Legal Ease, March 4

Air travel is a regular part of daily life, especially for people who live in Nunavut.

While the prices of travel to the South are high, the ability to go from Rankin or Iqaluit to Florida or Spain is worth a lot.

And if you are like me, when you travel South, you take at least one empty suitcase, which comes back full of new clothes, laundry soap and other things that are hard or expensive to buy at the Northern store.

But what happens if your luggage goes missing and is ultimately not found? Can you claim for everything you lost?

Now in fairness, luggage usually gets to where it is going, and even if it’s delayed, it’s usually found.

That said, mistakes do happen, and sometimes luggage goes missing.

First, airlines are not liable without limit. If you decide to ship $100,000 worth of diamonds in your luggage and don’t make special arrangements, you are doing so largely at your own risk.

The Canadian Transportation Agency is in charge of making sure airlines treat customers in an open and transparent way and that agency requires all airlines to have a readily understandable tariff —easily available to customers — that sets out the limits of liability for lost or damaged luggage.

While it does take a little digging, both Canadian North and First Air have their tariffs available online.

Both airlines have pretty much the same limit for liability for luggage — $750 total per passenger, unless special arrangements have been made, and paid for, in advance.

If you make a declaration and pay a fee, you can increase the limit of liability on First Air to $1,000 and on Canadian North to $1,500. In reality, almost no one ever makes such a declaration.

Within the limits of liability, there are things you can do to make a claim easier.

First, if you are shipping perishable goods — cheese or whatever — tell the airline when you check in. Do the same thing if there are fragile goods.

In both cases the bags will be labeled and given special handling.

Second, if you have had a shopping spree at Walmart keep the receipts and put them in your pocket — don’t pack them with the luggage.

Perhaps take a cell phone picture of the luggage as all filled up — before you close it. This will allow you to say exactly what was in the luggage and what it was worth.

Finally, if the luggage goes astray or is damaged, make a claim at the airport you land at in writing and keep a copy of the claim.

Make the claim promptly. If you are not getting a decent response, the Canadian Transportation Agency has a great website and will take complaints online.

The airlines do a very good job in difficult circumstances. Luggage rarely goes missing and is not damaged very often.

Even when things do go wrong the airlines usually make amends without any formal process.

But just in case, it’s a good idea to be prepared.

James Morton is a lawyer practicing in Nunavut with offices in Iqaluit. The comments here are intended as general legal information and not as specific legal advice.