Passengers of Air Canada forced to sit in seats covered in vomit

Air Canada has been forced to apologise to two passengers after they were made to sit in seats that had been stained by vomit during the previous flight.

During the flight, which took place on 26 August, Susan Benson watched her fellow passengers being told that they had to sit in seats vomit-covered seats.

Travelling from Las Vegas, US, to Montreal, Canada, Ms Benson documented her experience as an Air Canada passenger on Facebook.

On the social media platform, she noted that when she boarded the plane, she saw that "there was a bit of a foul smell but we didn't know at first what the problem was. Apparently, on the previous flight, someone had vomited in that area. Air Canada attempted a quick clean up before boarding but clearly wasn't able to do a thorough clean".

The "quick clean up" that Ms Benson referenced to was when the airline "placed coffee grinds in the seat pouch and sprayed perfume to mask the smell".

Ms Benson also added that her fellow passengers, who were sitting in front of her, were "struggling to get seated" and "when the clearly upset passengers tried to explain to the flight attendant that the seat and seatbelt were wet and there was still visible vomit residue in their area, the flight attendant was very apologetic but explained that the flight was full and there was nothing they could do".

The passengers then explained to the crew that "they couldn't possibly be expected to sit in vomit for five hours. They argued back and forth for several minutes and then the flight attendant said she would get her supervisor," Ms Benson wrote.

In an interview with Global News on Tuesday 5 September, Ms Benson said: "She [the passenger] was just insistent that she can't be expected to sit in a wet seat with the vomit smell and residue."

According to Ms Benson, after the two passengers consistently complained about their ill-treatment, the crew told them that "it's a full flight and there's no other seats available", so instead the women were handed blankets, wipes and vomit bags to clean the area themselves.

Despite having an argument with the staff, Ms Benson declared that the two women remained polite and were rightly "upset" with the situation.

Ms Benson declared: "They were certainly not! They were upset and firm, but not rude!"

Ms Benson further explained that after the women had "got themselves settled with blankets and wipes... next thing we knew the pilot came down the aisle and very calmly knelt down and told the two ladies that they had two choices: They could leave the plane on their own accord and organise flights on their own dime, or they would be escorted off the plane by security and placed on a no-fly list!"

Ms Benson concluded her account of events by saying: "Shame on you Air Canada! Shame on you!"

In response to the loud complaint, Air Canada released a statement that noted: "We are reviewing this serious matter internally and have followed up with the customers directly as our operating procedures were not followed correctly in this instance."

The airline also confirmed that they "remain in contact" with the two passengers who were made to sit in the vomit-stained seats.

But this is not the first bodily fluid to disrupt a flight.

On Tuesday 5 September, passengers on a Delta flight were forced to endure an eight-hour delay after a passenger suffered a bout of extreme diarrhoea.

The situation, which occurred on the flight headed to Barcelona, was considered an "onboard medical emergency" and "biohazard" that forced the Delta Airlines Airbus A350 to turn around while the crew cleaned up the mess.