YYC Replaces Handicap Parking Spaces With Lexus-Only Parking Spaces

The airport sold off five accessible parking spaces to Lexus as part of a marketing campaign, but was forced to apologize after a passenger complaint was filed.

It may have been intended to increase revenue, but an ill-thought marketing campaign at Calgary International Airport (YYC) succeeded only in raising blushes of embarrassment. The CBC reports that authorities at YYC recently sold off five accessible parking spaces to car company Lexus so that it could add its logo to the spots, thus enabling customers sole access to these bays.

The ploy, however, backfired when a family who needed to use the spaces arrived at YYC only to find these spots gone. The family then complained directly to Calgary Airport Authority.

In a statement released on Monday evening, as quoted by the outlet, the airport issued an apology, saying, “YYC Calgary International Airport would like to apologize to our passengers impacted by the decision to change the location of the accessible parking stalls at the airport; it is clearly out of touch with our commitment to being an accessible facility.”

YYC also apologized to Lexus Canada, clarifying that the manufacturer was in no way involved with or responsible for the campaign. “For clarity, The Calgary Airport Authority was solely responsible for the selection of the stalls identified for the parking campaign. Lexus Canada did not play a role in selecting, and was not aware of, the locations for the campaign,” it added.

Obviously eager to distance itself from the clumsy campaign, Lexus also issued a swift apology. It said that it was not aware that the campaign would mean the removal of these accessible spaces at YYC.

Michael Bouliane, Lexus’ manager of corporate communications, published an official statement, which read, “Lexus Canada would like to offer our heartfelt apologies to anyone who may have been affected or offended by a recent marketing campaign at the Calgary airport. We were not aware that accessible parking spaces would be used for this campaign, and have asked the airport to correct the situation as quickly as possible by returning these parking spaces to their intended use.”

The company, he said, would be more stringent in analyzing the details of any future campaigns. Lexus, he added, was “truly embarrassed” by the incident.

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