Deborah Cleary was exasperated.

When she landed in Montreal on Dec. 19, following a visit to Italy, she found her suitcase was lacking. Greater than a month later, Air Canada nonetheless hadn’t discovered her bag. 

“I’ve spent a lot time fascinated by it, worrying about it, checking on-line, calling Air Canada,” mentioned Cleary from her house in Plattsburg, N.Y., on Tuesday. “I am simply form of determined to get my bag again.”

The return to journey for the reason that worst of the COVID disaster has been turbulent, affected by mass flight disruptions and lacking baggage piling up at airports. That has led to requires airways to enhance their baggage supply techniques.

“It is damaged, so I believe they should repair that,” mentioned Cleary, who visited the Montreal airport two weeks in the past to seek for her bag amidst a sea of unclaimed baggage. She did not discover it.

Nevertheless, following a CBC Information inquiry to Air Canada, Cleary realized on Friday that her suitcase is being shipped to her house. 

“I am very, very pleased,” she mentioned. “I had nearly resigned myself, I used to be by no means going to see it once more.”

Canada’s first spherical of lacking baggage chaos erupted in the summer, largely sparked by staffing shortages as airports and airways scrambled to ramp up operations. 

• Have a query or one thing to say? E mail: ask@cbc.ca or be part of us stay within the feedback now.

There have been excessive hopes the vacation journey season would go extra easily — till extreme winter storms hit a lot of Canada, inflicting a whole bunch of delayed and cancelled flights, plus a backlog of lost luggage.

“Within the airline trade, a delay of higher than quarter-hour usually ends in missed connections,” mentioned former Air Canada govt Duncan Dee. “Delays equal lacking luggage.”

Dee mentioned airways have to do a greater job maintaining observe of baggage, and the federal authorities additionally wants to take a position extra in airports.

In late December, chilly climate brought on a baggage belt to freeze at Toronto’s worldwide airport; a fierce snow storm brought on widespread flight delays and cancellations at Vancouver’s international airport.

“There’s clearly a necessity for higher infrastructure, higher assets for airports … to make them extra resilient to those climate occasions,” mentioned Dee.

What in regards to the airways?

When requested this week about latest journey chaos, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra mentioned airports will get the instruments they want, however didn’t elaborate. 

On the bags challenge, he pointed the finger at airways. 

“I discover it extraordinarily irritating after I hear tales of individuals not having their baggage for days on finish,” he mentioned throughout an occasion in Hamilton. “Airways must be doing extra.”

His feedback comply with a number of latest media reports about air passengers’ struggles to seek out their lacking baggage

They embody the saga of Nakita Rees and Tom Wilson of Cambridge, Ont., who battled with Air Canada for greater than 4 months to retrieve Wilson’s lacking suitcase. 

WATCH |Ontario couple instructed their baggage was misplaced — but it surely wasn’t: 

Air Canada mentioned this couple’s baggage was misplaced. AirTags confirmed in any other case

A pair says Air Canada donated their baggage to charity only a month after it received misplaced en path to Toronto’s Pearson Airport. They tracked it to a storage locker.

The bag vanished throughout their flight house from Greece in September. As a result of the couple had put an air tag tracker contained in the suitcase, they had been capable of observe its journey to a storage facility in close by Etobicoke, Ont. 

Despite the fact that Rees shared with Air Canada the whereabouts of the bag, the airline deemed it misplaced. 

“Probably the most irritating factor about it was we had no means of getting it, regardless that we knew the situation and we instructed the airline so many occasions,” mentioned Rees. “As a result of the air tags are newer, I simply do not suppose airways know the best way to even use that data.”

The couple lastly received the suitcase again this week — after their story was picked up by the media.

Airways reply

Other passengers have also complained about related experiences when monitoring their misplaced baggage with air tags. 

Former Air Canada govt Dee mentioned airways usually observe baggage by scanning their baggage tags and that their techniques at present cannot accommodate air monitoring expertise.

“That is one thing the place airline processes haven’t caught as much as the expertise that is accessible,” he mentioned. “No airline on this planet has the power proper now to simply accept data from travellers.”

Alghabra steered airways want to vary with the occasions. 

“We hear about how Amazon is ready to establish the place their gadgets [are at] each second,” he mentioned. “It is irritating that airways nonetheless haven’t modernized their baggage dealing with system.”

Air Canada instructed CBC Information it is consistently exploring new applied sciences. The airline added that its baggage supply price has returned to regular, following the stormy vacation climate. 

Air Canada mentioned that in Rees’ case, the bags tag had fallen off the suitcase. The airline did not say the way it ultimately positioned the couple’s bag, however did point out that they get to maintain the $2,300 in compensation they acquired for misplaced baggage. 

WestJet mentioned it has launched a strategic overview to fine-tune its baggage techniques. “[We] are dedicated to working along with our third-party service companions … to make sure we enhance on this space,” mentioned spokesperson Madison Kruger in an e-mail. 

Baggage compensation

Travellers can claim up to approximately $2,350 for luggage that’s misplaced or delayed on a world flight. For delayed baggage on home flights, the airways design their very own guidelines. 

Alghabra’s workplace instructed CBC Information this week the federal government is exploring methods to strengthen rights for air passengers, together with for delayed and misplaced baggage.

As for passenger Cleary, she had utilized for compensation for a misplaced bag, however mentioned getting it again is a greater final result. 

“I might a lot favor to have my bag again than any cash from Air Canada.”