Air Canada worker freed from baggage hold before Toronto flight

Incident on Air Canada Rouge Flight 1502

Gabrielle Caron was returning home from a vacation in Mexico when her connecting flight from Toronto to Moncton faced an unexpected situation.

Air Canada Rouge Flight 1502 was taxiing at Toronto Pearson International Airport when Caron noticed flight attendants running down the aisle.

The plane stopped before reaching the runway, and Caron looked out the window.

“We could see the crew gathering around the plane, so we knew something was happening,” she said. “Then, the pilot tells us that there is someone from the crew in the luggage hold.”

When the worker was safely rescued, he entered the cabin to inform everyone he was okay.

The incident occurred on an Airbus 321A, which can carry up to 184 passengers, on December 13.

“The aircraft cargo doors were inadvertently closed while a member of the ground crew was inside,” Air Canada stated in an email over the weekend.

The airline confirmed there were no injuries, and the incident is under investigation.

The union representing the ground crew workers declined to comment.

Caron said the plane returned to the terminal, and passengers were asked to disembark while the flight crew completed paperwork.

She noted that the flight was delayed further after the pilot’s work hours “timed out,” preventing the trip east.

It was only after talking to other passengers that Caron understood the seriousness of the situation.

“Some of the people that were sitting towards the back of the plane heard the person screaming and banging, trying to get their attention. One of the people even said that they called 911.”

Investigation and Passenger Reactions

An investigation is underway after a ground crew member at Toronto Pearson International Airport got trapped in the baggage hold of an Air Canada Rouge plane shortly before takeoff. Passengers on the Moncton-bound flight heard noise from below.

Caron said the flight was scheduled to leave at 2 p.m. that day, but after hours of uncertainty, she was notified at 1:15 a.m. the next day that her flight was canceled.

Later on the second day, at 8 p.m., the plane finally departed.

“I think what frustrated me the most is Air Canada’s decision to delay the situation every hour,” Caron said. “Nobody had the foresight at any point to think, let’s just cancel the flight the first time we deboarded.”

Stephanie Cure, also from Moncton, was among the passengers who heard the crew member’s cries for help.

She initially used her headphones and did not hear anything until alerted by those around her.

“You could just kind of see, like, everyone was just tense,” Cure said. “You can hear some muffled, like someone yelling for help.”

Cure took out her phone and started filming, later posting it on her travel-focused social media accounts, which received almost 500,000 views on Instagram.

“It just felt like such a crazy random experience, and I was like, I’m just gonna take my camera out,” she said.

After posting the video and talking to other passengers, Cure learned that the crew member was “an extra crew that was helping out with this load,” which is why he was not accounted for.

Air Canada confirmed that the trapped worker was a member of their ground crew.

Cure received $1,000 in compensation for the disruption, while Caron received a $400 voucher and an apology from Air Canada.

Legal Insights

Aviation industry analyst John Gradek stated that passengers like Caron are entitled to more compensation.

Gradek, a professor at McGill University, noted that given the outcome for the passengers, there are grounds for legal action.

“As far as regulations are concerned, it’s $1,000 — $400 is for a delay between three and six hours,” he said.

He believes the incident resulted from the ground crew following improper procedures.

“When somebody closed the door of that baggage hold and permitted the aircraft to be dispatched, there was a task that was not completed,” Gradek explained.

The aircraft never took off, but Gradek stated that if it had, the crew member would have survived the flight.

“There was no danger of, you know, hypothermia,” he said. “If this individual was to complete the journey, it was just that you’re not supposed to be in there.”

As the investigation continues, it will address questions such as when the door was closed, how many bags were loaded, and who closed the door.

“It’s pretty exhaustive in terms of the investigation that will take place,” Gradek said.

As for Caron, she is relieved that everyone was safe.

“Something to remember is that things are never certain when you travel,” she said. “Some of these inevitables are probably going to happen, and to try to take it with as much patience as possible.”