Too Much Baggage: Is Air Canada at Fault for Delays and Lost Luggage?

By qqtqtqt etqt

May 19, 2020

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When boarding an airplane, do you generally have one carry-on item or two? Due to passengers having too many carry-on bags and not enough adequate space to store them, Air Canada has recently been blamed for flight delays and the loss of luggage. As a result to avoid pricing charges for checked luggage, passengers seem to be boarding flights with more and more belongings—but at what cost?

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No Room, No Room

You may be able to avoid excess fees at the airport (i.e. checked baggage charges), but you could ultimately be risking the loss of your personal property. Because airplanes are not equipped with enough space for all of the items that passengers are now carrying with them onto the plane, Air Canada is requiring for various carry-on bags to be checked, which in turn has led to flights not departing on time, as well as the loss of possessions.

More and more people have begun placing valuable items in their carry-on bags (i.e. laptops, iPads, jewelry, etc.), but those bags have recently begun disappearing once they’ve been ordered to be tagged and checked. Specifically, one passenger is noted for having lost over $2,000 worth of valuables he was carrying to India for his wedding. Not only was this particular flight from Vancouver delayed, but the plane was also overbooked, leading to no room in overhead compartments for carry-on bags.

Air Canada’s newer planes may have more seats, but the overhead compartment areas have not been extended. Therefore, there are more bags on planes, but with less room to store them. You may think you’re saving money by avoiding the fee for checking a bag, but is it worth the risk of losing your item or causing a delay in departure time?

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Playing by the Rules

When it comes to checking carry-on bags at the gate, Air Canada is reportedly only doing so on the “busy” flights, not every single one. As Air Canada is meeting industry standards on baggage procedures and fees, it seems that passengers have a choice to make: pay up front or risk the loss of their valuables.