A retired British couple was kicked off an Air Canada flight on Tuesday evening, along with around 20 others – with no explanation given as to what they had done wrong.
Richard and Patricia Brailey, aged 71 and 66 respectively, had boarded flight AC866 to London Heathrow at Montreal’s international airport with no problems.
But shortly after settling into their seats, armed police reportedly boarded the plane to remove the Braileys.
Dozens of others seated around them – other passengers estimated around 25 to 28 in total – were also ejected from the aircraft.
Their son Patrick Brailey slammed the airline on social media , saying: “My elderly parents have been escorted by armed police from @AirCanada flight AC866 along with about 28 other pax.
“No explanation, their bags have continued to LHR.
“Separate Air Canada employee in terminal told them removal was order frm Captain?
“No comms on board but employee thinks removal must’ve been due to ’not wearing mask or being drunk’.”
Mr Brailey called it a “huge mix up”, saying, “My elderly parents religiously wore their masks and were not drunk. Been left stranded in terminal.”
Richard Brailey told the Daily Mail: “We had waited for about an hour for the plane to take off when a member of staff with a list of numbers came along looking up and down the rows.
“They started looking at the seat numbers and earlier removed two young girls from three or four rows in front of us.
“Then they pointed at us, and told the police with them to remove us. We were totally flabbergasted. We had just been sitting in our seats normally with our masks on and looking forward to getting underway.”
The Braileys and other passengers were told they could not board another Air Canada flight for 24 hours after their removal from the London-bound aircraft, and – since they had been deplaned – the arrangement of a replacement flight was now their responsibility.
According to other passengers on social media, the group that was removed included a pregnant woman, a couple with two children, several members of the Williams Racing Formula 1 team and a doctor for the Aston Martin F1 team.
“We were in total shock. I was assuming there must have been a problem with the paperwork or something,” Richard Brailey told reporters.
“I was asking what it was all about and if I could speak to the captain, but I was told that I would find out later. It was a nightmare scenario.
“It was utterly bizarre because there was no…
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