Toronto man 'baffled' after Air Canada says it had no record he ever boarded flight

An Air Canada traveller on his way home to Toronto says he was told the reason his return flight was cancelled was because the airline had no record he had boarded his departing flight.

Jake Muchnik flew out to Orlando, Fla. for a weekend golf trip with a couple of his friends, when he was hit with a stroke of bad luck on his way home to Toronto.

The 25-year-old flew out of Toronto Pearson International Airport on April 6 and was set to return on April 9. Since he and his friends were going to be golfing on their last day in Florida, they decided to check in to their Air Canada flight ahead of time.

“They both check-in, tell me what seats they’re in, and I was unable to,” Muchnik told CTV News Toronto on Monday. “It said there was no record with my name and the booking confirmation. So obviously, [I was] panicking.”

Muchnik called American Express Travel, the company he booked his flights with, and Air Canada, who both told him his flight was cancelled because it appeared he never boarded his departure flight from Toronto.

But Muchnik did, in fact, make it to Orlando. Despite the flight being apparently delayed on the tarmac for half an hour, Muchnik says they had a “completely normal travel day” and that every part of the way flew without a hitch.

“I advised them that I have my boarding passes, and I had baggage tags because I shipped my golf clubs,” Muchnik said, and added that if he had not boarded the flight his bags should not have appeared at the same luggage carousel as his two friends.

“Once I kind of mentioned that, [Air Canada’s customer service representative] kind of shut down, and they said you need to contact Customer Relations. There’s nothing that we can do at customer service for you anymore. It was pretty upsetting because I was like, ‘How am I going to be getting home tomorrow?’”