My only problem with Air Canada nowadays is the price of their tickets. Back in the 1970s -- another story.

They used to put your luggage on any old aircraft going to your destination, and park unclaimed baggage on the concourse floor where anybody could get at it. In 1974, my first guitar disappeared from Dorval Airport, where it was simply left on the floor in the baggage area along with everything else belonging to people who were supposed to be on a flight from Halifax that was cancelled because of an air traffic controllers' strike.

Thanks to counter-terrorism security measures, that stuff just doesn't happen any more. Now, your luggage must be on your flight, and if you get off the plane at the last minute, or don't board at all, they hold up the plane until your luggage is found and taken off. In airports, unclaimed luggage is whisked promptly off the carousel, and unattended luggage gets taken away for investigation.

Which causes a whole 'nother set of irritations ...