Woman details "chaotic" trip after Air Canada misplaces bridesmaid dress

Woman details "chaotic" trip after Air Canada loses bridesmaid dress (PHOTOS)

Courtesy of Kailey and Ryan Hagen

A woman who travelled to Greece for her sister’s wedding says her trip turned into a nightmare after she had to replace her bridesmaid dress and extend her trip after a long, delayed, chaotic journey — all while flying with Air Canada.

In late June, Kailey Hagen left her 17-month-old toddler with her in-laws and set off with her partner, Ryan, to Santorini, Greece, for her sister’s wedding.

From northern Wisconsin to Minneapolis, the two drove four hours, caught a flight with Air Canada to Montreal, and then to Athens before catching a short flight with a different carrier to Santorini.

After some delays the couple made it to Athens and entered the baggage claim area “to an ominous sea of lost luggage surrounding every carousel.”

Hagen soon learned their bags were lost somewhere between Minneapolis and Athens.

In the lost bag was this maid of honour’s bridesmaid dress for the wedding.

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After waiting in a long baggage-tracing line, Hagen says a staff member admitted she did not know where the bags were, but opened a claim for the couple and gave them a WorldTracer code which allows passengers to track their bags.

“Then, she promised to send the bags to the Santorini airport as soon as they were found,” Hagen said.

But that was the last time during their trip they got an update about their luggage from the airline.

Exhausted and jet-lagged after their flights, when they reached Santorini the two had to shop in the hectic markets of Fira for clothing and toiletries, Hagen said.

“If you’ve never been, Santorini has excellent weather, great food, and kind, welcoming people. But it’s not the kind of place you want to replace your wardrobe. We spent most of our trip looking like walking advertisements for the island and basic essentials, like bras, were impossible to find,” Hagen said.

The day before her sisters wedding Hagen said the entire bridal party scoured the island for a replacement dress.

“Luckily, they were able to find one that didn’t stand out from the rest too much.”

Kailey Hagen, in her new bridesmaid dress, and her partner Ryan in Greece. Courtesy of Kailey Hagen.

After the wedding, Hagen and her partner started their journey back home — with the same stops planned as they did coming to Greece.

During their layover in Athens to Montreal, she visited the baggage tracing counter again.

After another long line waiting alongside others with similar experiences, the staff member instructed those flying with Air Canada to search through a baggage area filled with hundreds of bags, Hagen estimates.

“As luck would have it, we did find our bags,” she said. “We suspect they arrived in Athens the day after we did, but no one from Air Canada had bothered to check them in. We were fortunate that we were the ones who found our bags.”

Lost bags in Athens. Courtesy of Ryan Hagen.

However, not all was peaceful for the rest of their journey.

Flights were delayed, the two were rerouted only to eventually find out their last flight to Minneapolis was cancelled.

Check-in line up at Montreal airport. Courtesy of Ryan Hagen.

“By this point, we’d been away from our 17-month-old son for over a week and for over 24 hours longer than we should’ve been gone. We had to struggle to arrange childcare while at the same time figuring out how we were going to get home,” she said. “We decided we could no longer trust Air Canada, so we took matters into our own hands.”

Hagen eventually found a rental car online “for an outrageous price.”

“We wouldn’t have paid if we had any other choice.”

The two then drove from Toronto to Flint, Michigan.

Shortly after the two started to drive, they received a message from Air Canada that it automatically rebooked them a flight to Philadelphia with a connection to Minneapolis.

Hagen tried to call and cancel their flight multiple times, but was not even able to wait on hold with Air Canada because an audio recording said call volumes were high at some points.

When they were able to get on hold the call “unexpectedly disconnected due to no error on [Air Canada’s] end.”

After dropping off their rental car, her partner’s friend who is a pilot eventually flew the two four hours home in a 60-year-old Cherokee four-seater plane through a thunderstorm over Lake Michigan.

“That might sound scary, but my relief at never having to fly Air Canada again overwhelmed all my other emotions,” she said.

Cherokee four-seater plane. Courtesy of Kailey Hagen.

Courtesy of Ryan Hagen.

After her long and tedious experience travelling with Air Canada, Hagen is advising travellers to avoid checking in bags, or, if they do so, “consider getting an Apple AirTag or other GPS device for your bag so you can track it yourself.”

“Take photos of your bags… and note the brand in case you need to file a claim. Pack extra clothes and your toiletries in your carry-on. Don’t be afraid to book yourself extra-long layovers,” she said. “You can’t count on the airlines to look out for you, so you have to take every possible precaution.”

In a response to Daily Hive Urbanized, Air Canada said “in rare cases baggage is delayed or becomes separated from customers, it is important that people travelling ensure they have a durable identification tag attached to their baggage, with contact information, and we also recommend that they include some identifying information inside their baggage as well.”

The airline says most customers arrive at their destination with their baggage.

Line up at Montreal airport. Courtesy of Ryan Hagen.

Hagen told Daily Hive Urbanized, she understands the pressure airlines are facing right now is an industry-wide problem and is resulting in a breakdown in communication. But she said she feels Air Canada “seems to be a little bit worse than some of the other airlines.”

“It was just really hard to get ahold of anyone to get any information on what was going on with their flight, their bags. And I think that was just because they’re dealing with so much right now that it’s just not possible for them to get to every person.”

Air Canada said it keeps a “robust customer communications strategy” by keeping travellers informed about their flight details, including any changes.

“This is why it is important that customers be sure to provide us with an email or text address where they can be reached while travelling… We also ask for this at time of check-in.”

The airline says it has taken steps in recent months to improve its communications with new policies so customers can change their flights at no cost to give themselves additional time to make connections.

Hagen and her partner have filed several claims with Air Canada. The airline has said it will reimburse them for their baggage fees and for the clothes and items they had to buy to replace their lost items. However, the couple has not heard back about reimbursement for the delayed and canceled flights.

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