A Series of (un)Fortunate Events in Spain

If you’ve ever planned a trip with the kind of care that involves spreadsheets, hotel comparisons, and a Google Doc you’ve revised more times than you’d like to admit, you know the quiet relief of finally hitting the airport with everything locked in. Now imagine that, within the span of a single week, your bag doesn’t make it to your destination, your passports get stolen, and your flight home is cancelled.

That was our trip to Spain. Surprisingly, all three of these things turned out far better than anyone expected, and despite everything, we still had an incredible time in Spain. 

Here’s what happened, what we did, and what I’d want you to know if any of these three ever happens to you.

Our Original Trip

We planned 3 nights in Madrid, 2 nights in Granada, and 4 nights in Malaga, plus several day trips to visit some nearby towns, where we would enjoy a mix of city walking, tapas and churro sampling, and resort chilling. 

For our flights, we booked (prices and redemptions per person):

• Toronto to Boston on Air Canada in economy class for $62 USD using my United Travel Bank
• Boston to Madrid on Iberia Airlines in business class for 40,500 Avios and $171 in taxes and fees
• Madrid to Toronto on Air Canada in premium economy latitude for 72,000 Aeroplan points, upgraded to business class for 11 e-Upgrade credits

Our accommodations were made using a mix of hotel point redemptions, industry rates, and a Fine Hotels & Resorts booking.

• JW Marriott Hotel Madrid with two 85K free night awards 
• Thompson Madrid, by Hyatt for 25,000 World of Hyatt points per night
• Hotel Palacio De Santa Paula, Autograph Collection on an industry rate

• La Zambra Resort, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt on a Fine Hotels & Resorts rate for the first night, followed by a few nights booked for 20,000 World of Hyatt points per night

I was pretty satisfied that this trip was almost entirely booked on points and that the planning process had been relatively straightforward. That is, until things started to go south.

(un)Fortunate Event #1: The Delayed Bag

The trip began well. We made it to Boston with a over 3 hours to connect, so chose a good lounge to kill the time in. We boarded our Iberia flight and were excited to try a new airline. Our departure was an hour delayed, but nothing to get overly upset about. We even went through Europe’s new digital Entry/Exit System (EES) without any issues and proceeded to the baggage carousel to pick up our checked luggage. 

We watched the belt go round several times and no luggage. That’s when I decided to check our luggage’s Apple tag location. Sure enough, it was showing still in Boston.  

Luckily, we had our carry-ons which had some clothing items. We went to the baggage desk to report it missing and were given a Property Irregularly Report (PIR) with reference number, which is essential to have when trying to make a compensation claim with the airline or an insurance claim through your credit card. 

Here’s what most travellers don’t know: under the Montreal Convention, which governs international flights between any two of 144 signatory countries or regional integration organizations (ie. the European Union), airlines are liable for delayed, damaged, or lost baggage up to roughly 1,519 Special Drawing Right (SDR), equivalent to almost $3,000 CAD. 

The approximately $3,000 figure is the cap the treaty allows, not the amount the airline has to pay. The payout is at the airline’s discretion, and they almost always open low. Some carriers will offer a flat per diem of up to a couple hundred dollars and call it resolved. Others will reimburse line-by-line against your receipts, but with their own internal definition of what counts as “reasonable.” 

You can push back in writing, with receipts attached and the Convention referenced, and you’ll usually get more than the opening offer. But unless your damages are catastrophic and meticulously documented, don’t expect to walk away with the full cap. Treat it as a ceiling, not a promise.

If the airline reimburses less than what your credit card insurance covers, you can then submit a claim through your credit card provider for the remaining difference.

We had paid the taxes of our Iberia flight with my National Bank World Elite Mastercard, which covers $500 after a 6+ hour baggage delay. It is one of the few cards that covers delay on any award booking.

Our bag eventually arrived the next day, in the late afternoon. Between the airline payout and the credit card claim, we came out with a new pair of shoes, outfit, and toiletries from Sephora, so not all bad.

(un)Fortunate Event  #2: The Stolen Passports

This was the worst of our mishaps, and probably every traveller’s worst nightmare. A delayed bag is an inconvenience. A cancelled flight is an annoyance. Losing the document that allows you to leave the country is something else entirely.

As with many major European cities, pickpocketing and petty theft are common. We knew to keep our belongings close to us. What I didn’t expect was to lose our passports while picking up our rental vehicle. I’ll share the story here in the hope that it never happens to you.

We were picking up a rental car in Madrid to drive down to Granada. I dropped my bag on the passenger seat, shut the door, and my husband and I started checking the vehicle for scratches before driving off.

That’s when a man in a yellow vest, the same colour as the other parking garage attendants, approached us and seemingly offered to help. He advised us to take photos of the back of the car and crouched down to point out exactly where to look.

The garage was dimly lit, so I walked around to shine my phone’s flashlight on whatever he was indicating. We were both bent over the rear bumper for maybe a minute. Everything looked good, so we thanked him. He walked away, and we got back into the car.

That’s when I noticed my bag was gone.

The man in the yellow vest was nowhere to be seen. We ran through the garage looking for him. When I opened a stairwell door, I found a crumpled yellow vest lying on the ground. We had been played.

We could have panicked, but what good would that have done?

Hopefully this never happens to you, but if it does, here’s what you need to do:

• Report your passports stolen to the police. Filing a police report provides documentation of the theft, helps safeguard against identity fraud, and may be required for insurance claims. This will likely require a visit to the local police station, which is what we did.
• Report your passports stolen to the nearest Canadian embassy or consulate. They can issue a temporary emergency travel document or passport so that you can leave the country and return home. Processing typically takes 24–72 hours, so expect to remain in the country for at least a couple of extra days. You’ll need to apply for new passports once you’re back in Canada. An in-person visit is required, but it’s worth calling ahead so they can tell you which documents to bring and potentially book you an appointment. I also highly recommend emailing them, and I’ll explain why shortly.
• Get passport photos taken. You’ll need passport photos for the consulate to issue emergency travel documents. Do this before your appointment, as the consulate does not provide this service.
• Notify your airline if you’ve already checked in for a flight using your stolen passports. They may need to reissue your tickets.

Back to our story.

We completed all of the above steps, except for visiting the consulate. By the time we had finished filing the police report and getting our passport photos taken, there were only 30 minutes left before the consulate closed for the day.

As luck (or perhaps divine intervention) would have it, we received a call from the consulate just 10 minutes before closing. Our passports had been recovered.

They provided us with the name, phone number, and address of the person who had found them so that we could arrange to meet. This was only possible because we had emailed the consulate beforehand, informing them of our situation and providing our contact information. That’s why I strongly recommend sending an email in a situation like this.

The man who found our passports happened to be a cycling tour guide in Madrid. He had spotted them discarded in a planter outside his apartment, which was about 10 minutes away from the parking garage, and knew someone would be desperately looking for them. 

He first tried to track us down through social media, and when that didn’t work, he contacted the Canadian consulate directly. That’s how the consulate had his information and was able to connect us.

What a guy. He truly saved the day. If you ever find yourself in Madrid and want to see the city the way the locals do, he runs Cycling Tour with Benja. While I can’t personally vouch for the tour itself, it has excellent reviews online, and I can tell you firsthand that he’s a genuinely good person. Tell him the Canadian couple who lost their passports sent you.

Once we had our passports back in hand, we checked to make sure they were still intact and unaltered. If they had been damaged in any way, we would have still needed to visit the consulate and have new passports issued. We also informed the police that the passports had been recovered so they could update their report and avoid any issues when we later used them to leave Spain.

(un)Fortunate Event #3: The Cancelled Flight

Just when we thought we were through the worst and last of our troubles, we were proven wrong.

On our day of departure, we headed to the airport with over two hours to spare. We checked in our luggage, relaxed in the lounge, and made our way to the gate at boarding time. As we were walking there, we received a notification from Air Canada that my husband’s eUpgrades had cleared. Fantastic.

Or so I thought.

Two minutes later, we received another notification from Flighty, my flight tracker app, that our flight had been cancelled. I admit I was in a bit of shock. I quickly refreshed my Air Canada app to be sure, and sure enough, it confirmed the same.

The reason given for the cancellation was a maintenance issue.

When a flight is cancelled, the airline has a duty of care to provide you with food, drinks, access to communication, overnight hotel accommodation if the flight is rescheduled for the next day, and even transportation costs to get you to and from the airport again.

What most travellers don’t realize is that when a flight is delayed or cancelled while flying into or out of Europe, you may also be entitled to cash compensation as well. This is separate from the airline’s duty of care and in addition to being rebooked on another flight.

The regulation is called EU261, and it’s one of the strongest passenger rights laws in the world. Here are the basic eligibility rules:

• Flights departing from any EU airport are covered on any airline.
• Flights arriving at an EU airport are only covered if you’re flying on an EU-based airline.

So, Vancouver to Frankfurt on Air Canada? Not covered. The same route on Lufthansa? Covered. The protection is built into the ticket. For a full deep dive into how EU261 works, T.J. wrote a great breakdown here.

The compensation amounts are tiered by distance, and in our situation, the amount would be €600 per passenger.

We were rebooked automatically on Air Canada for the next day on a recovery flight. While my husband was re-accommodated directly into business class, I was still in premium economy and had to reapply my eUpgrades. We booked a last minute hotel back in the city and enjoyed some extra time in Madrid. The next day, things went smoothly and even better, my eUpgrades also cleared in business class.

The flight cancellation was a nuisance, as we had to make some last minute arrangements for work and childcare for an extra day. But all in all, I would say we came out ahead with some cash compensation and a flight home in business class.

Lessons Learned

• If your bag is delayed, make sure to obtain a PIR from the airline and determine whether the Montreal Convention applies. The PIR is your primary proof that your baggage was delayed and will likely be required for any insurance claims you submit. If the Montreal Convention applies, you may also be entitled to compensation from the airline.

• The Montreal Convention limit is a ceiling, not a guarantee. Airlines will often start with a low reimbursement offer. Push back in writing, provide receipts for your expenses, and let your credit card insurance cover any remaining gap if you’re eligible.

• Know which credit card will cover your booking. Most Canadian travel insurance policies require that at least 75% of the trip cost be charged to the card, a requirement that many award bookings fail to meet. A few notable exceptions include the National Bank World Elite Mastercard, Aeroplan co-branded cards from TD, CIBC, and American Express (for Aeroplan bookings), and the BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard. These cards can provide coverage on award bookings when the taxes and fees are charged to the card.

• Keep all your receipts and take a photo of them as you go. Airlines and insurance companies will require receipts for everything you try to claim. If you lose your receipts, you lose your ability to claim.

• Always keep a copy of your passport readily accessible. Store a digital copy in a secure cloud drive so you can access it from anywhere. If your passport is lost or stolen, having a copy can make it much easier to prove your citizenship and obtain replacement travel documents from an embassy or consulate.

• Contact the nearest embassy or consulate as soon as you realize your passport is missing. I was amazed by how responsive and helpful the Canadian consulate was. Because we had provided our contact information early, they were able to reach us immediately when our passports were recovered.

• If your flight is delayed or cancelled while travelling to or from the European Union, check whether EU261 applies. Flight disruptions are never fun, but if you’re eligible, compensation can help soften the blow.

• Most importantly, don’t panic. Easier said than done, of course, but most travel mishaps can be resolved with some careful planning and a level head. Even when the situation feels overwhelming, there is usually a path forward.

Conclusion

Looking back, losing a bag, having our passports stolen, and dealing with a cancelled flight sounds like the recipe for a disastrous trip. Yet somehow, each situation worked itself out better than we could have expected, thanks to a combination of preparation, knowing our rights, and the kindness of a stranger along the way. 

Travel doesn’t always go according to plan, but that’s often where the best stories come from. Hopefully my experience will help you prepare fore and navigate these situations should they ever happen to you.