The case was decided in March, but I just learned of it on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, so it’s news to me. Jason Proctor brings us the full story on CBC News.
It turns out, the duty to read does not apply to people who pack their suitcase with crab meat, fish cakes, sea cucumbers and dandelion root before boarding a flight aboard a Canadian budget airline. Passengers are prohibited from packing such items in checked baggage. However, once the airline accepts checked baggage, it assumes liability for any damage to that baggage. Apparently, the rule in Canada is that “the law doesn’t allow an airline to use a contract to get out of liability for bags frontline staff agree to put on an airplane — no matter how fishy the contents.” Flair was ordered to pay the passenger $780 to cover the value of the seafood, baggage fees, and court costs.
I REALLY don’t like this outcome. The proper solution, it seems to me, is that the airline should refund the baggage fee. Maybe that’s enough to get the passenger his court costs as well. But all of his other losses are his fault. Don’t pack perishables in a suitcase before flying. If you do so and the perishables perish, while permanently funkifying your suitcase, that’s on you.
The last thing we need is to give airlines a reason to spend more time inspecting our checked luggage. Now, not only are we going to have to take off shoes and belts, pull out our large electronics (or not in OKC!), and pack our liquids separately (or not, TSA seems not to be obsessed with that anymore), but we will also have to stand in line while dogs trained to sniff out contraband adorably inspect our checked bags.
