Jakarta –
A business class passenger was angry because he was served by a flight attendant who spoke English. Even though he had asked a flight attendant who was fluent in French.
Reported from InsiderWednesday (19/4/2023) an Air Canada passenger filed a complaint with the language authority after a flight attendant was unable to serve him in French.
Jean-Pierre Beaudoin told Canada’s French-language channel TVA Nouvelles that he flew business class last month from Quebec City to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. And on the flight a flight attendant only spoke English to serve him.
He asked a bilingual flight attendant to serve him so he could speak French. Then he saw the crew member chatting with his colleague, and then said to him in English “Sir, this is my part. You have the right to leave the plane or I will serve you”.
He said a man, who was either an Air Canada employee or an airport agent, came on board to tell him an English-speaking flight attendant would attend to him, or at his option he should leave the plane.
“It got my blood boiling. I thought, ‘We’re in Quebec. The flight is coming from Quebec.’ It was not an option for me to leave the plane.”
Beaudoin decided to stay on the plane and only spoke French when the cabin crew spoke to him in English. He described the act of rebellion as a ‘matter of principle’.
He said he had filed a complaint with the Quebec French Language Office after the flight. He did not complain to Air Canada because he did not trust their process, instead escalating the matter to the language authorities.
Air Canada complies with the Canadian Official Language Act, which gives English and French equal status. In reports BBC Newsthe airline was fined USD 15,700 in 2019 after a couple complained that some signs on domestic flights were in English only.
In a statement to Insideran Air Canada representative said two of the three cabin crew on the flight could speak French.
“Accordingly, service in the two official languages was available and offered. In this case, it would be wrong to claim that the only solution was to ask him to leave the aircraft as a French-speaking member of staff could and is available to service Mr Beaudoin in French,” the airline added. That.
The Quebec French Language Office has not yet commented on the case.
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