Air Canada apologizes for removing passengers who declined to sit in vomit-contaminated seats

Air Canada says it has apologized to two passengers who were escorted off a plane by security after protesting that their seats were stained with vomit.

The airline said Tuesday that passengers “clearly did not receive the level of care to which they were entitled.”

The incident while boarding 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 line behind two women and a man.

“There was a bit of a nasty smell, but we didn’t know what the problem was at first,” Benson wrote on Facebook three days later.

“Air Canada attempted a quick clean before boarding, but was clearly unable to do a full clean.”

Benson said workers sprayed the area with perfume to hide the smell. Passengers assigned to those seats told a flight attendant that the seat and seat belt were wet and they could still see vomit. The flight attendant and a supervisor told them that the flight was full and they would have to sit there.

The women were trying to use blankets and wipes to get comfortable when one of the pilots showed up, Benson wrote.

He said the pilot told the women, who were headed to Vienna, that they could go out and book new flights on their own “or they would be escorted off the plane by security and put on a no-fly list.”

Benson said the pilot accused the women of being rude to the flight attendant, which she disputed: “They were annoying and firm, but not rude!”

Security then escorted the women off the plane.

Asked if it would dispute any of Benson’s accounts, Air Canada did not respond.

In its statement, Air Canada said it was still reviewing the matter on Tuesday and had contacted passengers “as our operating procedures were not properly followed in this case.”

“This includes apologizing to these customers, as they clearly did not receive the level of care to which they were entitled, and addressing their concerns.”