A passenger is being taken to court by an airline after spending over C$3,000 on items after his luggage went missing.
There’s a good chance that at some point in your life you’ll experience your luggage being delayed or lost.
It’s extremely inconvenient, especially if your baggage is lost upon your arrival at your destination, leaving you without your items for your vacation.
This is something that happened to Alaa Tannous and his wife, Nancy, back in 2022 following a cross-country flight with Air Canada from Toronto to Vancouver.
The Canadian couple’s luggage was lost on the way to Vancouver in 2022 (Getty Stock)
Upon their arrival in Vancouver, Alaa was informed that his luggage hadn’t arrived and, according to him, they couldn’t tell him where it could be.
«They couldn’t even track the luggage, if it’s in Toronto or, like, on the way,» he told CBC. «I was under the impression, luggage is gone.»
With this in mind, Alaa was informed that he and his wife could spend a ‘reasonable amount’ on necessities.
The couple proceeded to spend over C$3,000 (around $2,100 USD) on items and later filed the receipts in a bid to claim compensation from Air Canada – the airline that had misplaced their luggage.
Air Canada initially offered them $250, but they turned it down.
Alaa proceeded to take the case to the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), who ordered Air Canada to pay approximately C$2,400 to them; a sum Alaa thought was ‘fair’.
Air Canada is suing a passenger after trying to claim over C$3,000 in compensation (Kevin Carter/Getty Images) (
Fast forward to Christmas 2024, and the Tannous’ were hit with court documents saying that Air Canada was suing them.
Air Canada is taking them to Federal Court in the hope of the CTA’s decision being overturned.
«It was shocking,» Alaa said of being served in December. «It’s disappointing to see the airline, after all the money I spent with them over the years … they’re appealing a $2,000 claim.»
But Air Canada has since revealed more about the ordeal and insisted that the couple’s case was returned to them within 24 hours and that some of the items they tried to claim for were purchased after they had their luggage again.
One item purchased by Alaa was C$1310.40 for a personally monogrammed Tumi piece of luggage, Air Canada says.
In a statement shared to LinkedIn, the airline said: «The customer’s bag was delivered less than 24 hours after their own arrival. The customer’s flight arrived in Vancouver at 11:08 am on May 25, 2022 and the bag was delivered to their hotel on May 26, 2022 at 9:15 am.»
Breaking down their expenses, on May 25, they spent nearly C$570 on toiletries, nearly C$300 on lingerie and sleepwear, more than C$1,600 on clothing and underwear.
Some of the receipts reportedly showed purchases after the luggage was returned (Getty Stock)
Then, on the evening of the day the airline claims that the luggage was back with Alaa and his wife, they spent C$433 on a pair of women’s sneakers.
It was the following day (May 28) that they paid over C$1,000 for the monogrammed piece of luggage.
Air Canada’s statement concluded: «Under current law, Air Canada cannot appeal decisions by the Canadian Transportation Agency to the agency itself and must instead appeal to the Federal Court. In this case, Air Canada has chosen to appeal to the Federal Court because it is seeking guidance on what constitutes reasonable expenses that customers can claim.»
Apparently the airline is not seeking legal costs from Alaa should it win its legal challenge.
Elsewhere, the CDC reported that the passenger isn’t looking to hire a lawyer in the case as he doesn’t want to ‘waste more money’.
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Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Images
Niamh Shackleton
Airline passenger tries using ‘pillowcase hack’ before boarding but it backfires badly
The passenger tried the viral hack by using a pillow on their flight, but it did not go as planned
A passenger who decided to give the ‘pillow case hack’ from the internet a go found it didn’t quite go to plan.
For those who don’t know, this where you stuff clothes into a pillow case so that you can bring it onto a flight and get around rules for carry on bags.
The idea is that because it’s just a pillow for you to be comfortable, it won’t count as a carry on bag.
However, one passenger found out the hard way why the hack is not something that you should attempt.
Airports are stressful places at the best of times. (Terraxplorer / Getty)
Given that airports can be very tense and stressful places at the best of times, doing anything which might aggravate people who work there seems like it would probably not be a very good idea if you want your journey to go off without a hitch.
Nonetheless, the passenger attempted the social media hack.
Taking to TikTok, an observer filmed and described what happened next, and needless to say it did not go well.
TikToker @natashaorganic posted the video, which had a voice over explaining exactly what was going on.
In the voiceover, she said: «Stop letting social media give you tips and tricks because sometimes it’s not gonna work.
«This dude was trying to take in a pillowcase full of clothing and other items which he is stating was simply just a pillowcase and the dude was was like bro, everybody can see it’s not a freaking pillow, like come on.»
She went on to explain what happened after the passenger tried to push it as far as he possibly could.
«They gave him the chance to pay for it, he went all the way up until they closed the doors to be like okay, I’ll pay for it now, and then he tried to like bogart his way into the freaking, into the plane,» she continued.
«They were like bro, back away, we gave you a chance and you didn’t pay for it, and they ended up calling the cops on him.
Things did not end well for the passenger. (TikTok/@natashaorganic)
«And he ended up getting escorted out, so stop listening to the internet.»
People took to the comments to share their thoughts on the incident.
One wrote: «The airport is the one place I’m making sure I’m a model citizen. Are ppl not afraid of felonies and the no fly list?»
A second posted: «I’ll fight anyone anywhere anytime but never the airport. Getting out in the “no fly list” is worse than a bad credit score.»
A third pointed out: «Do yall know employees at the airport have TikTok?!!!??? They see the same videos.»
Featured Image Credit: TikTok/@natashaorganic
Kit Roberts
Man who had lifetime first-class ticket canceled after costing airline $21,000,000 was sued over 14 flights he never booked
Steven Rothstein racked up 30 million airlines with his $250,000 unlimited ticket
A man who was sued after costing an airline $21,000,000 was accused making reservations for 14 flights he never booked.
Steven Rothstein was among 66 people who purchased American Airlines’ lifetime first-class tickets, called the AAirpass, for $250,000. Launched in 1981, Steven bought his ‘golden ticket’ in 1987.
In the 21 years that followed, the stockbroker racked up 30 million miles across 10,000 flights with the company — all covered by the $250k he’d first put down.
The airline had launched the ticket to make up for lost profit after financial struggles, however, Steven’s excessive flying saw them lose out on $21 million profit.
American Airlines revoked Steven’s pass in 2008, mid travel-day. They went on to sue him, but not because of the amount of flights he’d booked.
Steven Rothstein had a truly sad reason for booking so many American Airlines flights (Caroline Rothstein)
Instead, the company sued him for fraud, accusing him of booking seats for non-existent passengers under names such as ‘Bag Rothstein’ and ‘Steven Rothstein Jr’, whilst also booking tickets for flights he was never planning to board.
Steven later explained to his daughter, journalist Caroline Rothstein, the sad reason behind his flight-booking — and reserving some 2,000 empty plane seats.
In a piece written for Narritively in 2019, later published in the Guardian, Caroline explained how she read through some 80 court documents about the case in full, discovering that, according to a senior analyst at American Airlines, ‘of the 3,009 flight segments Dad booked for himself from May 2005 to December 2008, he either canceled or was a “no-show” for 84% of those reservations.’
The investigation said Steven made ‘companion reservations’ using his AAirpass for at least 41 flight segments between December 2003 and April 2004, but Caroline writes the airline had ‘condoned his booking companion seats under fictitious names for years.’
Post 9/11, he was asked to stop booking flights this way, and Steven agreed. Caroline claimed American Airlines ‘continued investigating him, looking for a way to push him out.’
Caroline Rothstein (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival)
She wrote: «Another document shows that American contends that 14 incidents from August 2006 to November 2008 were considered ‘fraudulent’ under their alleged terms — but Dad was never notified that they were considered fraudulent at the time they were made.»
In her deposition, American Airlines Platinum desk employee Lorraine Cross said she hadn’t received ‘any written directions from American Airlines regarding what was and was not «acceptable practice for making reservations for the Executive Platinum customers,»‘ Caroline explained.
She continued: «Lorraine said she didn’t suspect misuse of his AAirpass; they were the ones handling all of his bookings. Yet, they — Lorraine, and anyone else in reservations — weren’t contacted at all once revenues began the investigations.»
Steven’s wife added: «Steven never made a single reservation on his own on a computer. Every single reservation he ever made was made with an American Airlines paid employee.»
Despite American Airlines’ initial legal action, they and Rothstein eventually settled outside of court.
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Featured Image Credit: Caroline Rothstein/Joan Valls/Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Topics: Travel
Ellie Kemp
Astonishing number of flights per year booked by man who cost airline $21,000,000 with his $250,000 lifetime ticket
American Airlines’ unlimited free pass saw the company get absolutely rinsed by a man who booked a jaw-dropping number of flights
A frequent flyer racked up such a shocking amount of flights on his lifetime ticket that he cost American Airlines $21 million and the airline canceled his pass.
In 1981, American Airlines offered avid travelers the opportunity of, well, a lifetime — first-class tickets for life to any person willing to cough up a whopping $250,000 right then and there.
Alas, the airline underestimated the lengths one particular traveler would go to in order to squeeze as much as he could out of the lifetime pass. Forget the viral trash bag ‘life hack’ and a plane passenger’s reclining seat hack, because one man outdid them all.
Steven Rothstein well and truly hacked the system with American Airlines’ AAirpass (Caroline Rothstein)
The quarter-of-a-million AAirpass offered ‘unlimited first class travel for life’, not only in the US but across the globe. Not only that, but for an additional $150,000 you could bring along a companion for your trips.
Now, $250,000 on its own or with the companion pass thrown on top — totaling $350,000 — is a hell of a lot money, but if you were a frequent first class flyer and were planning on traveling a lot for the rest of your life it’s not hard how to see how this could be a pretty good deal — to passengers, certainly not the airline.
And while American Airlines quickly realized it may not’ve quite fully thought the deal through, discontinuing the AAirpass by 1994, by that point a total of 28 people are reported by Luxury Launches as having signed up to the airline’s offer.
How did Steven Rothstein cost American Airlines $21 million?
Those customers include Steven Rothstein, who purchased the pass in 1987 and squeezed everything he could out of it for 21 years, costing American Airlines over an eye-watering $21 million in the process.
And if you were wondering how many flights he actually took, well, it’s a lot.
American Airlines trying to run away from Rothstein boarding yet another flight (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
Rothstein ‘traveled’ a smug total of 30 million miles as an American Airlines first class passenger on his pass, booking a whopping 10,000 flights with the company.
And Reddit users have broken that down even further.
One user said: «21 yrs X 365 days in a year = 7665 That means he took more than one flight everyday in that time frame. Sheesh.»
How many of those he actually took who knows, but even if he took a fraction of the 10,000 he booked that’s still an impressive number.
Why did Steven Rothstein book so many American Airlines tickets?
After American Airlines took away Rothstein’s pass in 2008, he sued the airline for breaking the contract, however the company argued he’d ‘fraudulently used’ the pass’ companion feature by sometimes booking extra seats under fictitious names, his daughter told The Guardian.
Ultimately, the judge ruled in American Airlines’ favor and Rothstein may’ve not been left with a lifetime pass, but at least he had nearly a lifetime of memories from his trips.
Steven’s daughter Caroline Rothstein explained the sad reasoning behind her dad booking some 2,000 ’empty’ flight seats over the years.
Asking her father why he did this, Steven revealed it was a way of coping with the death of his teenage son — Caroline’s brother — in 2002. Josh, 15, had died after being hit by a car while walking down the street.
Steven explained: “When everyone was asleep in the house, and I had nobody to talk to, and I was lonely about Josh’s death, I would telephone American Airlines reservations and speak to the agents about who knows what for an hour and then at the end, they’d ask me, oh, what reservation was I calling about to make, and I would say, ‘Oh yeah, I need to go to San Francisco next week’.
«I really didn’t need to go to San Francisco. I was just very confused and very lonely and I was calling American Airlines because they were logical people for me to speak to. They knew me. I knew them. I knew their names. I knew their lives.”
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Featured Image Credit: Caroline Rothstein / Getty Stock Images
Topics: Money, Reddit, Travel, World News, American Airlines
Poppy Bilderbeck
Man had his $250,000 lifetime first-class ticket canceled after he cost the airline $21,000,000
American Airlines’ unlimited free pass for first-class tickets wound up costing them big time over the decades
A frequent-flyer had his lifetime offer of free first class flights revoked after he ended up costing the airlines millions of dollars.
For many, a lifetime free pass for anything is a life-changing deal, and air travel is no exception. However, as American Airlines found out, a lifetime free pass doesn’t just sound too good to be true — it really is too good to be true.
In an attempt to make quick cash in 1981, American Airlines offered up free first-class tickets for life to any individual willing to pay them $250,000 on the spot.
At the time, this was done by the airline with the intention of making additional profits as they were dealing with financial struggles and were looking for a way out.
American Airlines initally offered the AAirpass for $250,000. (pexels/Alfred GF)
At face value, their plan worked. A total of 66 people purchased the lifetime pass, known officially as the AAirpass.
However, when you look deeper, this was one of the worst financial mistakes they ever could’ve made, and it’s all because of one man named Steven Rothstein.
Rothstein purchased the AAirpass in 1987, and within 21 years, he alone cost American Airlines over $21 million dollars in profits.
How did he do this? Well, even beyond the amenities and add-ons that come with riding first-class, it was the sheer amount of flying Rothstein did that cost the airline millions.
By 2008, Rothstein had traveled 30 million miles across 10,000 flights with American Airlines, all of which were free of charge.
If you do the math, you can see that just one passenger made the entire AAirpass program unprofitable.
Despite this, it took decades for American Airlines to come to the realization that Rothstein was costing them millions of dollars.
Once they had finally figured it out in 2008, they quickly cut off Rothstein in the middle of a travel day, leaving the man unable to board his flight to Bosnia as a result.
Rothstein flew across the world roughly 10,000 times before being stopped (Caroline Rothstein)
American Airlines also sued Rothstein as a result of his actions, though not for his personal overuse of the AAirpass.
Instead, they sued the stockbroker for fraud, accusing him of booking seats for non-existent passengers under names such as ‘Bag Rothstein’ and ‘Steven Rothstein Jr’, and also booking tickets for flights he was never planning to board.
Rothstein also admitted to offering up his ticket to those in need on numerous occasions throughout the 20+ years he had unlimited flights.
Speaking to Forbes back in 2019, Rothstein explained his side of the story, saying: “I gave a man in Seattle a ticket to go to his father’s funeral. I gave many people tickets to visit ill family members.
“I don’t view that as philanthropy, I view that as good deeds.”
Despite American Airlines’ initial legal action, they and Rothstein eventually settled outside of court.
And, in case you were wondering, Rothstein now prefers to fly with United Airlines whenever he travels.
