Two female passengers on Air Canada were escorted off the flight for refusing to sit in poorly cleaned seats that had been drenched in vomit. The passengers were travelling to Vienna via Montreal.
A fellow passenger named Susan Benson shared the incident on Facebook, and the post has now gone viral. The incident occurred on August 26 on a flight from Las Vegas to Montreal.
Women Passengers Escorted Off Air Canada
Benson explained in the post that initially there was a bit of a foul smell in the seat, but they didn’t know what the problem was. Apparently, a passenger on the previous flight had vomited in the area. Although Air Canada had attempted to quickly clean the seat before boarding, the area wasn’t thoroughly cleaned.
Bensen further added that the seats were still visibly wet, and the vomit residues were clearly visible on the seats. The airline crew tried to mask the stains and smell with some perfume and coffee grinds, but that wasn’t much help.
The two women passengers, who were clearly upset, tried to explain to the flight attendant that the seat and seatbelt were still wet and the vomit residue was clearly visible in the area. The flight attendant was apologetic but explained that the flight was full and she couldn’t do anything to help.
This led to an argument between the passengers and the crew, and several minutes later, a supervisor came in and reiterated that the passengers had to sit on the vomit-covered seats as the flight was full.
A few moments later, the pilot came down to the aisle to speak to the passengers, telling them that "they could leave the plane and organise flights on their own dime, or they would be escorted off the plane by security personnel and placed on a no-fly list."
The pilot claimed that the passengers were being rude to the flight attendant; however, Bensen strongly disagreed. She wrote that they were "upset and firm, but not rude."
Despite a fellow passenger trying to explain the situation, the two women were escorted out of the flight by security. Bensen wrote, "For what? Refusing to sit in vomit for five hours!" She noted that the airline "literally expects" passengers to "sit on vomit-covered seats or be escorted off the plane and placed on a no-fly list."
Bensen concluded the post by saying that she was ashamed to be a Canadian and ashamed of Air Canada. "Shame on you, Air Canada! Shame on you!" she wrote.
Air Canada issued an apology to the passengers in a statement to CNN, "as they clearly did not receive the standard care which they were entitled to."
The statement further explained that the airline company was reviewing the matter and has followed up with the passengers directly as they failed to follow their operating procedure correctly in this case. The airline added that it remained in contact with the passengers in this matter.
Suggested Reading: Woman Urinates On Airplane Floor After Crew Refuses To Let Her Use Loo