Skyservice wins one

[Kip Powick]

Written by a member of a travel forum I frequent....

Just read an interesting online article (Calgary Sun) about a lady who filed a complaint with the Canadian Transportation Agency after Skyservice Airlines turned her away from boarding a connector flight from Varadero to Holguin for being drunk. The lady (who reportedly runs a travel agency in Calgary), feels she was singled out amongst the many drunk passengers. She blames the circumstances (ie. long flight delay, etc.) and not her own behavior or choices made. You can find the article at:

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/CalgarySun/N...924754-sun.html

The complaint and the ruling on it can be found at:

http://www.cta-otc.gc.ca/rulings-decisions...C-A-2005_e.html

The Canadian Transportation Agency ruled against the complaint, stating that Skyservice was justified to refuse her boarding due to a Canadian Aviation Regulation which provides "that the operator of an aircraft must not allow a person to board where it believes that the person's faculties are impaired by alcohol to the extent that the person poses a hazard to the aircraft or to the other passengers on board".

In today's newspaper article, the lady who filed the complaint said she does not want an apology or money, she just wants the airline to be accountable for their decision. However, after reading the actual complaint, it said she was seeking an apology from the carrier, compensation, consideration for future travel and change to the carrier's policy.

I'm not sure I have a lot of sympathy for her, based on these two articles. For starters, in the complaint, she "guesses", after boarding the plane, that she was laughing and talking somewhat loud because she was approached by a flight attendent. However, she felt this approach was out of place. Then, in Vardero, the Skyservice captain reported that she was so inebriated, she required assistance to walk. The complaint ruling stated "there is no doubt that Mrs. x was intoxicated at the time of boarding. She admits to partying with some other passengers in the airport prior to departure, and further admitted to having arrived in Varadero "hungry, drunk and tired". I think what bothers me the most are some of her reasons why she was "wronged", including:

(a) She was unfairly singled out, as she was among many intoxicated passengers (therefore, she should not have been punished)

( She was mortified by the ordeal of being approached during the flight and refused boarding of the second flight (but not mortified because of her own behavior)

© She reports that she did not drink more than usual but the alcohol affected her in an unusal way. She claims that the unavailability of food and the lack of sleep contributed to bringing her to a heighened state of inebriation. Her flight was scheduled to leave around 6 am but didn't leave til 5 pm. She returned to her home for the morning, only returning to the airport at noon. She reports having lunch at the airport before joining in the festivities with the other passengers. She blames the flight delay for the partying at the airport (the complaint ruling reported that "it is the passenger's responsibility to ensure that he/she does not become or is not intoxicated to the extent that they represent a threat to the safety and comfort of other passengers). However, she does not seem to accept any responsibility for her own actions and choices.

(d) She stated she was unaware of Skyservice's unruly passenger policy and questions why passengers are not made aware of such policies. It was reported in the newspaper articles that she runs a travel agency.

(e) She is still trying to get her point across with the airline industry and is setting up an email address so others with similar experiences can email her.

[flybye]

You're being polite, not printing her name. The two articles I saw had her and her husbands name smeared all over it. Just a tad embarrassing, and is all the effort (and publicity) really worth it? I imagine her friends and co-workers are having fun with this one.

+ =

[J.O.]

Kip:

Please check your Private Messages.