Air Canada Sues Couple Who Claimed $3,435 for 22-Hour Baggage Delay

A couple who sought $3,435 in compensation from Air Canada when their luggage was delayed for less than 24 hours is now being sued by the airline.

Toronto-based Alaa Tannous and his wife travelled to Vancouver with AC on May 25, 2022. Their flight arrived, their luggage did not.

A statement from Air Canada posted to LinkedIn claimed that Tannous’ luggage was delivered to the couple’s Vancouver hotel at 9:15 am local time the next day — less than 24 hours after the travellers touched down at 11:08 am the day before.

No one likes to go without their luggage after a flight, and some compensation was certainly justified for the inconvenience. Air Canada offered $250 to “cover necessary costs.”

According to AC guidelines, the airline will reimburse travellers “for reasonable expenses” for “rentals or essential items,” such as clothing, toiletries or sports equipment rentals, so long as they are verified with receipts.

Here’s what the couple considered “reasonable expenses,” totalling $3,435:

May 25, 2022 

• $570.12 for toiletries, make up and skin care products
• $1,121.86: $348.84 for a dress, 2 x trousers, 3 x tops
• $247.52 for 4 x sets of lingerie and 1 x sleepwear
• $525.50 for underwear, jeans and 2 x t-shirts

May 26, 2022 

• Bag delivered to hotel at 9:15 am
• $433.61 for one pair of ladies sneakers purchased at 6:54 pm

May 28, 2022

• $1,310.40 for one personally monogrammed Tumi piece of luggage, purchased at 11:23 pm. This bag was purchased in order to accommodate the new possessions spurred by the briefly missing luggage.

Air Canada rejected the claim. “It was shocking,” Tannous told CBC, saying he felt his request was “fair.” Tannous escalated the complaint to the Canadian Transportation Agency, which eventually ordered the airline to pay the couple $2,079.

That could have been the end of the story, but Air Canada decided to fight. A few weeks later, Tannous was served with legal papers.

On its LinkedIn post, Air Canada wrote: “Under current law, Air Canada cannot appeal decisions by the Canadian Transportation Agency to the agency itself and must instead appeal to the Federal Court. In this case, Air Canada has chosen to appeal to the Federal Court because it is seeking guidance on what constitutes reasonable expenses that customers can claim.”

Tannous still believes his claim was justified. “I believed in the system, which is my mistake,” Tannous told CBC, calling the situation “unacceptable.”