notably at takeoff, could be reduced.
Write to the airline for reimbursement for things you had to buy.

 

[francie57]

The same thing happend to our daughter and her friend when they used American Airlines to go to the Dominican Rep. They flew out of JFK and were at the airport over 2 hours early and theirs along with 8 other passengers were left behind intentionally. Once they were informed of this when they landed in the DR they got absolutely no help from the airline. After several phone calls by them and me (since their phone chargers were in the luggage! - take all charges in your carry on) they finally found out which flight they were sending the luggage on and it wasn't coming until the next day since they were told it had to be sent on the same flight! After keeping all receipts for their expenses and submitting them to the airline they waited forever to hear back and were given $200 vouchers for a future flight but never received reimbursement for the expenses they incurred which are so much more on an island to get than here. So one never knows until you arrive at your destination if the luggage is there or not.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

It's obvious after reading this article that the writer knows nothing about the realities of airline travel or safety issues.

Would these passengers rather have flown on an overweight plane and risked a crash? They should have packed essential items in a carry-on bag. They also will be reimbursed for the things they needed to buy while their luggage was delayed. If they had taken out travel insurance, they would also have been reimbursed.

 

[TagsMissy]

Nothing new for any airline....

 

[Polydweller]

This isn't anything new. When I was a very young child in the 50's Pan Am had to leave a lot of luggage when we did a stop over on Wake Island because conditions that day wouldn't allow for that much weight.

Since that time I've seen this many times, especially in smaller airports in mountains and on many different carriers. There just are days, especially at altitude with short rinways, when the meteorological conditions simply won't allow enough lift for fully weighted aircraft to take off. At 1130ft Kelowna's getting there. There's a measure called density altitude that goes part way to explaining this.

But as a pp noted, the writer doesn't understand flight and the constraints that meteorology imposes.

 

[DebbieB]

It happens, especially on small planes. Usually when they have to load extra fuel because of weather. I was on standby for a 70 seat CRJ one time in Dallas (earlier flight). For some reason, they had to bump 2 people for weight & balance, so only 68 could board. I was far down the standby list so I didn't make it and had to wait for my regular flight. To my surprise, when I got to PIT my luggage was already there! It flew on the earlier flight! They bumped people but left my 45 pound bag on.

 

[Lewisc]

Somewhat common. Sometimes the problem can only be solved by adding a stop so the plane can get extra fuel. An airline otherwise needs to bump passengers (empty seats), remove profitable freight or leave some luggage behind.

Always a good idea to make sure you have essential "stuff" in your carryon bag.

 

[NotUrsula]

RyanAir (in Europe) takes it one step further on occasion; if you are holding a RT ticket for a stay of under 4 days, they won't even bother to try to put it on another flight; they will just hold it at the originating airport until you return. I've seen a lot of business travellers screwed by that one.

 

[seashoreCM]

[deleted

 

[crashbb]

Any airline that flies smaller planes (and even some flying larger planes) are going to have occasions when that happens. More likely on smaller plans since they have less wiggle room.

Only "newsworthy" because it was on Air Canada (which many people like to bash, even though most of things they are bashed for happen on all airlines).

 

[goofy4tink]

This practice is not unheard of. I know that when I flew PanAm out of Worcester Mass many years ago, we were told that due to the rainy/wet runway, we had two choices....1. wait for another plane or 2. get our flight but stop in Allentown Pa to refuel.
Seems that when that runway gets wet, it takes more fuel to take-off, and the flight was coming in from NH, so would need more fuel to get to Fl. We choose option 2.

Perhaps the smaller planes need to raise the amount charged for checked baggage as well as lowering the allowable weight per bag. I have seen bags put on another flight if the original flight was too heavy, but I suppose that isn't an option when there are only one or two scheduled flights per day.

 

[Lewisc]

My memory is there were times where the Concorde had to transport some luggage on a different plane due to weight issues. Passengers paying $$$$ for a supersonic flight would have no interest in a refueling stop.

Jet Blue has non-stop flights scheduled from Burbank to JFK that sometimes have to make a refueling stop. During the winter some westbound flights also have to make refueling stop.

edited to add I'm not sure a refueling stop would have been possible. Some of the possible flights have no intermediate airport and it's possible a refueling stop would have caused all of the passengers missing their connecting flight.