He tracked his bag to Montreal and said airlines wouldn't give it back

• UPDATE | The morning after CBC published this story, Martin Geiger was reunited with his bag in Ottawa.

While not knowing where your luggage is can be a drag on any trip, Martin Geiger is frustrated for the opposite reason — he knows where his lost bag is. 

"The bag seems to sit in [the] Montreal airport in a secret vault nobody can touch or go to," Geiger said on Wednesday.

The Ottawa resident was initially scheduled to fly from England's Heathrow Airport back to Ottawa through Toronto after a few weeks in Europe and central Asia

Due to flight cancellations he said he was rerouted through Geneva, Zurich and Montreal. 

Touching down in Canada on Dec. 23, he learned his two bags didn't make the journey with him and promptly filed a report. 

Who's responsible?

One bag was eventually sent to Ottawa on Jan. 3 — damaged and missing a wheel — and thanks to his Apple AirTag tracker, Geiger knows his other one is sitting somewhere at Montreal's Trudeau International Airport .

"It would be easier to understand, let's say, your bag is stolen — has disappeared and you have no tracker and you do not know where it is," Geiger said. 

"But I see it standing there since, well, just five minutes ago I checked, right? And it's now almost a month — standing there [with] Christmas gifts [for] kids inside."

Efforts to contact Swiss International Air Lines, which flew him across the Atlantic Ocean, about returning his luggage haven't been fruitful, he said.

He said that airline told him his luggage is in the care of Air Canada.

When he contacted Air Canada, he was told to contact the Swiss airline.

WATCH | Four weeks of trying to get a bag back from the airport:

He tracked his bag to Montreal but he says the airlines won't give it back

2 years ago

Duration 2:30

A tracker allowed Martin Geiger to locate his bag at Montreal's Trudeau International Airport, but he said two airlines haven't helped him to retrieve it.

CBC News contacted both airlines.

Air Canada told a reporter to contact the Swiss airline, and Swiss International Air Lines did not respond to any requests.

"None of the two airlines [are] feeling responsible," Geiger said.

In a statement, Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) — the main airport authority in Montreal — said baggage handling is the responsibility of airlines.

ADM said that if a traveller would like to pick up lost luggage at the airport, it recommends verifying an airline's hours of operations and calling them at designated phones stationed throughout the airports during those times. 

Geiger says he did just that Jan. 5.

After more than one trip to the airport — using the designated phones, figuring out when staff were working and talking to the Swiss airline in person — Geiger was once again told they didn't have it and the bag would be sent to Ottawa.

"So I drive home with my kids [having] been there for nothing," he said. "It's not possible to get this bag." 

At this point, Geiger has given up on its swift return.  

"Probably every day now with this weather, there's another flight delay, they just pile it up and pile it up."