It’s an unfortunate fact of life that bigotry is alive, well and growing at an alarming rate. In the United States, you hear about it all the time. Unfortunately, despite their frequent label of being “nice,” there are bigots in Canada, as well.
On April 14th, a Nigerian-Canadian woman named Busayo Alle had a flight on Flair Airlines flight F8804 from Vancouver to Calgary. She was traveling with her 12 weeks old daughter and her mother-in-law. The family had seats assigned next to each other. But when they got to their seats in the second row, they discovered that Alle’s window seat, 2A, was occupied by a white woman.
Alle said she asked the woman if she would please move, but the woman said “no.” So Alle asked the airline staff to help her.
At this point, Alle began videotaping the interchange. In the recorded video you can hear Alle say to a flight attendant, “Do you see the problem here?”
Other passengers who watched what was happening tried to help – they offered their seats to the mother and baby. In the video Alle is heard telling the kind passengers, “I’m sorry, I don’t want to voice my anger.”
You can tell from the audio that the new mother, in her understandable frustration, was becoming agitated by the ultra low cost carrier’s staff’s conduct.
She told CTV News that the situation only escalated when a Flair Airlines’ employee told her to “calm down” and added, “If you’re not calming down we have to get you out of this aircraft.”
“I can’t be calm after what you just did,” Alle responded.
All the while, the woman in Alle’s seat was able to sit back and watch, as the flight attendants and the plane’s captain appeared to side with her, instead of Alle, who had been assigned to seat 2A.
Eventually Alle and her mother-in-law and baby sat on the other side of the plane, when some kind passengers said it was “No problem” for them to sit there, instead.
Alle said that when the incident was done, the white woman flipped her the bird.
Two days after the incident, Busayo Alle’s husband, Adeola, followed up with a video, hashtagged #racism #racismcanada #discrimination, which he also tagged to @Globalnews.ca and @CTVNews. Here’s the video (the first 6 minutes or so are his views on the incident. The rest is his wife’s video of the incident):
@adeolaalle Racism and Discrimination on flair airline from Vancouver to Calgary @Globalnews.ca @CTVNews #racism #racismincanada #discrimination
The now-viral video has over 1,400 comments. Some address airline policy. But most discuss racism and discrimination, not only by Flair Airlines, but in Canada on the whole:
- Racism in Canada is everywhere including in the Federal Government where minorities face blatant racial discrimination — M.Brown
- Sounds like the staff needs some more training… other airlines make it a policy to enforce seating according to the tickets… — Ken
- The funny part is when they shift the blame to the victim 😡😡😡😡😡😡 — Mikel
- Why can’t people sit in the seat on their boarding pass? I know on some airlines, you pay MORE for seats together or in the front of the plane! — Wendy Haughenberr398
- The way they made your family out to seem like they were the problem rather than the person sitting in the wrong seat is crazy — Nicky
- Sad part is the pilot and air hostess who are also minority and in charge of the plane was encouraging this by not doing their job. — carashaw440
- Welcome to Canada brotha — The Abstract161
- The pilot about “you got your seat, the other passengers accommodated you”… WHAT???????? — bree_sh
- This crew dealt with the situation poorly. I think it’s amazing that passengers voluntarily helped to accommodate the family but that wasn’t on them. — LoveChrissyP
- This family needs a public apology and the staff unprofessionalism needs to be addressed. — harveysmailys
Flair Airlines initially addressed the incident in a statement:
Flair Airlines staff did ask the passenger in 2A to move to her assigned seat, but she refused multiple times. Unfortunately, this caused the situation to escalate. The resolution taken for the flight was to seat the passenger in the window seat on the other side of the aircraft — the same row and seat, just on the other side of the plane.
We spoke directly to the passenger first to listen to her experience and concerns first hand, to offer our sincerest apologies for any distress, and to discuss ways the airline can remedy her concerns.
However on April 18th, the Alle family posted an update. In it, he said that Flair Airlines had called his wife the other day, and offered her a full refund. She thanks them but let it be known that she and her husband didn’t publicize the incident to get a refund. It wasn’t about the money; it was about injustice.
The Alles told Flair Airlines that they wanted an apology. In direct response, the airline said they were doing an investigation of the incident.
@adeolaalle Thanks to everyone who has shown support, we appreciate it. #nigeriansincanada #racismincanada #wecandobetter #CapCut
The vast majority of those who replied to that video suggested Flair should offer a formal apology, their employees need more training, and the Alles should request/get more than just a refund. That retribution was in order.
If you watch the whole video (it’s 10 minutes long; Mr. Alles apparently likes to talk ;-)), you’ll see that the Alles appear to be more forgiving than those who commented on this and his previous video. He says they’re not putting too much thought into the whole issue; they’re sleeping well.
Our thoughts
I have my own thoughts about the racism (and the altruism. And the little that the staff proactively did to fix the situation. And Flair’s lack of an apology.) that appeared to happen during this incident. But the main thing that went through my head as I researched this story was whoever had the boarding pass with seat 2A should have been allowed to sit there. If the white woman’s boarding pass didn’t assign her to 2A, and she refused to move, why didn’t they have her removed from the plane??? That part is just crazy.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
7 comments
We got us a G-d Canadian racist!
According to a friend of mine who lives in Alberta, y’all have more than just one… 😉
Just straight racism nothing further
Why is always “racist”??? It’s the equivalent of Spirit…the staff simply doesn’t care. I don’t think the outcome would have been different if she was white.
(Edited for adult language and inappropriateness/threats) They should sue the company and they should fire the workers on the plane and that white women who would not move should not. Be allowed to ride that plane again cause she will do it again if nothing happens to her if it was me I would have kicked the white woman a** and the workers a** and the wouldn’t be going no where and I would be in jail and would not care wrong is wrong.
Bad!! Business!
The person who sat in a seat assigned to someone else, then refused to move, should have been escorted off the aircraft immediately. No exceptions! The captain and crew failed here. Bigotry and discrimination resides everywhere. We just should hold these bigots fully accountable.