Our total disgrace of a national airline made passengers sit in damp vomited-on seats.....
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/air-ca ... -1.6959275$1:
The outrage sparked by a passenger incident involving a vomit-smeared airplane seat reflects a broader frustration with flight operations in Canada, travel specialists say.
Meanwhile, the country's public health agency says it's investigating the recent episode.
On Tuesday, Air Canada said it apologized to two passengers who were escorted off the plane by security after protesting that their seats were soiled — and still damp — ahead of an Aug. 26 flight from Las Vegas to Montreal.
"They clearly did not receive the standard of care to which they were entitled," the airline said in a statement emailed to The Canadian Press. "Our operating procedures were not followed correctly in this instance."
The Public Health Agency of Canada said it is in contact with Air Canada. It cited its mandate to ensure that anything brought into the country on conveyances ranging from planes to trains does not risk transmission of illnesses that can be spread via contact with bodily fluids.
"Blood, vomit and diarrhea may contain micro-organisms that can cause disease. These fluids, and the surfaces that come in contact with them, should always be considered as contaminated," the agency said in a statement.
John Gradek, who teaches aviation management at McGill University, says the aircraft never should have been dispatched, given the "biological hazard" on board.
"What the heck are you doing?" he asked of the carrier. "Totally out to lunch."
The outcry on social media sparked by the incident speaks to a degraded level of service perceived by Canadians after a year marred by frequent flight delays and lost luggage, said former Air Canada chief operating officer Duncan Dee.
"People's patience is likely wearing thin," he said.
"I think travellers can relate to those two travellers' experience out of Las Vegas because they feel they've had their travels disrupted to a much greater degree than prior to (the pandemic)."
While photos of snaking lines and posts of passenger frustrations at Toronto's Pearson airport popped up on social media over the summer, the chaos of overflowing terminals and luggage-clogged arrival areas that marked the 2022 travel season did not come to pass, due in part to more prepared players and fully staffed agencies and security contractors.
Nonetheless, Air Canada ranked last in on-time performance among the 10 largest airlines in North America in July, a report found. Canada's biggest carrier landed 51 per cent of its flights on time that month, according to figures from aviation data firm Cirium.
"Last summer you had the three (largest) Canadian airports top the global charts for cancellations. This summer saw significant delays due to air traffic control," Dee said. "The system simply has let travellers down."
Of the latest incident, he added: "These seat cushions are removable."
In this world of infinite perversity the dispatch executive at AC who figured out it's much cheaper to pay maybe $10K each to the disgusted passengers who forced to endure this than it would have been to delay the flight in order to send a clean aircraft as a replacement, or to buy up seats on other airlines for the distressed passengers, won't get punished. He'll probably instead get rewarded with a massive bonus for such a creative and cost-saving solution.
Don't travel by commercial air, ever. There is absolutely no way for you to escape being exposed to something genuinely disgusting. In fact avoid altogether any conveyance of any type (plane/bus/ship) that carries more than four people. If you can get there by driving on your own then do it. It's far mentally safer than being trapped on some flying puke barge for ten or twelve hours.
CKA Uber 
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