Airline forgets bags at Heathrow airport, spoils reunion for Canadian family

After reaching Delhi at noon on January 2, the Sehgals discovered that two bags containing their clothes and essentials had not arrived, adding that the AI officials at Mumbai and Delhi are blaming each other for the goof up...

Nearly half the vacation time for a Canadaian family, which is in Mumbai, is over but their luggage that went missing in transit early this week is yet to be found.

After reaching Delhi at noon on January 2, the Sehgals discovered that two bags containing their clothes and essentials had not arrived. (File photo for representation)

On January 2, Meenu Sehgal, a lawyer from Canada arrived at her brother’s house with her two children. “I had to borrow my brother’s clothes,” said Sehgal, adding that the incident ruined the family reunion that happened after a decade.

The Sehgals boarded an Air Canada flight from Toronto to London on December 31 and were supposed to take a Mumbai-bound Air India (AI) flight from the Heathrow airport. But they missed the connecting flight because the Air Canada flight (AC 858) was delayed.

“After a lot of pleading the AI officials booked us on a Delhi-bound flight scheduled 10 hours later, followed by a domestic journey to Mumbai on a Jet Airways flight,” she said.

After reaching Delhi at noon on January 2, they discovered that two bags containing their clothes and essentials had not arrived. “The crew said the bags would be delivered in a day after we wrote a customary complaint,” Sehgal said, adding that the AI officials at Mumbai and Delhi are blaming each other for the goof up.

“My brother being a travel operator found out that the bags were traced back to Heathrow, but the airline is refusing to do anything about it,” she said.

Sehgal even alleged that another Indian family from Canada had lost four bags on the same flight. The Sehgals are booked with the same airline for their return journey.

“I cannot extend my stay as I’ve to resume work from January 13. But how can I leave without so many belongings?” she said.

The AI spokesperson did not respond to HT’s query sent over email on January 5.

Misplaced baggage accounted for almost one out of four complaints recorded by India’s aviation safety regulator in November. The data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) also showed that it has been among the top three fliers’ grouses in 2016.