An Air Canada flight from Morocco to Montreal had to be cancelled on Friday morning following an altercation between a passenger and a flight attendant, the Canadian airline told CTV News in a statement.
Video taken inside the Airbus A330 on the ground at Mohammed V International Airport in Casablanca and shared on social media over the weekend shows a flight attendant yelling at a passenger in both French and English.
The flight attendant is shouting in French: “You will behave or we will get off! I’ll tell the captain right away. Yes or no?”
Britain’s Daily Mail as well as aviation news site FL360aero.com and CTV reported that the passenger had allegedly requested a blanket before the outburst occurred.
In the video, the flight attendant then switches to English and says: “I don’t want no bullying against my crew. OK? Everyone behave.” As she makes her way up the aisle amid shouts from various passengers, she then adds: “Be quiet! Buckle your seatbelts or you’re getting off!”
The latter is what eventually happened, as the flight was cancelled. Flight radar data shows that flight AC73 was taxiing to the runway before returning to the terminal. It never took off.
FL360aero reported that police were called to remove a female passenger, and that the other travellers then also left the plane in solidarity, forcing the cancellation.
The National Post has reached out to Air Canada and is awaiting comment. However, the airline said in a statement shared by CTV News: “We apologize to our customers and deeply regret that their experience today fell far short of what they have come to expect when flying with Air Canada.”
It also told the web site BlogTO.com that it would be offering passengers compensation, “not only for the delay but also to take into account the nature of this exceptional incident that does not reflect our values of hospitality.”
Flight radar information shows that another Air Canada flight left Casablanca on Sunday morning on the same route, arriving in Montreal without incident.
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