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Thread: Airlines could be forced to employ French-speaking crew after passenger sued for being served 'wrong lemonade' on flight

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    #DeSantis2024 Teh One Who Knocks's Avatar
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    Canada Airlines could be forced to employ French-speaking crew after passenger sued for being served 'wrong lemonade' on flight

    By Ian Sparks - The Mirror




    Canada could soon force all airlines serving their country to have a French speaking crew member aboard - after a passenger complained he was served the 'wrong lemonade'.

    French language 'extremist' Michael Thibodeau sued Air Canada after he was given a Sprite instead of 7Up by an English speaking stewardess.

    He branded the airline's employees as 'malicious, oppressive and reprehensible' for not answering his questions in French during the 2009 flight, despite the fact he's a fluent English speaker.

    The legal action has now inspired Canadian MP Stephane Dion to lodge a bill in parliament demanding that all flights to and from bilingual Canada have a French speaker on board.

    He said: "Being able to order 7Up in French on a plane is a fundamental right in Canada and all Canadians should be able to sue the airlines if this is not the case."

    He is calling for the Official Languages Act - which ensures French and English are given equal status - to extend the rules to all international flights serving Canada.

    Mr Thibodeau was initially awarded £8,000 in damages in 2010, but Air Canada appealed and the ruling was overturned.

    He then took his case to the Canadian Supreme Court, where judges ruled that the Official Languages Act does not allow citizens to sue for cash damages for being spoken to in the wrong language.

    Instead, the airline was only ordered to apologise to the couple and ensure the Languages Act was respected in future.

    Mr Thibodeau had also filed a similar language complaint against Ottawa's bus company in 2002 after a driver greeted him with 'hello' instead of 'bonjour'.

    Canada's National Post newspaper has described Mr Thibodeau as the linguistic equivalent of a 'supermarket coupon clipper'.

    Columnist Barbara Kay wrote: "Instead of haunting supermarkets, he haunts bus companies and airlines, forever on the lookout for a breach of his right to hear the station stop, the weather, the time and the altitude in French.

    "Next time Mr Thibodeau tries his little trick, the airlines should offer him a free case 7UP, and if that isn't good enough then they should inform him - in both official languages - that he is wasting their time."

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    Dilly dilly Goofy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Teh One Who Knocks View Post
    French language 'extremist' Michael Thibodeau sued Air Canada after he was given a Sprite instead of 7Up by an English speaking stewardess.

    He branded the airline's employees as 'malicious, oppressive and reprehensible' for not answering his questions in French during the 2009 flight, despite the fact he's a fluent English speaker.
    God, what a fucking dickhead Is this an april 1st story? Surely this can't be real........ suing an airline for getting sprite instead of 7-up........ they're practically the same Cunts like this should be beaten to death with their own shoes

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    #DeSantis2024 Teh One Who Knocks's Avatar
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    You have no idea what some of these people are like. In just my limited experience in dealing with some of them when we would go to Montreal, they are really this way.

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    unedited FBD's Avatar
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    There's a whole lot of people that are confused about what a right is or is not.

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    transracial Hal-9000's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Teh One Who Knocks View Post
    You have no idea what some of these people are like. In just my limited experience in dealing with some of them when we would go to Montreal, they are really this way.
    The guy could speak fluent English, some of the French speaking people in our country are absolute twats...

    Years ago my sister and her b/f were traveling in Quebec by car and the cops pulled them over. Sister kept asking what the ticket(s) were for and the cop ignored her. One ticket for speeding and one for having a radar detector. At the time it was legal to have detectors in some parts of the country.

    Right as the cop was about to leave he says in perfect English - When we're in BC (province my sister lives in), we speak English, have a nice day.

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