Luggage woes at AIA for Vincy-Canadian

A Vincentian-born Canadian who returned home to bury her mother, has felt a profound sense of violation after a worker at the Argyle International Airport misplaced her belongings.

“I have felt a range of emotions from disbelief, anger, to a profound sense of violation. The thought that someone could callously disregard the personal significance of these items is deeply upsetting,” Sandra Williams told SEARCHLIGHT in an interview on Friday March, 15, 2024.

Williams said she arrived in St Vincent in November 2023, and left the island on February 13, 2024. However, when she arrived at the Airport to check in for her flight to Toronto, she mistakenly went to the Inter-Caribbean airline check in instead of the Air Canada desk.

Williams was made aware of this and rushed to Air Canada airline, but when she arrived on the aircraft realised that her tote bag was missing. She related having reported the issue to the Air Canada flight attendant, and was given a number upon arrival to contact the airline directly, in hopes that the agent saw the bag and kept it in a safe place, or turned it in to the Air Canada Airline desk.

Williams said she made contact with a customer service worker at the airport via email, who notified her that the lost bag was retrieved on February 19, will be handed to a purser, and will leave St Vincent for Toronto that same evening.

But despite being told “We are leaving no stones unturned in reuniting your package back with you” Williams said she still had not received her bag after 17 days of waiting.

She told SEARCHLIGHT that the worker failed to respond to an email where she was asking for the purser’s full name and identification number or a receipt for confirmation.

Williams also related reaching out to another worker at the airport who notified her that Air Canada does not transport cargo so the package would not have been sent on Flight AC 1339. Williams informed the customer service worker of this telling her that she would pursue the matter with someone in higher authority so it can be investigated.

However, the customer service worker insisted that she did hand over the package to a purser on Flight AC 1339, and she will respond shortly with the name of the purser. She is yet to receive her package or the information promised.

Williams told SEARCHLIGHT that in that small purple and black tote bag was her passport, two Revenue Canada official receipts, her partner’s Triangle MasterCard and US$60. She said that she is experiencing “deep distress” due to the loss of these items which “were not just possessions, there was information in the package that’s very personal”.

SEARCHLIGHT spoke to the AIA worker in question who referred our reporter to an officer in charge. That person was unavailable on both Monday and Tuesday when SEARCHLIGHT contacted the airport.

However, after weeks of having no communication, Williams told SEARCHLIGHT that she received an email from the customer service officer on Tuesday, March 19,2024, stating, “I place on record that I…accept full responsibility and will bear all costs relating to the loss and replacement of the contents, and including your tote bag.”

The email, which was carbon copied to other workers and departments in the airport, further said that she wishes to “absolve The Argyle International Airport Inc (AIA), its Board of Directors, its Officer in Charge, its Senior Handling Services Supervisor and any other person acting in their capacity as it relates to AIA, of any implication, liability or claim which may arise from this”.

Williams said her sense of security and trust have been shaken as a result.

“I urge the airport authorities to take this matter seriously and strengthen measures to prevent such incidents from happening to others…”, she said.