Human cargo and pre-filled barf bags

Congratulations on the article about First Air’s record of “exemplary” customer service in Canada’s eastern Arctic.

On Friday April 25, my family and I boarded a First Air flight for Toronto only to return about an hour later due to mechanical problems. After an aborted ascent, our plane cruised at a low altitude for a while before a frail-voiced pilot crackled over the speaker, muttering something incomprehensible about hydraulics.

We landed in Iqaluit and our plane had to be towed back to the terminal. We were surprised to see many other stranded passengers, including celebrities Peter Gzowski, Susan Aglukark and Ernie Coombs of Mr. Dressup fame. Their plane was also delayed for several hours because of mechanical glitch­a real public relations coup for First Air.

The delay meant we missed our connecting flights to Toronto and travelling with a one-year old infant, and with a dog in the cargo hold, we decided not to wait at the airport to see if they could fix the jet. We approached the First Air ticket counter and asked to be booked on a flight the next day. No problem, they said. We told them we had no place to stay and asked if they could provide us a hotel room.

“They’re all booked,” the ticket agent replied.

Since it was now past 9 p.m. and we hadn’t had as much as a peanut during our aborted flight, we asked if the airline would spring for a meal for our inconvenience.

The ticket agent said that since we decided not to wait for the flight, the airline couldn’t offer us anything. If First Air had maintained their aircraft properly, perhaps we wouldn’t have had to make the “decision” not to reboard a plane that couldn’t make it back to the terminal under its own power.

The ever-smiling agent did invite us to have some cookies or apple juice that the other strandees were consuming. Our flight scheduled for a 7 p.m. departure eventually left well after midnight.

Theresa Blackburn of CBC Radio graciously hosted our family for the night and we set out again for the airport on Saturday, hoping to board our last-ever First Air flight (Canadian Airlines, where are you?).

The ticket agent who booked our new flight must have assumed we were human cargo and had to go wherever the plane did. Our once direct flight now went from Iqaluit to Kuujjuaq, Kuujjuaq to Montreal, Montreal to Ottawa, and then Ottawa to Toronto­all this flying for the low cost of only $2,200 for two.

We persuaded a friendly purser to reschedule our flight so that once we made it to Montreal we could get off the First Air flight, kiss the blessed ground and board any direct flight to Toronto.

It was also a nice touch of the purser to give us two complimentary First Air mugs after my wife’s stomach-turning experience on board. During the flight she had opened her air-sickness bag only to find someone had already used it. When I reached for another barf bag to bring to her aid, I found that it too was already filled with nasty retching.

The purser explained that First Air attendants don’t check the contents of air-sickness bags between flights if the magazines at the back of the seats don’t look disturbed. Magazine readers, beware.

The purser encouraged us to fill our the comment card about the airline’s service and mail it to the airline’s management.

Since I wasn’t sure what that card might be covered in, consider this letter my comment card­barf-free.

Todd Phillips

Burlington, Ontario