Forty-seven years old Tariq Ali, from Ottawa, have been planning their wedding for over a year. But now, “Air Canada will ruin my marriage,” he fears.
Ali, along with 200 of his friends and family members, have flown from different parts of the world Trinidad for the special day.
“I wanted it to be perfect,” Ali, who flew to her wedding venue on July 3 via Air Canada, told Global News Thursday.
But, despite all their meticulous planning, what didn’t reach the destination of the wedding with Ali was their baggage – their wedding suit.
“Everything is bought, everything is ready. All I had to do was show up in my outfit,” he said. “But everything is in my luggage and my luggage never came.”
“It is absolutely mind-boggling what is happening. It is going to ruin everything we had planned,” Ali said.
Ali has been calling Air Canada every day since arriving in Trinidad, several times over a few days – to try to find out where her luggage is – hoping it will arrive in time for her wedding on July 15. Will go
“It’s an absolute nightmare.”
“You will be on the phone for three hours with no response. No one picks up,” Ali said.
They filled out a form after getting off the plane in Trinidad – a standard protocol if luggage was lost – and even went back to the airport to check again if their luggage arrived a few days after. Got it, no luck.
He also checked the status of his luggage online. It says their custom wedding suit case is still sitting in Canada.
“I spent thousands of dollars to be able to get here as well as a fair amount of money for a suit that is really custom made – all the cufflinks and buttons. Everything is perfect for the perfect day,” said Ali “And, it’s not here. And no, we don’t know what we’re going to do,” he said.
Packed in luggage, in addition to his suit for his reception, his outfit was chosen to be worn at the Islamic ceremony which was planned to take place in Trinidad before July 15.
“Both are completely missing in action.” Ali said. “No one is taking responsibility for this. They didn’t call us, they didn’t email us.”
Another traveler, Marco Rocha, is planning to visit Portugal With his wife and daughter since last November. His Air Canada flight was booked for mid-July 2022.
However, Rocha recently received a “messy” email from the airline saying that her flight was delayed by 15 minutes due to bad weather – her flight hadn’t been there for two weeks.
“I find it strange, very strange that they would have known two weeks in advance that there would be a 15-minute delay because of bad weather,” Rocha told Global News. Montreal,
With horror stories at the airport, and now with a delayed flight, Rocha is hoping her flight doesn’t get canceled altogether.
“I’m worried about it,” he said. “My first instinct is that they are trying to cover themselves, and more flights should be cancelled. I am worried that my flight, my entire vacation, will be canceled because of things that are beyond my control. ,
An Air Canada spokesperson said in response to the ongoing delay to Global News, “Aviation is a complex ecosystem made up of many independent players, including airports, customs, catering firms, refueling companies, security systems and more. Huh.”
“All of these entities must function well and work together for the system to function properly. The on-time performance of individual carriers may be affected by the performance of either of these partners, so we are concerned with the industry. Working with all our partners to improve performance.”
WestJet, which is also facing massive delays and cancellations, says: “There remain significant operational challenges to and for the Canadian aviation ecosystem that are beyond our control, contributing to significant delays. “
“We recognize at times; Collectively, we are still lacking in providing the experience our guests expect and we apologize for that. As a result, our number one priority is ensuring that our guests arrive at their destinations safely, as the current aviation landscape allows,” a spokesperson told Global News.
According to Gabor Lukak, an air passenger rights advocate, Canadian airlines have failed to meet their business goals.
“Canadians should be very concerned,” he told Global News.
“The question Canadians must ask themselves is why the government is allowing airlines to behave this way,” he said.
Air Canada and Toronto’s Pearson Airport on Tuesday Top spots claimed again for flight delays, According to tracking service FlightAware, 65 percent of Air Canada flights arrived late.
Under air passenger safety rules, when an airline cancels or delays a flight for reasons within its control, it must pay passengers a lump sum compensation, according to Lucas.
Although Air Canada and WestJet both say they meet the requirements, Lukak says these provisions are currently being ignored by airlines and not enforced by the government.
The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) has issued 77 warning notices and 15 notices of violations with $97,450 in administrative monetary penalties (AMP) related to the Air Passenger Safety Regulations since they came into force in 2019.
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