A passenger said his bag hadn't showed up 16 days after landing at Toronto airport — and he was asked to check it in just before boarding

• An airline passenger said he'd been waiting 16 days for his bag to show up at a Toronto airport.
• He told local outlet CP24 he was asked to check in his bag at the last minute before boarding.

An airline passenger who was asked to check his luggage into the hold shortly before boarding his flight said it still hadn't arrived 16 days after he landed in Toronto.

The man, who was identified only as Dean, told Canadian news outlet CP24 on Saturday that he landed at Toronto Pearson International airport on June 17 after flying from Calgary. He said he was asked to check his bag in at the last minute.

After landing at 12.30 a.m., he waited three hours for his bag to show up, and when it didn't, he waited at the customer service desk for a further hour but heard nothing about his missing luggage, per CP24.

Despite returning to the airport three times and making repeated calls to the airline's customer service line, Dean had yet to receive an update on his luggage, per the publication.

"It's been 16 days and no sign of my bag. I've looked through these 2,000 bags here over and over again," he told CP24. "It's just been very frustrating."

Thousands of bags are sitting idle at Toronto Pearson International airport, per CP24.

The Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA), which operates the airport, said in a statement issued to CP24 that flight delays, cancellations, staff shortages, and temporary mechanical issues with the baggage system "over the past several days have led to challenges with baggage."

The GTAA didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, which was made outside regular business hours.

The airline industry is struggling to cope with a surge in demand for travel. Long-running labor shortages, exacerbated by the pandemic, have left carriers and transport hubs short of staff at a time when travel demand is soaring. The result has been long queues, lost baggage, and frustrated passengers.