‘WHERE ARE THEY?’: Air Canada loses ashes of passenger’s parents

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A woman on an Air Canada flight from Chicago to Dublin to scatter her parents’ ashes was left stupefied after they were lost in transit.

Donna O’Connor put the ashes into her checked-in luggage on the June 30 flight that included a stopover and switch of planes in Toronto — where there was a five-and-a-half-hour delay before they took off.

When she arrived in Dublin, O’Connor discovered her bag was missing.

“Knowing that my parents’ ashes were in there was so frightening to me, because I’m thinking: ‘Where are they?,’” she told the BBC.

“Instead of thinking, ‘Where’s my bag?,’ I kept thinking, ‘Where (are) my parents?’”

She went to airport daily, phoned the airline, sent the company emails, reached out on social media, and spoke to the Irish Independent about her ordeal.

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It wasn’t until nearly two weeks into her trip that O’Connor received a voicemail from Air Canada, informing her that her bag was sent back to her home.

Air Canada issued a statement to the Irish Independent: “We deal with our customers directly, but we can tell you this customer’s delayed bag is en route.”

It continued: “The vast majority of customers arrive at their destinations with their bags,” though COVID has resulted in “more instances of delayed bags.”

The airline added how operations have “changed from what it was prior to the pandemic” and pointed to “well-documented issues such as security and customs lines, aircraft being held at gates unable to unload at airports, and limitations on the number of flights by air traffic control,” all of which can disrupt baggage handling and connections.

“It doesn’t help me to have it back in Illinois; it was ticketed to go to Dublin. I don’t understand why it didn’t go to Dublin,” O’Connor told the paper. “And even if it didn’t come with me, why wouldn’t you send it to Dublin?”

She added: “I’m so frustrated with Air Canada because I want them here, that’s why I brought them with me.”