Air Canada apologizes after 2 passengers were kicked off a plane for refusing to sit in a vomit-covered seat

05.09.2023 - 20:33 / insider.com / Air Canada

Air Canada has apologized and said it is following up with two passengers after they were booted from an August 26 flight. 

The two women, who boarded a plane from Las Vegas to Montreal, were removed by security after they refused to sit in vomit left in their seats from a previous flight.

In a statement to Insider on Tuesday, Air Canada said the company was in contact with the two passengers following the incident. 

"We are reviewing this serious matter internally and have followed up with the customers directly as our operating procedures were not followed correctly in this instance," the statement read. "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."

As Insider previously reported, a woman who was a passenger on the plane to Montreal brought the vomit debacle to light in a Facebook post on August 29.

In an interview with Insider on Tuesday, the woman, Susan Benson, said the passengers were adamant that they wouldn't sit in the seats — which she said still smelled of vomit — for the five-hour flight.

Eventually, as she wrote in her post, the pilot told the two women they would be escorted off the plane for being "rude" to flight attendants. Benson, however, said the woman who spoke with the employees handled the situation well. 

"She was upset and firm, but by no means rude and by no means raised her voice," Benson told Insider. "She did not cause a scene. She was not belligerent. I just can describe it as that they were firm and clearly upset."

In Benson's Facebook post, she wrote the pilot "very calmly knelt down and told the two ladies that they had two choices: They could leave the plane on their own accord and organize flights on their own dime, or they would be escorted off the plane by security and placed on a no fly list."

Shortly after that, security came to remove the pair from the flight, Benson wrote.

Benson told Insider she was initially happy to hear Air Canada apologized. But given the circumstances — she said the women likely missed their flight, which they told her was to Vienna — she thinks the company could do more.

"I want to know that they are held accountable," Benson said. "Honestly, is an apology enough?"