‘I felt like we were luggage’: Passengers on Air Transat tarmac delays
Air Transat passenger Alan Abraham did not mince words when he was asked by reporters how he felt he was treated by the airline during tarmac delays at the Ottawa airport last month.
“There was no relief,” he said. “I felt like we were luggage.”
Blaise Pascal Irutingabo, who lives in the Ottawa area, was another unfortunate passenger. He was travelling with his wife and two children on Air Transat flight TS157 from Brussels to Montreal on July 31, when he spent nearly six hours on the Ottawa airport tarmac, after bad weather caused the plane to divert from Montreal.
During that ordeal, Irutingabo said, he witnessed a family with a young child who was very upset, but crews didn’t do anything to help.
“She was crying and her parents were trying to calm her down because it was very hot in the plane,” he said, adding eventually nearby passengers gave the parents whatever water they had left to try to cool her down.
Irutingabo said Air Transat needs to recognize that they had a responsibility to passengers, to stop blaming others for their actions and apologize.