Air Canada Blamed for Causing Toddler to Wet Herself

An irate grandmother says that a flight attendant’s stubborn refusal to allow a two-year-old to use the lavatory resulted in a long urine-soaked flight for the young child.

Stacy Osmond says that an Air Canada ticket agent was trying to do her and her nearly three-year-old granddaughter Ruby a favor by assigning them seats near the business class lavatory during their recent flight from Halifax Stanfield International Airport (YHZ) to Calgary International Airport (YYC). Unfortunately, the doting grandmother claims that a less-than-understanding cabin crew member barred the youngster from the toilet, soon resulting in tears and wet pants.

“The second or third time I tried to take Ruby to the bathroom, the flight attendant told me, ‘I can’t have you coming up here anymore,’” Osmond told Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) News. “I said, ‘She’s a baby. I was given those seats by a booking agent for that reason, so that she would be close to the bathroom.’ She said, ‘That doesn’t matter, you are not to come up here.’”

While it seems that, by her own admission, the trips from the economy class cabin to the business class lavatory were becoming fairly frequent by the time the flight attendant put her foot down, Osmond says that the aft restroom was blocked by a beverage cart at one point, leaving the little girl all out of options.

“We’re in contact with our customer about this regrettable incident,” Air Canada spokesperson Angela Mah told CBC news in a statement. “We have no further comment,”

Osmond told reporters that the airline offered her a travel voucher, a discount on a future booking and even some toys for Ruby as an apology. The upset grandmother, however, says she is holding out for an apology from the crew member who created the unpleasant situation in the first place.

“I don’t blame an entire airline for one flight attendant,” Osmond explained. “This was the first time I experienced such hostility.”

While a bathroom accident is humiliating for a passenger of any age, young Ruby is not alone when it comes to ending up on the wrong side of airlines’ ever-stricter lavatory rules. In March, an 87-year-old passenger says she found herself in an uncomfortable remarkably similar situation as Ruby on a British Airways flight from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to London Heathrow Airport (LHR). Weeks later, Delta Airlines returned to the gate to remove a passenger who had no choice but to ignore instructions and make an emergency dash to the lavatory following a lengthy ground delay at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL).