Air Canada launches internal investigation into treatment of Saskatoon toddler
Sep 20, 2017, 5:47 pm
#16
Join Date: Apr 2016
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I found the woman to be calm and reasonable. The story as stated is credible. I don't "blame" Air Canada though. This really is a human behavior incident. What I see here were insensitive and lazy workers. The fact that they were employees of Air Canada is a side issue.
Air Canada management didn't tell the employees to be insensitive and lazy. What Air Canada needs to do is to investigate and if the story is substantiated, to discipline the employees and to hold them accountable. It looks to me like the workers failed to observe the most basic standards of civility and betrayed their own union's social responsibility position.
Hold the workers responsible, not the airline. All that the blaming of AC does is to allow these slobs to hide and to do it again because they will be allowed to continue with their behavior.
Air Canada management didn't tell the employees to be insensitive and lazy. What Air Canada needs to do is to investigate and if the story is substantiated, to discipline the employees and to hold them accountable. It looks to me like the workers failed to observe the most basic standards of civility and betrayed their own union's social responsibility position.
Hold the workers responsible, not the airline. All that the blaming of AC does is to allow these slobs to hide and to do it again because they will be allowed to continue with their behavior.
Sep 20, 2017, 5:50 pm
#17
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Sep 20, 2017, 7:28 pm
#18
Join Date: Sep 2011
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I know you want to be mad at the airline because it's the trendy thing to do these days, but let's not overlook how gross it is to allow a child to sit in their own feces. It would not be surprising to me if she did it just for the sensationalism in order to make the story marketable for the media.
Sep 20, 2017, 7:32 pm
#19
Join Date: Apr 2017
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Yes, I am sure a mom who has spent hours flying with an exhausted 3 year old with cerebral palsy was thinking about how to make her problems marketable after the fact. Maybe she coordinated it with the CBC ahead of time! Call up Alex Jones, I'm sure Infowars will get right on this!
How can I tell you haven't traveled with a small child? Get a clue.
How can I tell you haven't traveled with a small child? Get a clue.
How can I tell you're one of those entitled parents that lets their brat run around screaming and tells others they're just being a kid?
Sep 20, 2017, 7:49 pm
#20
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 3,130
That is to say: by projecting your own attitude on others. Amirite? Amirite?
Takes 3 hours for airline staff to resolve a situation involving a kid with cerebral palsy at an airport, and yet we've got folks like you here pretending that this is "par for the course"/normal. Even AC's acknowledged that this situation sounds terrible (ie - not "par for the course").
Sep 20, 2017, 8:02 pm
#21
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Correct me if I am wrong, my impression is that she couldn't go to the bathroom for 45 minutes to clean up her daughter because the gate staff wouldn't let her go, presumably because they needed her to stay at or near the gate area.
Sep 20, 2017, 11:12 pm
#22
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Takes 3 hours for airline staff to resolve a situation involving a kid with cerebral palsy at an airport, and yet we've got folks like you here pretending that this is "par for the course"/normal. Even AC's acknowledged that this situation sounds terrible (ie - not "par for the course").
People really need to stop blowing things out of proportion simply in order to satisfy their perpetual need to be offended by something.
Sep 21, 2017, 4:53 am
#23
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 2,494
Every airline I've flown on (except maybe Ryanair but that was before I had a kid) has special rules and exemptions for strollers. They are not like every other oversized item that has to be gate checked.
Sep 21, 2017, 4:54 am
#24
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 3,130
I'd like to respond to this, but it's completely incoherent. Customers, paying or otherwise, don't have "fellow employees".
What does the kid have to do with anything? This is a case of a passenger with an oversized item that had to be gate checked and was not immediately available on the jetway on arrival. This happens all the time for all sorts of items. Trying to conflate the passenger's child's disability with what actually happened has no purpose other than to color this otherwise ordinary situation simply because it's "cool" to attack carriers these days. And it only diminishes the merit of an otherwise valid criticism of ACs ops.
People really need to stop blowing things out of proportion simply in order to satisfy their perpetual need to be offended by something.
What does the kid have to do with anything? This is a case of a passenger with an oversized item that had to be gate checked and was not immediately available on the jetway on arrival. This happens all the time for all sorts of items. Trying to conflate the passenger's child's disability with what actually happened has no purpose other than to color this otherwise ordinary situation simply because it's "cool" to attack carriers these days. And it only diminishes the merit of an otherwise valid criticism of ACs ops.
People really need to stop blowing things out of proportion simply in order to satisfy their perpetual need to be offended by something.
- A kid's stroller isn't like any other piece of oversized baggage. It's required for mobility even within the airport. AC acknowledges as much by letting people check them in at the boarding gate.
- Interesting point about adding color to the situation. Some (most) of us are of the opinion that airlines (any) shouldn't be treating a mother with an unwell baby exactly the same way as you would, say, a fit twenty year old. It's just common sense.
- it's fairly obvious that this isn't just a case of a stroller not being "immediately available" on the jetway. 3 hours and being sent to different parts of the airport is not normal in sense of the word.
- Some folk feed their perpetual need to feel offended by going onto airline forums and getting offended by people who're offended by the way they've been treated. To be clear, if the airline had managed this situation better, she wouldn't be offended. And neither would you.
Last edited by yulred; Sep 21, 2017 at 5:01 am
Sep 21, 2017, 6:29 am
#25
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Sep 21, 2017, 7:08 am
#26
Join Date: Mar 2014
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What does the kid have to do with anything? This is a case of a passenger with an oversized item that had to be gate checked and was not immediately available on the jetway on arrival. This happens all the time for all sorts of items. Trying to conflate the passenger's child's disability with what actually happened has no purpose other than to color this otherwise ordinary situation simply because it's "cool" to attack carriers these days. And it only diminishes the merit of an otherwise valid criticism of ACs ops.
People really need to stop blowing things out of proportion simply in order to satisfy their perpetual need to be offended by something.
People really need to stop blowing things out of proportion simply in order to satisfy their perpetual need to be offended by something.
But AC's employees dropped the ball in here, and repeatedly so.
See yulred's post above.
Sep 21, 2017, 7:51 am
#27
Join Date: Oct 2013
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What does the kid have to do with anything? This is a case of a passenger with an oversized item that had to be gate checked and was not immediately available on the jetway on arrival. This happens all the time for all sorts of items. Trying to conflate the passenger's child's disability with what actually happened has no purpose other than to color this otherwise ordinary situation simply because it's "cool" to attack carriers these days. And it only diminishes the merit of an otherwise valid criticism of ACs ops.
People really need to stop blowing things out of proportion simply in order to satisfy their perpetual need to be offended by something.
People really need to stop blowing things out of proportion simply in order to satisfy their perpetual need to be offended by something.
Sep 21, 2017, 9:24 am
#28
Join Date: Apr 2017
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If you were to argue that the claim that the young girl was forced to sit in her own feces is a little overstated (or blowing it out of proportion), I could agree with you. However, and I am not one who jumps onto the AC bashing band wagon, no reasonable human being could look at this situation, at face value, and think that this situation was handled properly by the AC employees involved. I believe that even the workers who dealt with this woman and her daughter have a good idea that they completely mishandled this situation by now.
Some suggest that because she had a disabled child, she should somehow receive a class of service beyond what an ordinary passenger would receive at the same price. It's simply not true... That is a slippery slope that leads to subpar and inconsistent service for an overwhelming majority of passengers.
I notice a lot of people responding to my comments are changing my words (I wouldn't be surprised if changed to she did, this is a common occurrence changed to AC handled this acceptably, etc.). It only further proves my point that most are here not to discuss what really happened, but to express faux outrage against an airline.
Sep 21, 2017, 10:26 am
#29
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 3,130
Some suggest that because she had a disabled child, she should somehow receive a class of service beyond what an ordinary passenger would receive at the same price. It's simply not true... That is a slippery slope that leads to subpar and inconsistent service for an overwhelming majority of passengers.
- preboarding
- allowing people to carry oversized luggage right up to the boarding gate.
That such a story exists, highlights a service failure that would have gone unnoticed by the folk who may be better positioned to fix it. I'm glad she complained; a lot better than the compliant "par for the course" crowd whose reluctance to publicly call out poor service have helped North America airlines earn a global reputation for poor service.
I note, in particular, that the initial AC response was a 25% coupon. The first mention of an "internal investigation" came after Global News raised the issue with AC. If AC follows through and changes employee procedures/behaviour, this story, sensationalized or otherwise, is beneficial.
Sep 21, 2017, 10:29 am
#30
Join Date: Apr 2017
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"Some" know that many airlines already make exceptions for people travelling with children. Like:
- preboarding
- allowing people to carry oversized luggage right up to the boarding gate.
That such a story exists, highlights a service failure that would have gone unnoticed by the folk who may be better positioned to fix it. I'm glad she complained; a lot better than the compliant "par for the course" crowd whose reluctance to publicly call out poor service have helped North America airlines earn a global reputation for poor service.
I note, in particular, that the initial AC response was a 25% coupon. The first mention of an "internal investigation" came after Global News raised the issue with AC. If AC follows through and changes employee procedures/behaviour, this story, sensationalized or otherwise, is beneficial.
- preboarding
- allowing people to carry oversized luggage right up to the boarding gate.
That such a story exists, highlights a service failure that would have gone unnoticed by the folk who may be better positioned to fix it. I'm glad she complained; a lot better than the compliant "par for the course" crowd whose reluctance to publicly call out poor service have helped North America airlines earn a global reputation for poor service.
I note, in particular, that the initial AC response was a 25% coupon. The first mention of an "internal investigation" came after Global News raised the issue with AC. If AC follows through and changes employee procedures/behaviour, this story, sensationalized or otherwise, is beneficial.
There are more important things that need to be improved first than handling of oversized items for a minority of customers. This is just a distraction. The "par for the course" folks tend to understand that and know how to prioritize things. Not everything is a crisis, guy.