Air Canada apologized to two passengers who were told they had to sit in vomit-covered chairs during a flight.
Details of the incident, which occurred on a flight from Las Vegas to Montreal on Aug. 26, were posted online by passenger Susan Benson.
“There was a bit of a bad smell, but at first we didn’t know what the problem was. Apparently, on the previous flight someone had vomited in that area. Air Canada tried to do a quick cleanup before boarding but clearly couldn’t clean it thoroughly,” Benson wrote in an Aug. 29 Facebook post.
“They placed coffee grounds in the seat bag and sprayed perfume to mask the odor. When the passengers, clearly upset, tried to explain to the flight attendant that the seat and seatbelt were wet and there was still visible traces of vomit in their area, the flight attendant was very understanding, but explained that the flight was full and there was nothing they could do,” she added.
The passengers and crew “argued for several minutes,” Benson wrote, before a supervisor approached and reiterated that the passengers would have to remain in the vomit-covered seats because the flight was full.
Benson then recounted that a pilot came out of the cockpit to speak to the passengers and told them that “they could leave the plane … and arrange flights on their own, or they would be escorted off the plane by security and placed on a no-fly list!”
The explanation was that they had been “rude” to the flight attendant, but Benson disputes this claim.
“Not at all – they were upset and serious, but they were not rude!” he wrote.
Despite another passenger’s attempt to explain the situation, the couple was escorted off the plane by security guards.
“For what, refusing to sit on vomit for five hours!” wrote Benson, who said the airline “literally expects” its passengers to “sit on vomit or be escorted off the plane and placed on a no-fly list.”
He later acknowledged that he did not know whether passengers had been placed on a no-fly list.
“Shame on me for being Canadian and Air Canada,” he wrote. “Shame on you Air Canada, shame on you.”
Globe Live Media contacted Benson for further comment.
Air Canada told Globe Live Media in a statement that it had sent an apology to customers “as they clearly did not receive the level of care to which they were entitled.”
“We are reviewing this serious matter internally and have followed up with customers directly as our operating procedures were not properly followed in this case,” the statement continued.
“We continue to be in contact with them on this matter,” the airline added.
This is not the first incident involving bodily fluids on aircraft in recent months.
In June, Habib Battah was flying from Paris to Toronto on Air France when, shortly after takeoff, he noticed a strange odor coming from the footwell under his and his wife’s seat.
“It smelled like manure,” he told Globe Live Media.
Battah then saw a wet spot on the floor. Staff provided him with cleaning wipes, and when he used them to rub the stain, they were staining red.
A flight attendant informed her colleagues and the captain radioed Paris asking what the stain was under seats 30A and 30B.
The news came from Air France headquarters: it was human blood. The day before, a passenger had suffered what, according to Battah, the crew described as a “hemorrhage.”
Three days after the flight, Air France called Battah and told him the blood had been mixed with feces.
Air France told Globe Live Media that it “understands and regrets the inconvenience caused by this situation” and that it was in contact with Battah.