She is still upset about what happened. Jodi Baptiste and her partner Andre Henry disembarked on a flight from Toronto to Kelowna on August 10. She went live on Instagram when an interaction with a flight attendant escalated when Jodi asked another passenger to switch seats so she and Andre could sit together. At first she was told she would have to pay extra to change the seat, then she was told there was a weight balance concern. An air passenger rights advocate is following the story. “The whole story seems, at least, to be a serious power trip, but I think this feels and smells like a case of racism,” said Dr. Gábor Lukács, president of Air Passenger Rights, Canada’s independent consumer non-profit. air travelers advocacy group. Lukács has been lobbying for years for better passenger protection, but he is not happy with proposed new federal regulations that are supposed to make it easier to get compensation. Batiste later shared a comment on her original Instagram post that she claimed was from the plane’s pilot. “There was zero racism as I was the pilot of the flight and I’m a BLACK man you didn’t inform the crowd,” the comment said. She claims that Jodi was told three times that she had to be in her designated take-off seat and then she could move to the other seat. “He didn’t try to defuse the conflict, even though there wasn’t any. He didn’t know what was going on. Because he had the last word to say well it’s not safe to fly the plane with me and Andre on the plane,” Batiste replied. “And when we were leaving the plane I said to him, who are we calling, where are we going, who are we talking to? And he just stood there and looked at me like I was nothing.” During the back-and-forth with the flight crew, other passengers spoke up for the couple. A woman told them to collect the phone numbers of others on the flight and that she would definitely say something on behalf of Jody and Andre. He described their treatment as shameful. Another woman said everyone should file a complaint. Swoop has since apologized and reimbursed the couple for the WestJet flight they ended up taking to get home. However, Jody struggles to understand why this happened to them. “I searched deep in my soul to think what did I do to her to treat me like this? I did absolutely nothing wrong. “I could tell if I was saying something rude or trying to disrespect her boundaries, but I didn’t in any way shape or form. So it puzzles me why this happened,” he added. Swoop released a statement in response to our inquiry about the incident. “We can confirm on August 10, a couple was escorted off flight WO 315 due to safety concerns raised by the operations crew. The safety of travelers and crew members is of the utmost importance and at the time of the reported incident, the crew made the decision to remove travelers from the flight. “Swoop has zero tolerance for racism and discrimination of any kind. We take these matters very seriously and have immediately launched an investigation into this dossier. We strive to make all travelers feel welcome and comfortable and are sorry that was not the experience some travelers had on this flight. We are looking into the incident internally and are contacting Ms Batiste directly to follow up on her concerns.” Gabor Lukacs adds that paying for the couple’s WestJet tickets may not have been an altruistic gesture from Swoop. “I’m not sure if that’s why they did what they did. I want to warn about this. I suspect they were concerned about the public implications of this event,” Lukacs said. He suspects the discount airline was hoping the story would just go away. Despite WestJet’s apology and compensation for her tickets, Jhody says she will never fly Swoop again.
title: “Passenger Rights Advocate Claims Racism After Swoop Kicks Kelowna Couple Off Flight For Changing Seats Kelowna News Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-16” author: “Mildred Slocum”
She is still upset about what happened. Jodi Baptiste and her partner Andre Henry disembarked on a flight from Toronto to Kelowna on August 10. She went live on Instagram when an interaction with a flight attendant escalated when Jodi asked another passenger to switch seats so she and Andre could sit together. At first she was told she would have to pay extra to change the seat, then she was told there was a weight balance concern. An air passenger rights advocate is following the story. “The whole story seems, at least, to be a serious power trip, but I think this feels and smells like a case of racism,” said Dr. Gábor Lukács, president of Air Passenger Rights, Canada’s independent consumer non-profit. air travelers advocacy group. Lukács has been lobbying for years for better passenger protection, but he is not happy with proposed new federal regulations that are supposed to make it easier to get compensation. Batiste later shared a comment on her original Instagram post that she claimed was from the plane’s pilot. “There was zero racism as I was the pilot of the flight and I’m a BLACK man you didn’t inform the crowd,” the comment said. She claims that Jodi was told three times that she had to be in her designated take-off seat and then she could move to the other seat. “He didn’t try to defuse the conflict, even though there wasn’t any. He didn’t know what was going on. Because he had the last word to say well it’s not safe to fly the plane with me and Andre on the plane,” Batiste replied. “And when we were leaving the plane I said to him, who are we calling, where are we going, who are we talking to? And he just stood there and looked at me like I was nothing.” During the back-and-forth with the flight crew, other passengers spoke up for the couple. A woman told them to collect the phone numbers of others on the flight and that she would definitely say something on behalf of Jody and Andre. He described their treatment as shameful. Another woman said everyone should file a complaint. Swoop has since apologized and reimbursed the couple for the WestJet flight they ended up taking to get home. However, Jody struggles to understand why this happened to them. “I searched deep in my soul to think what did I do to her to treat me like this? I did absolutely nothing wrong. “I could tell if I was saying something rude or trying to disrespect her boundaries, but I didn’t in any way shape or form. So it puzzles me why this happened,” he added. Swoop released a statement in response to our inquiry about the incident. “We can confirm on August 10, a couple was escorted off flight WO 315 due to safety concerns raised by the operations crew. The safety of travelers and crew members is of the utmost importance and at the time of the reported incident, the crew made the decision to remove travelers from the flight. “Swoop has zero tolerance for racism and discrimination of any kind. We take these matters very seriously and have immediately launched an investigation into this dossier. We strive to make all travelers feel welcome and comfortable and are sorry that was not the experience some travelers had on this flight. We are looking into the incident internally and are contacting Ms Batiste directly to follow up on her concerns.” Gabor Lukacs adds that paying for the couple’s WestJet tickets may not have been an altruistic gesture from Swoop. “I’m not sure if that’s why they did what they did. I want to warn about this. I suspect they were concerned about the public implications of this event,” Lukacs said. He suspects the discount airline was hoping the story would just go away. Despite WestJet’s apology and compensation for her tickets, Jhody says she will never fly Swoop again.
title: “Passenger Rights Advocate Claims Racism After Swoop Kicks Kelowna Couple Off Flight For Changing Seats Kelowna News Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-15” author: “Lauren Wessel”
She is still upset about what happened. Jodi Baptiste and her partner Andre Henry disembarked on a flight from Toronto to Kelowna on August 10. She went live on Instagram when an interaction with a flight attendant escalated when Jodi asked another passenger to switch seats so she and Andre could sit together. At first she was told she would have to pay extra to change the seat, then she was told there was a weight balance concern. An air passenger rights advocate is following the story. “The whole story seems, at least, to be a serious power trip, but I think this feels and smells like a case of racism,” said Dr. Gábor Lukács, president of Air Passenger Rights, Canada’s independent consumer non-profit. air travelers advocacy group. Lukács has been lobbying for years for better passenger protection, but he is not happy with proposed new federal regulations that are supposed to make it easier to get compensation. Batiste later shared a comment on her original Instagram post that she claimed was from the plane’s pilot. “There was zero racism as I was the pilot of the flight and I’m a BLACK man you didn’t inform the crowd,” the comment said. She claims that Jodi was told three times that she had to be in her designated take-off seat and then she could move to the other seat. “He didn’t try to defuse the conflict, even though there wasn’t any. He didn’t know what was going on. Because he had the last word to say well it’s not safe to fly the plane with me and Andre on the plane,” Batiste replied. “And when we were leaving the plane I said to him, who are we calling, where are we going, who are we talking to? And he just stood there and looked at me like I was nothing.” During the back-and-forth with the flight crew, other passengers spoke up for the couple. A woman told them to collect the phone numbers of others on the flight and that she would definitely say something on behalf of Jody and Andre. He described their treatment as shameful. Another woman said everyone should file a complaint. Swoop has since apologized and reimbursed the couple for the WestJet flight they ended up taking to get home. However, Jody struggles to understand why this happened to them. “I searched deep in my soul to think what did I do to her to treat me like this? I did absolutely nothing wrong. “I could tell if I was saying something rude or trying to disrespect her boundaries, but I didn’t in any way shape or form. So it puzzles me why this happened,” he added. Swoop released a statement in response to our inquiry about the incident. “We can confirm on August 10, a couple was escorted off flight WO 315 due to safety concerns raised by the operations crew. The safety of travelers and crew members is of the utmost importance and at the time of the reported incident, the crew made the decision to remove travelers from the flight. “Swoop has zero tolerance for racism and discrimination of any kind. We take these matters very seriously and have immediately launched an investigation into this dossier. We strive to make all travelers feel welcome and comfortable and are sorry that was not the experience some travelers had on this flight. We are looking into the incident internally and are contacting Ms Batiste directly to follow up on her concerns.” Gabor Lukacs adds that paying for the couple’s WestJet tickets may not have been an altruistic gesture from Swoop. “I’m not sure if that’s why they did what they did. I want to warn about this. I suspect they were concerned about the public implications of this event,” Lukacs said. He suspects the discount airline was hoping the story would just go away. Despite WestJet’s apology and compensation for her tickets, Jhody says she will never fly Swoop again.
title: “Passenger Rights Advocate Claims Racism After Swoop Kicks Kelowna Couple Off Flight For Changing Seats Kelowna News Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-18” author: “Richard Terry”
She is still upset about what happened. Jodi Baptiste and her partner Andre Henry disembarked on a flight from Toronto to Kelowna on August 10. She went live on Instagram when an interaction with a flight attendant escalated when Jodi asked another passenger to switch seats so she and Andre could sit together. At first she was told she would have to pay extra to change the seat, then she was told there was a weight balance concern. An air passenger rights advocate is following the story. “The whole story seems, at least, to be a serious power trip, but I think this feels and smells like a case of racism,” said Dr. Gábor Lukács, president of Air Passenger Rights, Canada’s independent consumer non-profit. air travelers advocacy group. Lukács has been lobbying for years for better passenger protection, but he is not happy with proposed new federal regulations that are supposed to make it easier to get compensation. Batiste later shared a comment on her original Instagram post that she claimed was from the plane’s pilot. “There was zero racism as I was the pilot of the flight and I’m a BLACK man you didn’t inform the crowd,” the comment said. She claims that Jodi was told three times that she had to be in her designated take-off seat and then she could move to the other seat. “He didn’t try to defuse the conflict, even though there wasn’t any. He didn’t know what was going on. Because he had the last word to say well it’s not safe to fly the plane with me and Andre on the plane,” Batiste replied. “And when we were leaving the plane I said to him, who are we calling, where are we going, who are we talking to? And he just stood there and looked at me like I was nothing.” During the back-and-forth with the flight crew, other passengers spoke up for the couple. A woman told them to collect the phone numbers of others on the flight and that she would definitely say something on behalf of Jody and Andre. He described their treatment as shameful. Another woman said everyone should file a complaint. Swoop has since apologized and reimbursed the couple for the WestJet flight they ended up taking to get home. However, Jody struggles to understand why this happened to them. “I searched deep in my soul to think what did I do to her to treat me like this? I did absolutely nothing wrong. “I could tell if I was saying something rude or trying to disrespect her boundaries, but I didn’t in any way shape or form. So it puzzles me why this happened,” he added. Swoop released a statement in response to our inquiry about the incident. “We can confirm on August 10, a couple was escorted off flight WO 315 due to safety concerns raised by the operations crew. The safety of travelers and crew members is of the utmost importance and at the time of the reported incident, the crew made the decision to remove travelers from the flight. “Swoop has zero tolerance for racism and discrimination of any kind. We take these matters very seriously and have immediately launched an investigation into this dossier. We strive to make all travelers feel welcome and comfortable and are sorry that was not the experience some travelers had on this flight. We are looking into the incident internally and are contacting Ms Batiste directly to follow up on her concerns.” Gabor Lukacs adds that paying for the couple’s WestJet tickets may not have been an altruistic gesture from Swoop. “I’m not sure if that’s why they did what they did. I want to warn about this. I suspect they were concerned about the public implications of this event,” Lukacs said. He suspects the discount airline was hoping the story would just go away. Despite WestJet’s apology and compensation for her tickets, Jhody says she will never fly Swoop again.