JustSomeGuy1978

Coming from a customer service background. I would say that the 2'nd or 3'rd trip should have been followed up with conversation about business vs. economy class lavatories. I apologize that you were led to believe that you would have access to this "near" lavatory, however you will be directed towards the economy lav on any further visits. Once the emergency occurred the FA could have communicated with their colleague to give passage to the passenger. At what point is the FA pleasantly making an exception in the interest of good customer service to the customer taking advantage of the FA.

I suspect the FA's attitude is a direct result of the confrontation with the alleged second passenger who attempted to use the forward lav. I can see the conversation going like this: "you let the old lady and the child use the lav why won't you let me", "well I made an exception because it was a child. You are an adult", "this is bs! If I can't use the lav they shouldn't either". Somewhat wound up from the confrontation the FA decided that now was the time to begin enforcing the rules.

Food, also is a basic human right. What if the story were about grandma asking for a complimentary meal like the person seated in the row in front of her for her "starving" granddaughter and the FA responded with "you must purchase your meal" and the grandmother did not have and acceptable payment method.

I certainly feel for the FA being put in a difficult situation of trying to enforce fare classes on their flight while dealing with a passenger who seems intent on not following the "rules"

The smallest state

The FA is absolutely in a tough spot on this one. Whilst in J, I have seen the old, the young, the infirm and the strong all wander up to use the lav. The FA was probably told by some "customer service training" to keep the plebs out of J. Every parent has had a little child needing to go potty now and scramble to find a place to do it.

Another story where everyone comes out a loser, no winners, just varying degrees of blame.

I do wonder if having a J bathroom only is fully legal? Off of the top of my head I can't think of too many other business' that can segregate bathroom access based off of price. Maybe a stadium or arena could block off all access to a full section and bathrooms would be included but I'm struggling on this one.

What I would LOOOVVVVVEEEEE to know is the next flight. Who sat in that seat? Anyone, was it taken out of rotation? Was the seat properly cleaned?

rankourabu

For sure, if anything Air Canada does well is clean the interiors, I am sure Rouge Y is a priority in that regards.

MSPeconomist

In addition to VIP seating at sporting events and concerts, there are VIP nightclub areas that could have their own lavatory facilities. Another example would be a casual and a formal restaurant with the same ownership and location where there could be separate lavartories for people eating in the formal dining room. Related to this, a hotel could have lavatories inside their formal restaurant but send people using the cafe or bar to public restrooms in the lobby. Finally, some airport lounges with separate business and first sections have separate lavatories in each part. This is true for the SQ T3 lounge at SIN and the multi-story LH lounge at JFK, among other examples, although everyone seems to share the same lavatories and showers at the MH international lounge at KUL and the TBIT *A lounge at LAX.

mkjr

not sure if someone said this, but what would the FA have done if the child squatted in the galley and took a wee?

sure, that can be cleaned up easier than an accident.

i would have said that to the FA, well, it is either she pees in the J lav of she pisses somewhere on the floor but what she will not do, is piss herself!!!

mapleg

Clearly I understand what almost 3 means. I was correcting posters here, many of which did not read the article but kept referring to what they did or would do travelling with a 3 years old.

However, it makes a better story when you say it was a 3 year old vs a 2 year old.

And, I also think most grandparents would know. It's not like they are rookies to the parenting game.

kb9522

And the FA would have told you there is another lav in the back of the plane that you are more than welcome to use.

I think it would have said volumes more about the grandmother than it would have about AC if she told the child to urinate in the aisle. Never mind the appearance of a 44 year old woman having a temper tantrum like the 3 year old child she is escorting, it would just be trashy.

24left

Perhaps that question should be directed to all airlines, since F cabins "segregate" for their paying pax, or many other airlines who now "segregate" for the J paying pax.

It is clearly a feature/benefit offered to those who pay the prices for those cabins. And I'm sure you saw my post upthread with the photos of the signs NH hangs on their closed curtains between J and F cabins (as well as Y and J cabins)

It is not going anywhere - except for maybe in semi-socialist Canada where some outrageous group will launch a human rights battle about lav access for everyone. I can't wait.


While some AC execs and employees read this forum and a few might have been captivated by this story and the discussion in this thread .....
I would suggest if you want to find out if that seat was properly cleaned, you can contact the CBC reporter from this story. Tell them anything you want, make it sound really important and have them chase AC to confirm seat has been cleaned.

I'm not being facetious, just pointing out that someone at AC surely knows the seat needs cleaning or in the interim, maybe replace the seat cushion.

The smallest state

You are relying on AC here. That's very dangerous ground. Everyone on here has relied on AC for something and been let down.

The exec's can read this forum all they want, they haven't been able to get their some (not all) of their deadwood staff to perform even the most basic functions of their job.

24left

Yes, and I am left doing the "grooming" for my seat/table etc before my flights because I can see the cleaning crews did not do the job because IMHO, they were paid to do the minimum, not because they weren't capable.

But I choose to be optimistic.

When I board an Air Canada flight, I choose to think that it will be a positive experience. Sometimes it is meh, sometimes the crew are rude and cranky and sometimes, I think "I've just flown with the best group".

I can't control the lack of consistency in what Air Canada delivers in terms of my own experiences, but I won't board thinking "this is going to be crap".

Anyway, as I said, if you want to find out if AC cleaned the seat, call the CBC.


I would rather know that Grandma Osmond has now been required to retract her demand for compensation for her own poor decisions, as well as her absurd demand for a call from the FA. But, I want Ruby to keep the toys that AC offered. None of this was her fault.

JustSomeGuy1978

Re seat cleaning. Fin # C-GBHO is flying AC1689 today and appears to continue on as AC1878 YYC-LAS later. Assuming the same routing on that Tues May 30 AC1878 appeared to have departed on time without issue.

jc94

Without known issue. There could even have been an IDB and we may not know.

I've seen seats with unknown reason on boats (enclosed ones), busses and trains. I stand. On an aircraft that isn't an option and especially at this time of year there aren't normally that many if any spare seats. I would not be happy if I was told to sit in a clearly wet seat. For one, I do normally not travel with a spare seat of pants in my carry-on.

I'd like to think that AC have standard policies for dealing with situations like this. It can't be the first time that someone has damaged a seat. Am I confident in this? No.

Am I the only one who recalls that huge thread about using Y vs J washrooms? That was far longer than this.

Of course, there could be a wet seat for other reasons. I've certainly managed to get water on my seat before, and I'm sure there were a number of damp seats when coming into MEL during one of the worst hailstorms they've ever had. It's the only time my friend has ever been sick on a plane and the lunch trays were definitely not staying put.

ACYYZ/SD

Why would there be an issue? Exchanging a seat cover or swapping out an entire cushion is a very standard, routine, and quick procedure as well as a frequently logged item. Extra seat covers are maintained on board in the event of an in-flight occurrence.

quantumofforce

thank you for an actual answer.

canadiancow

Isn't that J? Y pax aren't allowed to just come up and stand around in the galley grabbing snacks and drinks either.

Could that be aircraft dependent?

I had a PDB (water) incident on an E90 on a YYC-YOW red-eye, and the SD offered to get the seat cover replaced, but said it could delay departure.

Since it was during EYW (delays are bad), and I had no change of pants (which were more wet than the easily-blanketed seat), I declined.

But it certainly didn't sound like they had anything on board to deal with this.

I know the E90 comes with 9 hot towels (for 9 seats) vs like 30 on a 320 (for 14 seats), and I don't know if rouge aircraft are similarly stocked.