‘It was unbelievable:’ Ontario man’s golf clubs bent and broken after Air Canada flight

An Ontario man was “shocked” his golf bag was ripped open and his clubs were broken when he travelled home from Florida to Toronto last November. 

As he has done many times, Aldo Mucciarone stowed his golf clubs in a soft travel golf bag designed for air travel. The clubs safely arrived in Florida on the trip from Toronto Pearson Airport.

As they were flying home with Air Canada, Rose, Aldo’s wife, said they were told to check the golf bag with the rest of the regular luggage and place it on the conveyor belt.

“We asked, ‘Shouldn’t this go through the oversized baggage area?’ She said, ‘No, it’s fine.’ I said, ‘Are you sure?’ Because all other times, it’s gone through oversized baggage,” said Rose Mucciarone.

When they arrived at Toronto Pearson, they saw the golf travel bag had been ripped open, with every club inside either broken or bent.

A man’s golf clubs returned to Toronto Pearson bent and broken following an Air Canada flight from Florida.

“We were shocked. It was unbelievable. Piece-by-piece, he took each one out and saw that they were all destroyed. They were shredded, they were bent. Honestly, I think they were put through the wrong baggage area or the bag fell off a truck and got run over,” said Rose.

The Mucciarones filed a complaint with Air Canada and said they were told to provide the original receipts for the golf clubs, something they no longer had.

“My husband had collected these golf clubs over a number of years and we didn’t have the receipts for them,” said Rose.

Rose said Air Canada informed them that without the receipts, their case was closed.

“They said, ‘Without receipts, that’s it, you’re done.’ That was shocking to me,” said Rose.

A spokesperson for Air Canada told CTV News Toronto that the matter has now been resolved.

“We deal with our customers directly. However, I can tell you this customer supplied the additional information we have been waiting for…and we have now resolved this matter,” the spokesperson said.

Air Canada agreed to give the couple $2,350 for the damaged golf bag and golf clubs as well as two $300 vouchers towards future flights.

Rose said the money will be used for a new set of golf clubs for her husband.

“We are very relieved to finally be receiving some compensation for what happened,” said Rose Mucciarone.

If you’re flying with golf clubs, make sure they’re checked into the appropriate area. You can also use a hard-shell case instead of a soft one, and if you have an expensive set of golf clubs, you may want to see if there are limits on compensation in case they do get damaged.