The conditions while traveling with passenger airlines have seemingly been getting worse year after year. While unruly passengers have been partly stifled by harsher enforcement and punishments, there are plenty of legitimate grievances to get angry about. A pair of passengers were escorted off of a recent Air Canada flight for refusing to sit in vomit-stained seats.
USA Today reports that the incident took place on an August 26th Air Canada flight from Seattle to Montreal. Susan Benson, a passenger on the flight, shared her experience in a viral Facebook post. A passenger on the previous flight had vomited in that row of seats. Staff from the Canadian flag carrier quickly wiped the seats down before the next flight. They also sprayed perfume and put coffee grounds in the seatback pouches to try to hide the smell.
The clean-up between flights was objectively substandard. Benson noted that she smelled the vomit when she boarded the aircraft and residue from the vomit was still visible around the seats. The passengers assigned to the seats told flight attendants that the upholstery and seat belts were still wet. Benson detailed the conversation between the upset passengers and the cabin crew writing:
“They argued back-and-forth for several minutes and then the flight attendant said she would get her supervisor. The supervisor reiterated the same thing. We are sorry, but you have to, it’s a full flight and there’s no other seats available. The passengers asked if they could at least have blankets to sit on and wipes to clean more themselves. Reluctantly they were given blankets wipes and more vomit bags.”
The passengers actually got themselves settled in for the five-hour flight, but one of the pilots had enough. He walked down the aisle from the cockpit and gave the pair an ultimatum: get off the plane or be escorted off by security and put on the no-fly list. Another passenger, who identified himself as a police officer, attempted to explain the situation to the pilot, but security was still called regardless.
If Benson’s account is accurate, Air Canada should have to answer for how it treated those passengers and threatened them for not immediately tolerating disgusting conditions as paying customers.