NordsFan

This talented athlete is a professional snowboard rider. He started out on the pro circuit when he was 13, when he was half as old as he is today. Since then he has earned hundreds of thousands if not millions (according to the Journal de Montréal in February 2016) in prize money, cars, sponsorship deals with global brands, etc. He probably also gets some public monetary support from Govs of C and Q, as well as the $20K cash reward for winning his medal.

There is a reason why the athletes hold up their boards, skis, helmets and other gear with logos facing towards the cameras, even at what everyone still seems to believe are the "pure amateur" Olympics....... Youtube, Twitter, FB and I-gram are also remunerated promo tools. I have had occasion to review and negotiate "visibility" agreements for much lesser known athletes (i.e. non-Olympians) and the money is as big as the average extreme sport career is short.

Seb Toots earned his E75K by flying with AC and he probably flies regularly with other airlines as well. He should have better than average awareness about the realities of mass departures from global event venues and the risks inherent in having sold-out J/PY cabins on certain days.

He should also try to avoid taking shots at sponsors, even though in this case, AC is a prime sponsor of the wider COC/Team Canada and not of SebToots Inc. He would never, ever think to slag Red Bull, Oakley, O'Neil, etc. As a former Prime Minister once said "You dance with who brung you".

Very poor form from a young rider who calls himself a businessman.

jc94

Wasn't there some US athlete (some kid, snowboarder?) on Kimmel a couple of weeks ago who won a medal and got to sit up front on the return flight?

No idea if this was something the airline did.

Jumper Jack

Was the middle seat blocked? If not seems pretty cheap to stuff a gold medalist in HD Y tbh. Esp since you prob want to use his image to advertise your airline?
No one should have been bumped for him though thats for sure.

GateGuardian

tweet got deleted or just my firewall?

longtimeflyin

So based on your post.

1) No one else should be bumped.
2) According to you, he was booked in a bad seat.
3) The plane was full

So the only other option would have been to, while the plane still had empty seats, for the athlete in question to choose a more comfortable seat, and based on the info from others in this thread, the athlete in question has far more money than you or me, so he could have paid to upgrade himself.

If he didn't take responsibility for choosing his seat, either by choosing a "better" economy class seat when he could, or if he didn't pay to upgrade, than that's on him, NOT on Air Canada.

You strike me as someone who is Gen Y.

ridefar

Not just you.

rankourabu

Penguin please.

Jumper Jack

NordsFan

I think AC62 is still in the air......nice to see that his management/counsel were able to draft and put out an apology statement for him before he even got home to his $940K waterfront penthouse condo in Repentigny.

Jebby_ca

So he is entitled and his apology isn't genuine. Sigh. One can never win...

trek604

His BP showed E75K. Maybe the entitled brat's eUP's didn't clear and he's bitter for it. rofl.

NordsFan

No long term damage for him. This little bump will soon be forgotten. He will dining out on his Gold medal win for the rest of his life. Good on him !

And, yes he probably is as entitled as some pro athletes are and the apology ain't that genuine, but his handlers got the job done for him as AC62 gets closer to YYZ (assuming he flew on 26FEB as seems to have been mentioned upthread).

SKYEG

He's a young kid, people will cut him some slack and all will be forgotten soon.

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vernonc

+1. As the song goes..young, dumb but maybe not so broke. He is successful and I wish him well.
He was harsh in his original tweet but was like most people here looking for a better seat - not sure if it was just more leg room, PE or eupg/opup. Likely he was disappointed with his seat after being on a high winning a gold medal. Also very quick with the apology so good for him. At least he did not 'borrow' a car and drive around drunk at the Olympics :-)
Lots of posters seem to think that being a E75 he should well know the minutae of the airline business but there are a ton of SE and other status who know little.....till they join FT and/or other forums.
I have in my past travels tried to upg a Olympic medal winner. She was showing me her medal at the gate and we were talking about the experience. Unfortunately the upg did not clear, not for her or me.

NordsFan

He's going to be 26 in September and began on the worldwide snowboard circuit when he was 13, including the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics, so I don't agree that the "young kid" label applies. Some people might cut him some slack generally, but he was getting no love at all on Twitter after his initial tweet came out. And, yes, all will soon be forgotten.