Brian Vu's suitcase was a veritable smorgasbord of seafood when he boarded a flight from British Columbia to Ontario operated by Canadian ultra-low-coast Flair Airlines. That's when things turned rotten. Even though passengers are prohibited from putting perishables in their luggage, Vu had stuffed his satchel with crab meat, fish cakes, sea cucumbers, and other delicacies. Unfortunately, the airline lost his luggage.
When the bag was located five days later, the seafood had unsurprisingly gone bad. Vu filed a suit in small claims court. Sounds fishy but a member of British Columbia's Civil Resolution Tribunal ruled in his favor.
"The Canadian Transportation Agency has repeatedly held that if an airline accepts checked baggage then the airline assumes liability for the baggage even if the airline has not agreed to transport certain items," Tribunal member Peter Mennie stated.
From CBC.ca:
Mr. Vu estimates that he paid $250 for the crab meat, $120 for the fish cakes, $80 for the sea cucumbers, and $72 for the dandelion root."
The evidence in the case included a video which Vu claimed depicted the spoiled items in his bag — but Mennie said he wasn't able to open the file.
Regardless, there seemed to be no dispute that the products were actually spoiled.
