Man sues airline for 12,000$ over lack of French service

[JMeganSnow]

From the article:

Whether this bilingual law ought to exist is a story for another day, but it's reasonable to expect that a corporation stays within the legal lines, especially if it's already had trouble with this before. So, no, the guy certainly doesn't deserve half a million dollars for this minor problem, but the company ought to be fined by the government.

Yep. Any country needs an official language for *government*. Doesn't matter what it is--English, French, German, Esperanto, Klingon, whatever, every part of the government should use it. The language used elsewhere in the country should be a free-for-all.

 

[Mr Shrike]

I've had a similar thing happen to me on a flight from the UK to Ukraine.

It was really, really difficult to speak the the Air Hostess in Russian, rather than English.



This guy is just a whiney little ***** and needs to man the hell up.

 

[aba1]

From the article:

Whether this bilingual law ought to exist is a story for another day, but it's reasonable to expect that a corporation stays within the legal lines, especially if it's already had trouble with this before. So, no, the guy certainly doesn't deserve half a million dollars for this minor problem, but the company ought to be fined by the government.

Yep. Any country needs an official language for *government*. Doesn't matter what it is--English, French, German, Esperanto, Klingon, whatever, every part of the government should use it. The language used elsewhere in the country should be a free-for-all.

Air Canada is a independant company but they are still supposed to follow those laws and they do they prolly just didn't have a bilingual person on staff at the moment

 

[DasDestroyer]

I love how nobody cares that without knowing French you can't understand a thing in Quebec but as soon as someone can't speak French in the rest of Canada, someone throws a fit.
Although I sort of understand the guy. If someone had brought me Pepsi instead of Coca-Cola, I'd be pretty pissed too. But I wouldn't go so far as to sue the person.

PS. Quebec reminds me of the Spy in TF2...

 

[JMeganSnow]

From the article:

Whether this bilingual law ought to exist is a story for another day, but it's reasonable to expect that a corporation stays within the legal lines, especially if it's already had trouble with this before. So, no, the guy certainly doesn't deserve half a million dollars for this minor problem, but the company ought to be fined by the government.

Yep. Any country needs an official language for *government*. Doesn't matter what it is--English, French, German, Esperanto, Klingon, whatever, every part of the government should use it. The language used elsewhere in the country should be a free-for-all.

Air Canada is a independant company but they are still supposed to follow those laws and they do they prolly just didn't have a bilingual person on staff at the moment

I said it should be, not that it is. Until it is, people should probably obey the law if only to avoid idiocy like this. The only people hurt by it are non-bilingual service staff, and who cares about them (sarcasm).

 

[Stryc9]

I'm sorry but what the fuck? It sounds as if the flight attendant understood his french enough to understand that he wanted a lemon-lime type soda and brought him such. I'm thinking along the lines of a few other people in that they had Sprite and not 7-Up and that's what he got and he's just a whiny ***** that KNEW he was gonna pull this shit when he got on the plane looking to get a big payday. This has nothing to do with him trying to make the airline speak both languages, he just wanted a new car and this was the easiest way to get one.

 

[puffy786]

Parasite. I HATE people who take so much advantage of the legal system. All he does is want to steal money in any way possible.

 

[CloudKiller]

I'm flying with Air Canada later this month maybe i'll use what little French I know to try and catch the flight crew out, heck I might even get twelve grand out of it.

 

[Singularly Datarific]

Ooooooh! I thought French Service was a euphemism for sex or something.
Anyways, kind of ridiculous, but it works to bring attention to it, I suppose.

 

[StriderShinryu]

It's certainly not necessary for him to sue, but I'd imagine he does have a legal right to do so. He sounds like the type that keeps a book of language related laws in his back pocket and just looks for every place he can find to abuse them though.

 

[Crazy Zaul]

People like this guy are a genius. Everyone will hate them but still genius.

 

[Raijha]

Iunno, I have to say, looking at it from another angle, if I was ever offered 12000 to bring to light the fact that I was FULLY aware somebody was breaking a law, iunno, there's a reason crime stoppers offers rewards of up to 10k for convictions.

While yes, I know that's a very greedy and nasty way to look at it, maybe that's just what he was thinking, and personally, yea, I'm not sure I could honestly say that if somebody offered me 12000 to come out and say, hey, so and so is breaking a law, pay attention to that, I wouldn't do it. I'm also not saying 100% I would do it either.

Anyway, just my, maybe a bit skewed way, of looking at it.

 

[sneakypenguin]

It seems like whoever their food vendor is would only have one product. 7up is Snapple/rc/drpepper bottling group and Sprite is Coca-cola, CCR,CCE. Typically they do not go together unless at direct store delievery (DSD) places (side load or bulk). So it seems like maybe sprite was just what they had.

Perhaps because RC/snapple/drP bottling group is so low volume they are allowed in, still seems off to me though.

 

[icame]

HOLY SHIT, NOT EVERYONE SPEAKS BOTH LANGUAGES! Deal with it. I am from Ontario. When I went to Quebec did I throw a shit-fit when the bus driver couldn't speak english? Of course not. Fucking prick this guy is.

 

[Mr. Eff_v1legacy]

These cases where such petty behaviour is rewarded don't surprise me any more.
They still annoy me, though.

 

[mcpop9]

The airlines flight attendant should of been bi lingual but the guys shouldn't of been awarded the money. He should of reported the airline.
Now to quote a French artist "ca m'enerve!"

 

[Leviathan_]

A man from Québec sued Air Canada for not providing him with French service on the plane. The man himself is bilingual but threw a fit when the flight attendant couldn't understand his French request for 7Up and brought him Sprite instead. He aimed for 500,000$ - not for the money itself, but "to make a point" - but "only" received 12,000$ and coverage for legal fees. He also sued Air Canada for the same reason back in 2002 (and won) and tried to sue the Ottawa bus system for lack of French service (that didn't work out).

I'm from Québec myself and find this absolutely ridiculous. Yes, Canada is officially bilingual and yes, Air Canada should be offering service in both official languages, but was it really necessary to sue them over this? It's not that big a deal to switch to English if a flight attendant can't understand you - hell, I've had to switch to English numerous times on air planes, buses, or at work.

I'd love to hear your opinions on this, especially if you've been in a similar situation. Did the man over-react, is Air Canada at fault, or both?

Source: http://www.ottawasun.com/2011/07/14/air-canada-language-ruling-sparks-controversy

Total overreaction, a typical thing for the French to be too proud and stuck up about their own language to even bother switching over to another 'inferior' language. In Belgium it's the same damn thing. That doesn't mean however, that Air Canada isn't to blame though, it's utterly disrespectful to not be able to speak a language that is spoken in one's home country. I don't know if the flight attendant was Canadian or not, but if so, then it's his/her fault too for not knowing how to speak French, especially in his/her line of work.