The articles and various responses here have indeed been interesting. As an American who does not live in Canada, my understanding of these issues is inevitably superficial, but I always understood the French language laws in Canada to be aimed at cultural preservation, a goal with which I sympathize, even when the specific modalities of its implementation can be debated. I (naively?) had not appreciated that, at least for some people, it is or has become more of an issue of individual entitlement.
The first sentence uttered by Monsieur Beaudoin is very striking in that regard: "I want to be served in French." To me that is a very different kind of complaint than someone saying, e.g. "I thought all AC flight attendants were required to be bilingual." While I differ from some FTers in this regard, when I step on a plane it is not "being served" that is first and foremost in my mind -- a plane flight is a means of transportation to get me from point A to point B, hopefully in a manner as comfortable as possible. Yes, FA service can be part of that experience, especially in a premium cabin, but I'm much more focused on logistical issues like seat comfort, overhead bin space, not to mention a safe flight and on-time departure and landing.
To return to the OP's original question though:
Originally Posted by
ffsim
You can see from AC’s response that this is already turning into a “he said, she said” story, and I worry that bringing it up here will lead to more of the same. But my point with this thread is a little more practical than the (clearly emotional) goals of Mr. Beaudoin bringing it up with the media.
What’s the best way for a unilingual francophone passenger in one cabin to receive service from a French-speaking FA in a different cabin? AC can hide behind their justification that 2 of the 3 FAs onboard were able to speak French and therefore French service was available to the passenger, but realistically speaking, how would that work? It seems…… impractical.
I would say that the best way for a unilingual passenger to be accommodated in this situation would be to simply continue speaking in French, and only in French. I believe that the crew (and/or perhaps even fellow bilingual passengers) in this situation would quickly find a way to ensure that you obtain the information you need in French, and that any requests you make in French are communicated to the crew (e.g. meal or drink choice, need a blanket, etc.). Might you have to wait a bit longer than an English-speaking passenger, if the crew member assigned to your cabin does not speak French? Perhaps. But this kind of language accommodation happens every day on domestic and international flights all over the world, including for languages that are not spoken by any of the crew. (I did this recently for a fellow Spanish-speaking passenger who not only did not speak English, but also clearly had not traveled on a plane much and did not know what to expect -- e.g. whether there would be a charge for a glass of water. I myself only speak baby Spanish but it was clear enough from the context what he wanted).
I also note that a fair number of people can understand a foreign language better than they can speak it, so it is not impossible that a "unilingual" English-speaking flight attendant would have understood all or most of what the passenger was asking for, permitting service to be provided in normal fashion. (This dynamic is even suggested in M. Beaudoin's re-telling of the anecdote; he stated "Je veux etre servi en francais" to which the flight attendant replied "I don't speak French" --a response which
might have actually reflected a perfect comprehension of his statement, even if she couldn't respond in French.)
In sum, from a practical perspective I think a truly unilingual passenger would find it relatively easy to be served in this situation, but a lot depends on how you choose to define "service."