N.S. men waiting weeks for lost luggage after trip to Toronto

Chad Brannen waited months to fly to Toronto to celebrate his 40th birthday on Canada Day weekend. He and his partner Mark Hubbard made it to Toronto after a short delay but their luggage did not.

“It was very inconvenient,” said Brannen.

He and his partner went shopping for toiletries. And for four days, they wore what they had packed in their carry-ons. They returned to Nova Scotia and eventually learned from Flair Airlines their luggage was in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. That was two weeks ago.

“The last update we’ve had is that our luggage did arrive back in Halifax last Sunday morning and that they would ship it on courier to Yarmouth within 3 to 5 business days,” said Brannen. “Well today would be business day number 6 and it still hasn’t arrived.”

Louise Graham faced her own travel trouble this weekend. She was scheduled to fly to Kansas City from Halifax via Toronto.

Storms diverted her flight to Kansas City to Indianapolis instead. She said passengers waited on the tarmac for about an hour to learn Air Canada was flying passengers back to Toronto.

“My biggest frustration with this is that after being diverted, that they did not fly us back on that day,” Graham said.

Graham said Air Canada provided the couple with a voucher for a hotel and after waiting for hours on the phone, they managed to book another flight to Kansas City. That flight was also cancelled due to “crew constraints.” Frustrated, the couple flew home to Halifax and cancelled their trip.

“It’s one disappointment after another and then after that we just couldn’t do it anymore,” Graham said.

According to Flightaware.com, a website that tracks delays and cancellations, hundreds of Air Canada’s flights were delayed from Friday into Monday and dozens of others were cancelled.

In a statement to CTV News, the airline said many airports in Canada and the U.S. eastern seaboard were affected by severe thunderstorms last week and over the weekend.

The airline spokesperson said some airport operations were halted for safety reasons, and air traffic control initiatives have further affected flights at their global hubs.

“Air Canada’s focus is to get aircraft and crew back on track and get our customers on their way as soon as possible,” the statement read.

“For today, Air Canada has an alert posted to its website indicating that Toronto flights may be impacted by forecasted thunderstorms and subsequent Air Traffic Control restrictions.”

At Halifax Stanfield International Airport, passengers experienced a few delays and cancellations but not many as thousands of people descend on the city for the North American Indigenous Games.

“Things ran very smoothly on arrival weekend. I think there was maybe just one flight that was cancelled and hopefully folks got rebooked on another flight soon after that,” said Tiffany Chase, spokesperson with Halifax Stanfield International Airport.

Graham said she did receive a refund for her flight to Kansas City. As for Brannen’s luggage, he plans to seek compensation through Flair Airlines.

“Our travel agent that assisted us in booking this trip is assisting us with that,” he said.