A local golf prodigy could have her old clubs back shortly.

Sydney Lia, a freshman at Queen’s University of Charlotte in North Carolina and member of the schools golf team, had her clubs left behind at Pearson International Airport in Toronto in December due to weight restrictions.

She was on her way to Timmins for a holiday break, but the ensuing weeks were less than ideal for relaxing.

The original flight from Toronto to Timmins was cancelled and Sydney’s father Angelo says he was informed the baggage wouldn’t be put back in a public area.

After the clubs failed to make their way on several flights, the situation seemed suspicious.

It also became frustrating for the Lia family, who placed numerous phone calls to Air Canada to follow up the claim.

Their suspicions turned concrete when Angelo found the clubs in a Kijiji ad on January 2nd.

The ad indicated the seller was in London, Ontario, so Angelo followed up with Peel Regional Police.  Police then arranged a meeting with the seller and made an arrest.

A 38-year old man from London is now facing charges of theft over $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime.

At the moment, Angelo says 13 of the 14 clubs are in police custody and officials are waiting on family to go down to verify the items didn’t take any damage before being released to Sydney.

But one of the questions throughout all of this is how did the alleged thief get a hold of the clubs in the first place?

The person charged isn’t an Air Canada employee.  According to Angelo, it was an individual on a stopover and is under the assumption Air Canada “messed up” by putting the clubs back into the public area once Sydney’s original flight to Timmins was cancelled.

“Obviously there’s some sort of a misstep in the process with Air Canada in terms of what happens to these bags,” he said, adding the process Air Canada employees have for handling luggage is the bigger question.

“If somebody misses a flight, that bag should not go back into a public baggage area.”

So with the arrest, Angelo says the dispute is now with the airline in terms of fair compensation.

The family had to purchase new clubs for Sydney to fulfill her scholarship requirements.  Police previously weren’t sure how long it would take for them to release the stolen clubs, which of course became evidence in the case.

To get an extra eye on everything, the family has been in contact with Gabor Lukacs.  Lukacs is an air rights activist who has won a number of cases against airlines, who took an interest in this case.

“He feels that Air Canada…there’s some more liability Air Canada has in regards to this case than just a regular lost baggage claim,” Angelo said.

He mentioned the “Montreal Convention,” adding a piece of advice for airline passengers.

“Know what your rights are,” Angelo said, “You hear about this stuff all the time, bags go missing and sometimes it’s just human error and whatnot.  But you really need to figure out what your rights are and also just making sure you hold the airlines accountable for making sure they take care of your bags and your luggage.”

“It’s an interesting process that we’ve gone through and we’re going through and it’s a really good learning experience.”

In a case of irony, Angelo and his wife Shelly went to school with musician Dave Carroll, who had his own bout with an airline.

Carroll’s fight with United Airlines inspired him to write and record the song “United Breaks Guitars.”  The music video went viral in 2009.

Angelo admits the idea to contact Carroll crossed his wife’s mind at one point, but the phone call wasn’t made.

Angelo says Lukacs has been a big help and with a laugh, added the family hasn’t needed to “use the power of Dave Carroll on this one.”

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