Someone designed a bar for people waiting on luggage at Toronto Pearson Airport
Most people who have travelled through Toronto in the last few years might recall Pearson International Airport as a frantic, jam-packed hellscape where delays, lost baggage, lineups longer than actual flights, and other horror stories were the norm.
Even if things at the hub and across the industry at large are actually improving for passengers post-COVID madness, snags are pretty par the course with air travel, especially in a market with such limited competition that is also still recovering from staffing shortages.
But arriving well in advance and being as organized as possible for your trip can't prevent all foreseeable hold-ups, unfortunately, including one major one on your way home: waiting for your belongings in a lawless and overflowing baggage claim area.
People are now waiting for days to get their luggage back from Toronto's Pearson International Airport https://t.co/B5UGZQ8FM5
— blogTO (@blogTO) December 29, 2022
Whether it is the fault of the airline, the airport, or specific personnel, luggage delays are not uncommon, and leave weary flyers to sit around the carousels for potentially hours after arrival.
Such an experience recently prompted one resident — who happens to be a designer and architect — to wonder why this part of Pearson doesn't have the amenities offered near the gates or even pre-security clearance.
Waiting for baggage at Toronto Pearson be like pic.twitter.com/Ld3VXGG91x
— Ashleigh Stewart (@Ash_Stewart_) June 6, 2023
What he thought would definitely help the pain of the interlude before your stuff finally emerges from some suitcase abyss would be, in particular, a drink.
"I travel a lot around the world and I can say with confidence that Pearson is the worst airport in the world for baggage retrieval," says Babak Eslahjou, principal at Toronto's CORE Architects.
@AirCanada
— Christopher Disilva (@chrisaurie11) June 1, 2023
Baggage service has been pathetic. We have been waiting here for almost 1.5 hrs to collect the bags in Toronto. Yet to see even a single bag for any of the passenger..
Flight details
AC8697
Boston to Toronto Pearson
Date : 01-06-2023
Landing time : 5:30 PM
It was after he was left waiting for more than 1.5 hours for his bags following a trip to France that Eslahjou came up with the idea for a baggage claim bar.
"I thought to myself, if I am to wait for such a long time, why not have a couple of beers?," he jokes. "Usually, the Pearson experience leaves a bad taste for an otherwise great trip. So, let's make sure the trip ends well with the joy of a nice glass of wine or a pint of beer."
Though the idea was a joke at first, the team at CORE actually went as far as designing some 3D mockups of what such a bar could look like in Pearson's baggage hall, deeming it, very fittingly, the CarrouSnail Bar.
If the Greater Toronto Airports Authority is looking for another novel way to improve the customer experience, perhaps someone can tip them off to the concept.
