Pearson Airport Gave Passengers An Update On Lost Baggage & Travellers Are Still Furious

Despite the warnings ahead of time for anyone travelling through Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) over the holidays that it was going to be at its busiest since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, weather-related delays and cancellations and issues with lost or delayed baggage have still managed to cause some serious upsets.

Now, days removed from part one of two of the busiest days of the season (peak passenger volumes of 130,000 are still expected closer to January 9), Pearson has an update for any passengers still trying to get ahold of their bags.

"Backlogged bags are being stored in a safe place," the airport said in a tweet Thursday afternoon, which it had also pinned to the top of its Twitter page. "Airlines will be reaching out directly to customers so please wait to hear where you can be reunited with them. Your bag may not be at the airport terminal."

In an attempt to offer some kind of update on what is surely a pretty frustrating situation for some passengers, it seems the tweet probably did more harm than good.

The replies are full of people demanding answers on where their bags are and when they can expect to get them back, with some sharing stories of being without their belongings for several days.

One woman questioned why her bags "are in Indiana" after she checked the location of her GPS tracking device, and another traveller was asking the airport where to find his bags after being told by the airline they were at Pearson.

Despite the legitimate questions and brutal stories, tweets had either gone unanswered, or the response from Pearson was that only airlines could be of any help when it comes to tracking down lost luggage and there is essentially nothing the airport can do.

Jeff Waldman snapped pictures of stranded luggage in Terminal 3 on Tuesday evening.

"It appeared that 100% of the bags that were sitting in the airport were from Sunwing flights as it looked like they each had a Sunwing tag on them," Waldman told Narcity. "I could have taken 20 more photos of bags sitting around in different parts of Terminal 3 carousel area. It was shocking."

In a statement of its own to Narcity, Sunwing Airlines updated its latest efforts to reunite travellers with their bags and how they're working to prevent similar problems when passengers return from holiday trips in droves.

"Best efforts are being made to reunite customers with baggage that may have been left at Toronto Pearson due to recent mechanical issues with the baggage belts in Terminal 3, an issue that impacted all carriers operating out of the terminal. For impacted customers travelling out of Toronto Pearson between December 24-27 whose bags did not accompany them on their journeys, arrangements have been made for them to retrieve their baggage following their vacation, with specific instructions provided directly to impacted customers," Sunwing said in an emailed statement.

"We are happy to share that a number of passengers have already retrieved their bags, with more expected to do so in the coming days. For customers with southbound flights from December 28 onwards, our teams are working to load as many bags onto departure flights as possible. In the event of recurring baggage belt issues that prevents some bags from accompanying customers on their upcoming flights from Toronto, best efforts will be made to reunite customers with their bags in destination."

Meanwhile, other frustrated airline customers are disputing Pearson Airport's claims that bags are being stored "in a safe place."

Kevin Robach filmed a video of dozens of bags piled together at Pearson, which he told Narcity he saw at around 8:00 p.m., Thursday, some four hours after the airport's latest tweet.

In response to questions about the ongoing issues with baggage, a spokesperson for Pearson Airport only told Narcity "the airlines will be the best source of information for an update as they’ll have more details."