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After two decades of travelling together, Twyla Shannahan knew that when her husband Lawrence died, he’d want to be brought back home.
But at the airport she was told she’d have to put his ashes in her checked bag, and then that bag was lost.
When Lawrence died in February, Shannahan, who lived in northern Alberta, began planning a trip to take his ashes to Newfoundland, where he was originally from, to scatter them in the water. But instead she had to track down his ashes that ended up in Montreal.
“He was late for his own funeral,” she told Global News. “He was a jokester so he would be getting a complete chuckle out of all of this because he’s had quite the ordeal.”
Shannahan, however, was rather shaken.
She said she had all of the proper documentation to transport the ashes, but at Edmonton International Airport, she was told she’d have to put them in a checked bag.
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“They said, ‘No, he has to get checked now,’ and I just said, ‘OK, I’m not really happy about this but please respect him and treat him gently,’” she said.
When Shannahan arrived in St. John’s, one of her bags was missing.
“Instantly, I couldn’t breathe. I wanted to be sick,” she said.
When Shannahan finally got the ashes back, she said Air Canada offered her a $200 voucher.
“I actually started laughing,” she said. “All of my stress and grief is worth $200 that you have to use within one year.”
Air Canada told Global News in a statement that cremated remains are accepted as carry-on “provided they meet applicable security requirements.”
“We regret that the customer’s checked baggage containing the cremated remains was delayed. We can confirm it has since been reunited with the customer,” Sean Davidson, an Air Canada spokesperson, said.
Shannahan said she wants to see airlines investigate their policies and procedures to ensure no one else finds themselves in the same position. Having worked in health and safety, she said Lawrence would find the lesson in the ordeal.
“Policies and procedures were his life,” she said. “And so you investigate them to make sure that this kind of hurt and this kind of injury or incident doesn’t happen again.”
Rules for transporting cremated remains
In a statement to Global News, a spokesperson for the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) said permission to fly with cremated remains depends on whether screening can be successfully completed.
“Although passengers may wish to bring cremated remains on the plane with them, cremated remains are a dense material that can be difficult to screen, with certain container materials adding complexity,” the spokesperson said, adding metal, stone or ceramic containers are more likely to generate alarms.
CATSA also said it recommends passengers consider “alternative transportation, such as shipping via cargo air services.”
“This can help avoid delays or distress at the screening checkpoint, particularly for larger quantities of cremated remains or when container materials may complicate screening,” the spokesperson said.
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