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“I feel frustrated because I’ve only been here for six days and I just wasted a day and a half just looking for my luggage:” Traveler from New Jersey
Publication date:
Jul 05, 2022 • 5 hours ago • 2 minutes read • 25 comments Unclaimed baggage is pictured at Terminal 3 at Pearson International Airport on July 5, 2022. Photo by Ernest Doroshuk /Toronto Sun
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Some frustrated passengers who arrived at Pearson International days ago returned to the airport multiple times to try to find their lost luggage – to no avail.
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“I have absolutely no idea why a developed country like this can’t understand baggage. To me, this is simply unacceptable. It’s a disaster,” said Daniel Baheta of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, who is visiting family in Toronto for a month.
“I have no clothes. I wear shorts and a shirt and wash every day.”
His family arrived on June 22—two bags short. He arrived six days later with no bags.
Baheta’s frustration was clear as he walked out of the arrivals hall after searching for his bags for the second day in a row.
“When you come here, there is no help. Honestly, I think it’s the most disorganized disaster I’ve ever experienced,” he said, adding that about 1,000 bags were left at Terminal 3.
Daniel Baheta, who arrived from Tanzania on June 28, is still trying to find his luggage at Terminal 1. He is pictured on July 5, 2022. (Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun) Photo by Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun
Omama Alvi practically ran through Terminal 3 trying to get help from Air Canada.
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She flew in from Newark, New Jersey, on Tuesday for a six-day wedding trip.
Her flight was canceled twice, but she eventually made it.
Her bag didn’t.
“I ran to the gate and managed to fly, but my luggage was put on the flight at 10pm. I waited 45 minutes for it to arrive because I didn’t know my luggage hadn’t come here,” she fumed.
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“This is ridiculous. I feel frustrated because I’ve only been here for six days and I’ve just wasted a day and a half just looking for my luggage.”
The Toronto Airport Authority, which operates Pearson, said the problems were caused by flight delays and cancellations, airline staff shortages and temporary mechanical disruptions in the baggage system.
It is not clear what caused the mechanical malfunction.
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Air Canada cut 15% of flights last week, leaving some passengers stranded seeking refunds or new flights.
One airport employee who handles baggage directly and spoke on the condition of anonymity said: “It’s good that they (Air Canada) did this because these were delays on delays.”
The worker said the number of abandoned bags at Terminal 1 has dropped by about 50%.
The official added that it was clear what caused the luggage to pile up.
“The bags will come to a certain station. And what happens is the person doesn’t make it to the plane and then the bag has to go somewhere else. It was happening so much that the Air Canada stuff got the best of them.”
slaurie@postmedia.com
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