Airline rage

Mayor Graham Letto went from being a supporter of an airline passenger's bill of rights to an extreme advocate after his most recent experience with Air Canada.

Letto was in Brandon, Manitoba attending a Federation of Canadian Municipalities board meeting March 5-8 where the FCM is working on getting the federal government to pass such a bill that will hold airlines more responsible for its passengers.

On the trip home the Lab. City mayor ended up being one of thousands of travellers who ran into delays and cancellations because of severe weather conditions. While the he said he understands airlines can't be held responsible for the weather, he expressed heavy consternation at how the airline treated the displaced passengers.

"The passenger bill of rights, that I am supportive of, is designed to address all airlines in Canada but I can tell you my comments today are directed to Air Canada," the mayor said in last Tuesday council meeting as he went on to describe what he ran into in Montreal March 9.

"I am going to make a couple of bold statements and I will leave it to Air Canada to correct me if I am wrong. What I saw Sunday in Montreal airport was an absolute disgrace. It was awful just to see a national airline treating people the way they did."

Letto explained how a planeload of passengers destined for St. John's were left stranded in the airport for up to 48 hours.

Some of the people had left Ottawa and flew into St. John's but ice conditions prevented a landing and the flight was diverted back to Montreal.

"I can tell you once those people were on the tarmac [in Montreal], that is where Air Canada's responsibility ended," he stated. "That is what an airline passenger bill of rights will do. It will force airlines like Air Canada to be responsible for their passenger until they get to their destination."

The delays, the mayor explained, can be tolerated but the airline's cold indifference towards passengers was enough to outrage him.

"One of those passengers was a 90-year-old lady and I will never forget looking at her," he continued his story. "To see her laid out on a bench trying to get her rest and Air Canada simply did not care. Even if they had offered to take her to their lounge so she could have a place to rest, but no way. The whole thing was totally disgraceful."

Parents travelling with babies who ran out of diapers and formula, he said, were shown the same level insensitivity. And when the weather subsided and flights got back in the air, Letto was further annoyed with the insensate airline.

"The very last plane to leave was the flight going to St. John's," he added. "We never got into St. John's until 5:30 Monday morning. That was after they had to get a crew in from Toronto because they had used all crew available to fly their other routes. It was almost as if the Newfoundlanders and Labradorians were being discriminated against."

The total lack of communication was almost as frustrating as the airlines lack of concern, he added, saying that even the attendants were not kept up to speed on new information to pass along to the passengers.

"Some of them were even more frustrated than the passengers," he said of the Air Canada attendants. "It was just despicable and totally unacceptable. I am more invigorated than ever to get this passenger bill of rights passed. We need to force those airlines to look after their passengers. And I am sure I will have the opportunity to say all this again, and I certainly will."

mstewart@theaurora.ca