Lost luggage causes junior player to miss portion of hockey camp

It was a situation Dazza Mitchell says could have been dealt with with better communication.

While flying to a hockey camp in Chicago, his bag with $12,000 worth of equipment was lost in transit.

“I was little shocked a little bit. I was kind of half expecting it,” the 18-year-old Regina product said. “That’s kind of why I flew that extra day early on Saturday … just in case it did happen.”

Mitchell was headed to the Paragon Sports Development hockey camp, where NCAA coaches run a four-day camp.

Mitchell, a goalie with the SJHL’s Weyburn Red Wings, travelled from Regina to Toronto’s Pearson Airport to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. When he arrived at O’Hare, he was informed by an attendant that all oversized luggage did not make it on the flight.

Mitchell’s luggage was soon located at Pearson and was sent on the next flight to Chicago, set to arrive in the evening of Aug. 7. The hockey camp was to begin Aug. 8 at 8 a.m.

“It’s one thing that my bags were not put on the plane; that was fine,” said Mitchell. “If we had gotten them like we were supposed to on the Sunday night … and then had them delivered on time, it would have been perfect. It would have been completely on time (and) I wouldn’t have missed anything.”

In Regina, Mitchell’s parents spent “over eight hours on hold” over a two-day span talking to customer service representatives to try and get his equipment to him before the camp began.

“We were certainly upset about him missing his equipment but we were happy that we planned for the extra day to try and get his equipment before the camp started,” said Mitchell’s father, Darren Zawyrucka.

“They sent his bags on the next plane and when they arrived in Chicago, things got progressively worse from there.”

According to Mitchell, a “major lack of communication” with WestJet caused him to not receive his gear.

Zawyrucka was told Mitchell’s gear was tagged as a priority item by WestJet, so the courier service could get the equipment to Mitchell before the camp began. The delivery was then slated to arrive at the hotel on the morning of Aug. 8 before Mitchell began camp.

It didn’t arrive.

Mitchell began the first day of camp sitting in the bleachers.

“It was stressful,” he said. “I was able to do a little bit of off-ice workouts and listen to the seminars.

“But sitting up in the bleachers and just watching all the ice times and games go on … well, I couldn’t do it and couldn’t be a part of it. It really sucked.”

Zawyrucka and his wife began making many calls, staying on hold for over an hour each time to determine when Mitchell’s bags were arriving.

“It was always us calling (WestJet officials), never them calling us,” Zawyrucka said.

After the equipment didn’t turn up, they considered buying equipment so Mitchell could get on the ice.

“As a goalie or any hockey player, you can’t just jump into new gear and expect to show your skills properly,” said Zawyrucka.

Mitchell said it takes months to break in a single piece of equipment. Plus, the cost for all-new goalie gear would have been more than $12,000.

After multiple attempts to contact WestJet through phone and social media, they determined on the afternoon of Aug. 9 that the luggage had not left the Chicago airport.

“We were like, ‘Oh my God, you guys.’ We could have just sent him back to the airport to get him to pick up the equipment Sunday evening or Monday morning, and he wouldn’t have missed half of the camp,” said Zawyrucka.

“The support from WestJet was just godawful, in terms of any sort of follow-up or care factor.”

Dazza Mitchell’s equipment after it arrived at his hotel. (Dazza Mitchell/Submitted)

On the morning of Aug. 10, halfway through the camp, Mitchell stepped on the ice. Despite the circumstances, Mitchell said his coaches and fellow teammates were “really great” about the entire situation while he was benched.

However, he still feels like he missed out on a great experience.

“I wish I could have been out there more and showcase myself more and just had more eyes on me,” said Mitchell.

Zawyrucka said this entire ordeal caused a huge amount of stress for his family.

“This was one of the most important camps a kid in hockey can go to to start his career,” Zawyrucka said.

Now he wants WestJet to fix its internal communication skills so nobody has to go through what his family went through.

“I want WestJet to get better so other people don’t have to go through this,” said Zawyrucka. “My goal before was just to get some help and be heard, and now I just wanted to make sure that this won’t happen to anybody else.”

Zawyrucka said the thought of something as simple as lost luggage cost his son a big step in his hockey career.

“I don’t understand why it wasn’t seen through to the finish,” Zawyrucka said. “We had to call back so many times in order to get answers.”

WestJet Apologizes

A WestJet spokesperson sent a statement when 980 CJME reached out for comment about the issues.

“Recognizing the current travel ecosystem, we understand there have been impacts on our guests across the travel journey, including baggage delays and we thank our guests for their continued patience and understanding,” the statement read. “We are committed to doing everything we can to deliver the WestJet experience our guests expect from us.

“With respect to baggage, we continue to work alongside our third-party service providers to alleviate baggage delays and have invested in additional WestJet oversight to support our partners responsible for actioning and delivering our baggage services in a timely manner.

“We are sorry to hear of Mr. Mitchell’s recent experience with his baggage and sincerely apologize for the impact this had on his travel plans.”

Zawyrucka and Mitchell have said they’ll be reaching out to WestJet to receive some sort of compensation for the time Mitchell missed on the ice.