Ottawa, January 16, 2022 - The Unbelievable Happened

 We had a quiet time in Istanbul for the last week that I was there. The weather was cooler, and we had some rain. On the morning of my departure, January 12, the temperature was 1 degree. As we had scheduled, a medical crew came to my hotel  the day before and completed the PCR test about 09:45. four hours later, the hotel received the email with the test report which was negative. On Wednesday, January 12, I departed for the airport in a shuttle arranged by the hotel. The quoted price would be 150 Turkish Lira, about 15 Canadian dollars. At the airport, I was charged an extra 100 Lira, which the driver insisted was the new price!. I went into the International Departures doors, and immediately into Primary Screening. I had three pieces of luggage, and put my heavy coat into a tray for the scanning. I reclaimed the luggage, and awaited the tray, but it was caught up in the scanner with another tray. I left my luggage, and stepped back about ten feet to await the coat. When I got the coat and tuned around to go to airline check-in, my luggage was gone. I have not seen it since. I came home with my passport, airline ticket, negative PCR report and my Boarding Pass. For the next two hours, I was taken from Security to the Airport Lost and Found, police, and around the same trip gain, only on this trip it was what appeared to be higher authority. Right at the beginning, I was told that, "it was probably an over zealous Security Agent" that tours on a cart. When I checked in for my flight with Turkish Airlines, the Agent told me that if found, they would put it on the next flight to Montreal and on to Ottawa....the next day. For the next three days, I was busy with emails back and forth to the staff at Istanbul Airport. I was told at the airport that because it was so large, there are several Lock-Up rooms for lost items. Yesterday morning, (January 16), I received an email that my luggage was found in one of the lock-ups. That was a great relief, but, I soon found that the Agent who assured me the luggage would be sent here did not know the rules. Since the airline did not yet have possession of the bags, they could not take the luggage without the passenger. Today, I received an email stating that I would need to either have someone claim the bags for me, or find and ship the luggage with a Courier Company. I would not ask my friend to take possession, as my luggage would still be in Istanbul. (I will continue this saga on a new posting.)