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Air Canada planes land at Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport

Drunk RIM employees face $71,000 fine for diverting flight

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CTV News Channel: Plane forced to turn back
CTV's Merella Fernandez says two RIM employees reportedly got into a drunken rowdy dispute that was so bad the plane was forced to turn around. She explains how they must now pay the cost for the airline's trip back.

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Air Canada planes land at Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport

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Air Canada planes land at Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport

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Date: Thu. Dec. 1 2011 9:40 PM ET

VANCOUVER — Two Ontario employees of Blackberry maker Research in Motion are facing a big fine after their drunken rowdiness forced an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Beijing to be diverted to Vancouver on Monday.

Forty-five-year-old George Campbell of Conestogo and 38-year-old Paul Alexander Wilson of Kitchener have been ordered to pay restitution of $71,757 after pleading guilty to mischief.

They were also given suspended sentences and probation for a year.

RIM also said the two men are off the job until it can more closely look into the matter.

"Based on the limited information available at this time, RIM has suspended the individuals involved pending further investigation," RIM spokesman Marisa Conway said in a statement.

Another passenger aboard the plane says Campbell and Wilson were fighting with the flight attendants and it took the entire crew to subdue the men, who were eventually handcuffed to seats on the plane.

The passenger accused Air Canada of being irresponsible, claiming the airline staff either allowed drunk passengers on the plane or over served them once they were aboard.

After the jet diverted to Vancouver, the other passengers were put up in hotels overnight and the flight resumed the next day, 18 hours behind schedule.

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Blake
said

Sounds like a scam. Air Canada needs money and took this as an opportunity to make money. It's funny how these people want more money, more this more that, yet their responsibilities are really really bad. The men could have been denied passage before boarding. The stewardess could have stopped the drinking, instead she kept serving. Even bartenders are trained to stop serving drinks to customers who may become dangerous to themselves and others around them.

Nope I don't buy it. It is a money grab from the airline and hey who cares if it puts people out of their way.

People said they were fighting with the attendents. Well from the stories I heard, the attendents are not exactly the friendliest people and with that said, who is to say they did not provoke a situation. We all know the attendents are on perma power trips so this is their way of flexing. Hey, these are the same people that kick off mothers with new borns because the baby is crying...

You know it's like back in High School, if you have a disagreement with the teacher, no matter if you are %500 in the right, the pricipal will always, ALWAYS side with the teacher. Hence Union Corruption, and AC employees are probably put up to doing things like this after their last contract failure.

Just curious, how does one pay a fine like that anyway if one has no means? It might as well be a million dollars!



Traveller in Waterloo
said

Two questions spring to mind: first, if they were drunk when they got on the plane, why were they served more alcohol? Second, if they weren't drunk when they got on the plane, why would the flight attendants continue to serve them after they were clearly intoxicated? I have been on flights where attendants continue to sell alcohol to obviously intoxicated passengers, thankfully none of whom have caused the plane to make an emergency landing. But surely the flight attendants have some duty to stop serving after a certain point? It's not like they can get confused over who they have served either - after all, the passengers aren't moving around the plane like they could in a bar. Wait staff in licensed establishments are taken to task if they continue to serve an intoxicated patron, maybe flight attendants should be as well?


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