Air Canada sorry for booting passengers who refused vomit-soiled seats
CBC
Air Canada says it has apologized to two passengers who were escorted off a plane by security after protesting that their seats were smeared with vomit.
The airline said Tuesday that the passengers "clearly did not receive the standard of care to which they were entitled."
The incident during boarding for an Aug. 26 flight from Las Vegas to Montreal was described in graphic detail by another passenger, Susan Benson of New Brunswick, who said she was in the row behind two women and a man.
"There was a bit of a foul smell but we didn't know at first what the problem was," Benson wrote on Facebook three days later.
"Air Canada attempted a quick cleanup before boarding but clearly wasn't able to do a thorough clean."
Benson said workers sprayed the area with perfume to hide the smell. The passengers assigned to those seats told a flight attendant that the seat and seatbelt were wet and they could still see vomit. The attendant and a supervisor told them that the flight was full, and they would just have to sit there.
The women were attempting to use blankets and wipes to settle in when one of the pilots showed up, Benson wrote.
She said the pilot told the women, who were on their way to Vienna, that they could leave and book new flights at their own expense "or they would be escorted off the plane by security and placed on a no fly list!"
Benson said the pilot accused the women of being rude to the flight attendant, which she disputed — "they were upset and firm, but not rude!"
Security then escorted the women off the plane.
Asked if it would dispute any of Benson's account, Air Canada did not respond.
In its statement, Air Canada said it was still reviewing the matter on Tuesday and has contacted the passengers "as our operating procedures were not followed correctly in this instance.
"This includes apologizing to these customers, as they clearly did not receive the standard of care to which they were entitled, and addressing their concerns."
Aggressive patients and lack of security are making nurses feel unsafe in a rural Western Manitoba emergency union, says the Manitoba Nurses Union.
Saskatoon resident Delynne Bortis knew her commute to work Tuesday morning would be particularly difficult.
WARNING: This story contains details of abuse and intimate partner violence:
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.