What are your rights as a passenger?: Sask. WestJet clients continue to face delayed and lost luggage

Travellers from the prairies have reported missing or delayed WestJet baggage, raising questions about passenger rights. Sierra D’Souza Butts reports.

Stories of less than ideal vacations continue to trickle in as more and more WestJet customers across the prairies deal with missing luggage. One case saw a passenger’s suitcase travel to Mexico, even though she did not.

A traveller who flew from Regina to Calgary after visiting family over the holidays reached out to CTV News on Tuesday, claiming that her bag somehow ended up in Puerto Vallarta after her domestic, direct flight home.

She is certainly not alone.

Roger and Illya Ward flew on WestJet flight 2380, a direct flight from Winnipeg to Puerto Vallarta, on Jan. 3. Upon landing in Mexico, Roger said his wife grabbed her luggage off of the airport’s carousel, but could not find his own.

“I go searching from the bags that have already been taken off [the carousel] and mine is not there,” Roger told CTV News. “There’s about 40 of us, I think, in the airport that are in the same situation, seeing the same bags go around the carousel and none of them are ours.”

“In fact, we look at the tags and those bags aren’t even from Winnipeg, they’re from Edmonton I think I heard a few people say,” he added.

Since he submitted a lost bag claim shortly after landing, Roger has been frustrated with the lack of communication from the airline.

“The delayed baggage is an issue they’ve already identified. They’ve already said that it’s due to a weight restriction or a space issue,” he said, referring to a WestJet flight from Regina to Puerto Vallarta where passengers also experienced delayed and missing baggage on Jan. 3.

“If you’re going to do that, I would have thought you would try and notify us as we’re leaving the airport or upon arrival shortly thereafter. Not for us to try and reach out to the company after the fact, to try and clean up the mess that’s already made.”

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Valdene Lewis of Winnipeg was a passenger on the same flight. She is currently staying down south for a week with her friends. However, she told CTV News she’s not confident her baggage will arrive before leaving Puerto Vallarta.

“I think it’s a little bit disingenuous of WestJet to act like this is not really a systemwide issue,” Lewis said. “I think what’s more frustrating is asking us to check luggage that you can’t even deliver … also the lack of communication.”

“I suspect it’s going to be difficult to get reimbursed. It’s never easy dealing with airlines,” she added.

Being disappointed in the lack of communication from the airline, Lewis said she hopes to be compensated for the purchases she made based on her missing luggage.

“Most of the clothes I was able to get were on the resort. That’s expensive as is,” she expressed. “Then to go through the frustration now of trying to get reimbursed for it, we don’t know how long that’s going to take. It just seems to be a lack of care, ‘We’ll get to it when we get to it.’”

“I think I’ll be less likely to check my luggage in the future, which I think the airlines would prefer you check your luggage, but I’m less likely to do that.”

Passengers rights to reimbursement

When travellers’ bags do not arrive with them, Air Passenger Rights, which is a non-profit that specializes in air travel rights, advises people make reasonable purchases relevant to the purpose of their trip.

“Your goal and the purpose of your trip is not to have to go to the mall every day. It’s a balancing act,” Gabor Lukacs, the organization’s president, told CTV News on Monday.

“It’s a question of acting reasonably in good faith. If you had something in your bag that you need, obviously replace it. If it’s something that you can replace later, you replace it later.”

Lukacs added passengers are entitled up to $3,000 for interim expenses which can include expenses needed to obtain their delayed baggage.

“You wait until your bag arrives, but you can incur expenses until the airline actually puts your bag into your hands. Even if they tell you, ‘Well it’s at the airport downstairs.’ … you cannot be forced as a passenger to go to the airport at your own expense,” Lukacs explained.

“Until such time as the airline fulfilled its obligation to put your bag into your hands, they continue to remain liable for your interim expenses up to approximately $3,000 per passenger,” he added.

CTV News reached out to WestJet for comment Tuesday morning but did not hear back for an update regarding an update to passengers’ baggage on WestJet flight 2380.

Other Canadians are dealing with similar issues this week, including passengers on a flight from Regina to Puerto Vallarta on Jan.1 and Jan. 3.

In a statement to CTV News on Monday, WestJet said both flights “experienced baggage issues due to the volume of luggage, maximum weight and runway conditions.”

The statement added the luggage is currently being routed to Puerto Vallarta.

“We sincerely apologize to guests for this inconvenience, guests who experienced luggage delays can visit flight interruptions and passenger rights where they can submit a claim,” read the statement.

In a response to CTV News on Wednesday, WestJet further explained how runway conditions have affected flights, restricting the weight of the aircraft due to worsening takeoff and landing performance.

“When a runway is snow‑covered, the maximum take-off weight is reduced as snow affects both acceleration and braking, which directly impacts certified takeoff performance," the response read.

“Runway conditions can affect aircraft weight by limiting takeoff and landing performance, which reduces allowable operating weights.”