Syrian refugee stuck in luggage limbo after forgetting briefcase on flight

Mohammad Al-Fadle thought landing in Canada would be the start of a new life for his family, but things started to go wrong the moment he disembarked his Air Canada flight in Toronto’s Pearson airport.

Al-Fadle, a Syrian refugee, was travelling from Dubai on July 25 with his wife and nine-month-old baby. When the flight arrived, they rushed to get off, forgetting a briefcase that held a pair of glasses, two watches of importance to him and his laptop.

The laptop contained business documents he needs to start his life in Canada.

Al-Fadle realized it was gone after 20 minutes in the airport. When he tried to go back, he said, he was denied entry by security, even though the plane was still on the tarmac.

“I told them the plane is there, just let me go inside, my laptop [is] inside,” Al-Fadle told CBC’s Ottawa Morning.

He filled out lost and found paperwork and waited for two hours in Toronto, but the family had to board a flight to Ottawa to meet their sponsorship group.

That’s when Martin Low, Chair of Belvedere Sponsorship Group, got involved.

“I’ve been in this situation before, and it’s always worked out perfectly well for me,” he told Ottawa Morning.

“So I was assuming that there would be no problem in getting this situation resolved.”

Back and forth with customer service

Low called the Air Canada central baggage call centre, reaching the headquarters in India. He was told they would look for the briefcase and let the family know within 90 days if they found it.

Mohammad Al-Fadle and his family (middle) stand with members of their sponsorship group, including Martin Low to his left. (Submitted by Martin Low )

Low escalated it to a supervisor who told him she isn’t allowed to communicate with lost and found in Toronto, but Low convinced her to send an email. The next day, after not hearing anything, she agreed to send another.

“They create a situation where it has to go to a lost and found… then the passenger is absolutely unable to penetrate the Air Canada communications network to talk to somebody who might be able to help.” Low said.

Three weeks later, Low called back and spoke to another supervisor who said there was no record of communication between the call centre and lost and found in Toronto but said he would send an email himself.

The men have still not heard from Air Canada, and it’s Al-Fadle feeling he may never see his briefcase again.

Low said if they only knew if it was lost forever, the sponsorship group would make plans to replace it.

“It would be great if Air Canada could just check the shelves and say no, it’s not here,” Low said.

Staff followed the rules, former Air Canada COO says

In an email, a representative for Air Canada told CBC they are “aware of this unfortunate situation and appreciate the importance of this item to the customer.” The airline added it is working to locate the bag.

Duncan Dee, a former Chief Operating Officer for Air Canada, told CBC that since Al-Fadle had already left the bridge area, staff would have been following security protocol.

“Could have more have been done? Potentially, I mean, depending on what the situation was, whether the aircraft was you know already being groomed, whether they were already delayed and trying to get travelers going at that point,” Dee said.

“There’s many potential factors but surely if he was able to explain the situation to them, more could have been done for him to find his belongings.”

He said the best approach in such cases is for the passenger to wait at the lost and found in hopes the cleaning crew will find the item. Now so much time has passed, he said, staff must physically search the catalog of items for a match, hence the 90-day wait.

At this point, Dee said, Al Fadle’s best option is to simply wait.