In all, she racked up more than $8,000 in airfare, hotels and added expenses, trying to get herself and Paun home. I started to cry.'įeeling she had no choice, Constantin shelled out another $3,842 for two seats on an Austrian Airlines flight to Montreal. But then the two women weren't allowed to board their Air Canada flight back to Canada. They had no problem boarding partner airline Lufthansa on the first leg to Frankfurt.

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The two women spent the next two days in Bucharest, calling Air Canada, but said they were told there was nothing in the airline's computer system about their case. 'Air Canada has a zero tolerance policy for disruption and outright refusal to follow safety directions,' said Mah.Īccording to Transport Canada, airlines have the right to refuse to board passengers if it's deemed their behaviour may jeopardize the safety of a flight.īut the federal department also says that passengers should be informed about why they're denied boarding and the conditions of their ban.Ĭonstantin and Paun said they received no such information at the time instead, Paun said a flight attendant told her they'd be rebooked on another Air Canada flight. She also said, in an email to CBC News, that efforts made by the crew to defuse the situation were unsuccessful. 'We felt very embarrassed and humiliated,' said Paun.Īir Canada spokesperson Angela Mah said that Paun and Constantin were removed because they 'became verbally abusive to the crew' and refused to take their assigned seats or safely stow their carry-on bags. And that's when she just got angry with me and said that I'm not co-operating.'Īir Canada said the two passengers 'became verbally abusive to the crew' and 'refused to take their assigned seats or safely stow onboard luggage.' (Air Canada)Ĭonstantin said she was in the washroom at the time and when she learned the news, she refused to disembark, so a police officer was called to escort them off the plane. 'I said that I can't move back because you just put a man in my seat. Paun said it occurred after she got into a dispute with a flight attendant who asked her to return to her assigned seat, and she replied that she couldn't. There are contradictory accounts of why the two women were ordered off the plane. Paun said someone was assigned to her seat, so she sat elsewhere. They said the flight's departure was delayed because some passengers had to be reassigned seats so families could sit together. Their troubles began when Constantin, a 45-year old financial officer, and Paun, a 22-year-old university student, boarded an Air Canada flight at the Henri Coandă Airport in Bucharest after visiting family in Romania. So far, Constantin has received a $262.26 refund toward the $3,916 flight.

'I cannot eat. I cannot sleep.'Īir Canada said it's 'dealing directly' with the passengers regarding reimbursement for the Frankfurt flight.

'I am mentally and financially devastated,' said Constantin. Ana Constantinīut the information came too late Constantin had already paid a total of $7,758 for a flight that only got them as far as Frankfurt, and then another flight on Austrian Airlines to return to Montreal.

I am mentally and financially devastated.

'Imagine the frustration,' said a still-distraught Constantin from her home in Gatineau, Que. 'It's beyond understanding.'įollowing a CBC News inquiry, Air Canada emailed a letter to Constantin and Paun - two weeks after their initial flight - laying out why they were ordered off that flight and details of their ban. In all, Constantin, right, racked up more than $8,000 in airfare, hotels and additional expenses trying to get herself and her daughter back to Montreal.

Passenger band for life