Airline industry insiders say passengers have become carried away with carry-on baggage, leading to costly delays. That’s prompting calls for changes to how airplanes charge for baggage, with some discount airlines like Sunwing and Spirit already beginning to flip the fee structure so passengers pay for the privilege of keeping their bags on board.
When you’re flying from LAX to Pearson, Pearson to Montreal, and then before you board your flight at Pearson your gate gets changed, your bag could be anywhere.
Your bag is in Pearson. If your flight goes over Canadian airspace, your bag goes to Pearson.
Vancouver to Mumbai? Pearson.
New York to Seoul? Pearson.
Moscow to Cuba? Pearson.
Helicopter skiing out of Whistler? Pearson.
Driving Québéc City to Charlottetown, but you hit a hill in New Brunswick too fast and catch some air? Pearson.
Greyhound bus from Calgary to Edmonton hits a pothole? Pearson.
The only convincing argument I’ve ever heard for Toronto being the center of the universe, is the supermassive luggage hole that is Pearson airport.
As for a non-hyperbolic example, I went Atlanta-Montreal-Ottawa a few years. At the customs in Montreal, it was a disaster zone; bags piled in random corridors; and it was abundantly clear there was no chance my bag would make it. What wasn’t clear is how my bag ended up in Pearson, then on to Ottawa, then back in Pearson again, then finally in Ottawa.