ABC News
Smelly Passenger Kicked Off Plane
A Man's Body Odor on an Air Canada Jazz Flight Overwhelmed His Fellow Passengers
By SCOTT MAYEROWITZ
Feb. 18, 2010—
Few people would argue that air travel doesn't stink on same days, but what about their fellow passengers?
Well, the smell of one passenger was so bad that he was apparently asked to leave a recent Air Canada regional airline flight.
The Air Canada Jazz flight from Charlottetown, on Prince Edward Island, was preparing for the two-hour flight to Montreal when passengers on the plane reportedly complained about the odor coming from one of their fellow travelers. The crew eventually decided to ask the man to leave the plane.
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"As an airline, the safety and comfort of our passengers and crew are our top priorities," Air Canada Jazz spokeswoman Manon Stuart said in an e-mail statement. "Therefore, any situation that compromises either their safety or comfort is taken seriously and in such circumstances the crew will act in the best interest of the majority of our passengers."
An Air Canada employee moved Penny Walsh of Charlottetown to another seat so she would not have to ride alongside the man who was giving off the unpleasant aroma.
"People were just mumbling and staring at him," Walsh told the Prince Edward Island Guardian, describing the man as unkempt. "The guy next to me said, 'It's brutal.'"
She said the incident delayed the flight by only 15 to 20 minutes.
"Kudos to the [Air Canada] staff because it's a very uncomfortable situation," she told the Guardian. "I honestly think in this situation, they handled it appropriately."
Reached on her cell phone today by ABC News, Walsh declined to be interviewed, saying that she didn't want more attention drawn to the man.
Stuart confirmed that a passenger was removed from the Feb. 6 afternoon flight but would not say exactly why the passenger was asked to leave, saying the airline "must respect the privacy of our passengers.
"Our crew dealt with the situation according to our standard operating procedures," she added.
The U.S. passenger was reportedly allowed to travel on a flight the following morning.
An Odoriferous Threat to Order?
Passengers are often asked to leave an aircraft if they are unruly, intoxicated or refuse to follow crew instructions. A series of passengers have also been asked recently to deplane because they were too fat to fit into their seats, the most recent being actor-director Kevin Smith. He was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight Saturday. Being too fat to fit into your seat not only creates a comfort issue for other passengers but also a safety concern.
As for having bad body odor, well, that just creates an uncomfortable situation for everybody trapped next to him or her and unable to open a window.
Air Canada Jazz's Stuart said that in some circumstances it may become necessary for the crew to remove passengers whose behavior is perceived to pose a threat to the safety or comfort of other customers, the crew or even the aircraft.
"They are professionals who are well-trained to handle challenging situations," she said. "It's important to understand that our crew members make every effort to resolve a situation before it becomes an issue."
As airplanes try to squeeze more money out of every flight, passengers are finding themselves cramped and having to interact with their fellow fliers more than ever before.
"Until recently, passengers had gotten accustomed to empty middle seats and vacant overhead storage, those days are over," said Rick Seaney, CEO of airfare-search site FareCompare.com and an ABCNews.com columnist.
"Airlines have spent the last few years adding hefty checked bag fees, trimming back flights and discounting tickets, filling planes to the gills with bags and bodies and making ample personal space a figment of years gone by. "
Copyright © 2014 ABC News Internet Ventures
Sunday, February 2, 2014
SeaHawks!!!
Seattle Seahawks
NFL Super Bowl XLVIII
Live
MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey
Seattle
Seahawks
(15-3)
Denver
Broncos
(15-3)
36 - 8
Live - 0:00 3Q
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | ||
| 8 | 14 | 14 | - | 36 | ||
| Broncos | 0 | 0 | 8 | - | 8 |
SeaHawks!
- Seattle SeahawksNFL Super Bowl XLVIIILiveMetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New JerseySeattleSeahawks(15-3)DenverBroncos(15-3)35 - 0Live - 2:58 3Q
1 2 3 4 Total 8 14 13 - 35 Broncos 0 0 0 - 0 All times are in Eastern Time
Seahawks
- Seattle SeahawksNFL Super Bowl XLVIIILiveMetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New JerseySeattleSeahawks(15-3)DenverBroncos(15-3)29 - 0Live - 5:09 3Q
1 2 3 4 Total 8 14 7 - 29 Broncos 0 0 0 - 0 All times are in Eastern Time
No chickens on this first-class Mexican bus Bus travel between major cities now comes with lots of amenities. By Brian J. Cantwell Seattle Times travel writer
Originally published Saturday, February 1, 2014 at 7:08 PM
No chickens on this first-class Mexican bus
Bus travel between major cities now comes with lots of amenities.
Seattle Times travel writer
BRIAN J. CANTWELL/THE SEATTLE TIMES
A sleek Volvo coach of the ADO line unloads in the ultramodern terminal in Oaxaca City, Mexico. Top-of-the-line buses in Mexico defy old stereotypes.
If you go
Useful tips
• A website with an English-language option,ticketbus.com.mx , has useful information on Mexican bus routes. But after I went through the laborious steps to reserve a ticket, it gave an “error” message. I heard from another traveler of a similar experience. So you might do best to research schedule info (and seating charts, even) online but buy your ticket at the bus station. If you’re concerned about getting a seat, purchase a day or two in advance.
• These deluxe buses don’t necessarily stop for food. Bring snacks.
• Get a seat far from restrooms to avoid odor from jostled holding tanks.
Northwest travel guides
OAXACA, Mexico — You can still find the fabled “chicken bus” in Mexico, but if you’re traveling between sizable cities, that’s a long-outdated stereotype. Mexico’s modern intercity bus lines are among the best in the world — and, by U.S. standards, quite affordable.
Traveling overnight back and forth last fall between Oaxaca and Chiapas, I compared two premium services offered by ADO (say “Ah-Day-Oh”), one of Mexico’s largest bus operators (ado.com.mx). The top-of-the-line Platino service, modeled after first-class airline comforts, has just about everything but a flight attendant plumping your pillow.
At Oaxaca’s shiny first-class bus terminal, I discovered the first difference when I made the mistake of trying to check my luggage at the “ordinary” bag-check counter. I was pointed around the corner to the private, guarded Platino waiting room with its own bag counter, private restrooms, big-screen TVs, water cooler and free coffee. As I boarded, I was offered a free soft drink or chilled water.
And don’t sniff that it probably cost the moon, because I didn’t pay through the nose: For an overnight bus ride, the fare was about $60 U.S.
The bus itself had only three seats across its width, in a two-and-one configuration. Traveling alone, I had booked one of the single seats, with the best of both worlds: both a window and an aisle. The down side, I discovered, was that the single row had significantly less leg room between seats than on the side with two seats abreast. Not fun when the big man in front of me reclined all the way back and the top of his head was under my nose.
But the good news came in two doses:
1. Because the Platino bus costs about one-third more than the next cheapest service (ADO GL), it may not run as full. So I was able to move across to an open pair of seats across the aisle.
2. Because the Platino bus makes fewer (or no) stops between major cities, I could switch seats without much worry about someone getting on an hour later to claim a reserved seat I had purloined. (Seats are usually assigned on intercity buses in Mexico.)
Other first-class amenities with Platino: The big wide seats not only reclined to almost horizontal, they came with a pull-down, cushioned support for your legs. All windows were tightly curtained, with a closed door separating us from the driver. It was quite the dark womb at night.
Airline-sized pillows and thin blankets were provided. Men’s and women’s lavatories were in the back, with lighted icons up front to tell if they were busy. Between the restrooms was a serve-yourself coffee bar with hot water and instant coffee. Video screens were in seat backs, with ear buds provided and a selection of music and movies (no English-language movies, sorry). They even provided a blackout mask for light sleepers.
One thing the fancy buses couldn’t provide: a smooth and quiet ride over some rough and winding Mexican roadway. Bring earplugs; there’s clattering.
Next step down
Platino service wasn’t offered the date I returned to Oaxaca, so I sampled the next step down, the “Ejecutivo” (like Business Class) bus, the ADO GL (about $44 U.S. for the same overnight trip).
This less-expensive bus was full. The seats were four across, in a two-and-two configuration — about 2/3 the width of the Platino seats. I had a window seat, which meant “holding it” in the middle of the night because I didn’t have the heart to wake my seatmate.
Seats still reclined quite a ways, and we still got a free soft drink, his-and-hers lavatories and the coffee bar. But no pillows or blankets on the GL (bring a sweater), and movies were shown on drop-down video screens (with earbuds provided), meaning you watched whatever they were showing. Sleep was more elusive on this trip.
In both cases, the quoted travel time was about 11 hours. Both journeys actually took 12 hours.
Brian J. Cantwell: bcantwell@seattletimes.com
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Saturday, February 1, 2014
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