Air Canada has apologized after footage showing baggage handlers dropping gate-checked luggage 20 feet over a railing went viral.
The airline said it could fire the duo caught on camera carelessly chucking the carry-on bags, taken off passengers as they boarded the aircraft, into a collection bin below.
Dwayne Stewart filmed the incident at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport on Thursday as he sat waiting to fly home to Vancouver.
“We were so shocked we had to laugh … it looked comical, it looked like it wasn’t real,” he told CBC News.
Air Canada has caught serious online heat after the footage, which has already racked up more than 1 million views, was uploaded to YouTube.
And a spokesman revealed Saturday that the firm had launched an investigation and was “very disappointed & sorry about the actions in the video.”
“This clearly goes against our standard baggage handling procedures which dictates that gate-checked bags are to be hand carried down to the ramp,” it added.
Stewart, a regular Air Canada customer, said he understood why the handlers behaved as they did — and said it was a problem for the entire aviation industry.
“They (were) looking for the faster, most efficient solution,” he said.
“I understand why they’d do that, from a workplace safety point of view, but that doesn’t help passengers whose baggage they don’t want to have treated in that fashion,” he added.
Air Canada spokeswoman Angela Mah later added that the conduct was “totally unacceptable” and that the handlers’ jobs could be terminated “pending the outcome of our investigation.”
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