U.S. family on ski trip finds lost bag at Vancouver airport on their way home

Robyn Fant and her family found their final missing suitcase among a sea of unclaimed bags at Vancouver International Airport on Tuesday, just as they were to board a flight home to North Carolina after an annual ski trip to Whistler.

Their bag was one of 1,500 that officials said remained at the airport following winter storms that wreaked havoc on holiday travel last month. Hundreds of flights were cancelled in and out of the airport as heavy snow, then freezing rain, covered Metro Vancouver, leaving many people to sleep on the airport floor for days.

Walking through the airport, Fant said she, her husband and three sons checked eight bags for their Air Canada flight and arrived in Vancouver on Christmas Day, but the luggage with all of their ski gear went missing for the next four days.

The lost bags cost the family “thousands of dollars” because they had to rent ski gear and buy clothing, including winter boots, gloves, a jacket and pants, she said.