- A WestJet passenger traveling in Canada used an AirTag to track her lost bag.
- She found the bag in Jamaica.
A WestJet passenger said her suitcase ended up in Jamaica after the airline mishandled it on a domestic flight in Canada. It was an Apple AirTag that helped locate the bag, local broadcaster CityNews first reported.
Lorraine Pedersen told Business Insider she traveled on a WestJet flight from Toronto to Winnipeg on October 23. But when she arrived in Winnipeg, less than 100 miles north of the Minnesota-North Dakota state border, her suitcase was nowhere to be found.
"I was on a business trip and all my clothes were gone," Pedersen said.
Pedersen told BI that she put an Airtag on her bag and it notified her that it was in Kingston, Jamaica. Pedersen said that when she asked WestJet where her bag was, they told her it wasn't in Jamaica as there were no flights from Toronto to Kingston that day. BI viewed a screenshot of the AirTag locating the bag.
"They kept saying it wasn't their fault, they didn't get it there because they didn't fly in," Pedersen told BI.
"I just wanted my suitcase back because my AirTag told me exactly where it was, and again WestJet did not believe me," Pedersen added. Pedersen later called Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston and found her bag had gone on a Swoop flight instead. Swoop is a subsidiary of Westjet.
Pedersen said her bag was stuck in Jamaica for two weeks as Westjet rejected her request to transport it to Toronto, where she lives.
"They told me to go buy enough clothes for every day, but they wouldn't cover the cost of all those clothes that I needed," Pedersen continued. WestJet did not respond to BI's request for comment.
When Pedersen's suitcase arrived in Toronto, she said it appeared to have been broken into and noticed that several of her belongings were missing. Pedersen told CityNews that the sum of what was stolen and the clothes she purchased added up to some 4,000 Canadian dollars, or almost $3,000. Business Insider was unable to independently verify the value of Pedersen's belongings or purchases.
"I was very hurt to know that my bag was rummaged through and stuff was stolen while it was in Jamaica," Pedersen told BI.
WestJet confirmed to CityNews that the airline had mishandled Pedersen's suitcase.
"Unfortunately, the bag was loaded in error and situations like this are extremely rare," WestJet told CityNews in a statement, adding that it compensated Pedersen with "the maximum liability." The report did not state how much Pedersen was compensated.
The Canadian Transportation Agency states that passengers can claim up to 2,350 Canadian dollars, or $1,712, from airlines to replace lost or damaged items.
Pedersen told CityNews that WestJet had asked her to file a home insurance claim to receive compensation for her missing items. Pedersen told BI she does not plan to make the claim, as it could raise her insurance.
"My biggest complaint against WestJet is that they did not take responsibility," Pedersen told BI.
More passengers have been placing AirTags on their suitcases following several incidents of mishandled bags by airlines. In August, a passenger flew across the US and used an Airtag to track down her lost bag. In September, a man traveling from Oklahoma to Ireland found his lost golfing gear with an Airtag.