Travelers denounce the airline Air France which forced them to camp for two nights in a row at the Montreal airport, without accommodation or food.
“It is unacceptable to neglect passengers in this way. We had to sleep in the airport, which is not very pleasant and quite complicated. There was no assistance from Air France, not even a meal,” thunders Christian Seigle-Goujon.
This Frenchman is not about to forget his visit to Quebec. He had come to celebrate his 70th birthday with one of his two sons who lives in La Belle Province.
Filled hotels
After a two-week trip, Mr. Seigle-Goujon and one of his boys tried to return to France on Thursday, but their flight was canceled due to severe thunderstorms. In all, nearly 160 flights like his did not take off that evening from Montreal.
On Friday, it was the lack of seats on Air France planes that prompted the two travelers to go camping for a second evening at the airport.
“We were at least forty in this situation at the airport. There were women alone with their children, all the same. Air France employees gave the excuse of Formula 1 in Montreal to say that there were no more places in the hotels”, mentions Christian Seigle-Goujon, who finally managed to fly to the France on Saturday evening.
The septuagenarian now intends to seek compensation from the air carrier. He notes that one of the passengers, also forced to camp for two nights, intends to file a class action lawsuit against Air France.
F1’s fault
For its part, Air France indicates to the Log that hotel capacity was greatly reduced in Montreal on Thursday evening due to the Grand Prix and that “all available rooms had [déjà] been reserved”.
That’s why their customers had to go camping at the airport.
The carrier defends itself, however, and ensures that “all passengers requiring a hotel have been accommodated” Friday evening
“Air France offered accommodation – subject to availability – transport to hotels and meal vouchers for passengers”, assures Diane Audet, communications manager for the company.
Aéroports de Montréal, for its part, claims that “almost all” of the passengers who were in their facilities left Friday evening for their destination.
“This is an exceptional situation – only the second in 18 years –, as these storms have added to the already present challenges of labor shortages”, explains their spokesperson Eric Forest.
Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com