How I got my bag on the Air Canada flight from Toronto to Dallas

So this review starts with the story of how I got my bag on the Air Canada flight from Toronto to Dallas.

The strangest bag check-in:

There was a bit of an inconvenience when I tried to check my bag. I had landed in Toronto the previous night, collected my bag from the carousel, spent the night in a hotel and then arrived at the airport in the morning for my flight. I couldn’t check my bag on the self check terminal and so called over a representative to help me. He checked in the system and said to me “The system says your bag is still in the airport in transit to Dallas”. I said ” That is silly as here it is” pointing to said bag. It got weirder as he said the system will not allow me to check the bag as it is in the system on my name already.

and a bit stranger still:

After a bit of muddling in the system and not being able to sort it out I eventually had to check it on my wife’s ticket. Now that complicates the story even more as my wife was not checking in to the flight. Seeing as I had had to stay overnight we had booked her another ticket to fly on to Dallas the previous night. I still had her ticket so I took it out and used it to check my bag. There didn’t seem to be any other way to get my bag on the flight seeing as the agent had said it was proving impossible to put it on my ticket.

Toronto airport has a full customs area to check all passengers flying into the United States. Once you are through you are technically in the United States already as once you land in Dallas you just walk off the plane into the terminal with no checks.  

At the gate I was concerned that if my wife didn’t board there might be complications with my bag so I explained to the agent that my wife was not going to make the flight. I asked if she could move the bag to my ticket and she said sure, and one minute later gave me a new baggage tag with the suitcase on my ticket. Strange but true. 

The flight had been announced as full and I saw later in the flight that they had sold my wife’s ticket as there was a lady who sat next to me in her seat. So it ended up being a win-win for me and them.

On board:

https://www.aircanada.com/us/en/aco/home//onboard/fleet.html#/

The flight is around 4 hours but we are in an Embraer E175 which is a smaller design and has a seating plan of 2+2.

There is a sweet looking overhead unit that has the light, air vent, button for calling the attendant, a speaker and seat belt sign.

The plane has such small overhead baggage bins that most normal sized hand luggage had to be checked at the gate as they won’t fit. 

Air Canada has a fun safety message video that takes staff to many different regions in Canada, they interact with local people and then demonstrate the safety procedures with local and airline equipment. On a mountain or on a snow covered field, it is quite a fun video. 

As you can see the Embraer E175 has a really nice entertainment system with a good sized screen. There was a nice choice of newer films but I delved into the past and caught up on one of the Twilight series of movies that I hadn’t seen. 

Safety and food card:

The safety card was well past its prime but was still informative. Exit procedures for water and land and a sweet pictogram of how to put a safety jacket onto a baby.

On board facilities:

So I toured the toilet in the interests of a complete review. Small and everything you would expect of an on board loo. Many no smoking signs, paper tissues, seat covers, toilet rolls. A clever jacket hook on the door. 

View from the window:

There was a pleasant view of a fellow Air Canada plane taxiing past.

I ended up purchasing a fruit and cheese board which was rather tasty, had a cup of hot tea and overall had a really nice flight. On arrival in Dallas there it was. After an interesting journey my bag was ready for collection on the carousel. 

And that is the end of my trip and the story of how I got my bag on the Air Canada flight from Toronto to Dallas.