ARTICLE:
A British Columbia man was made to leave a flight because he was asleep right before takeoff. Stephen Bennett, his wife, Josefa Sapelino, and their son, were taking a WestJet flight from Toronto, Ontario to Cuba on Oct. 13. (They had already flown from Burnaby, BC to Toronto.) Bennett took a sleeping pill which he had been given by a doctor. The flight attendants couldn’t easily wake him up as the plane was preparing to take off. They became worried there was something medically wrong with him, according to CTV News.
Sapelino was eventually able to wake her husband up. That’s when he discovered that the flight attendants wanted him to get off the plane. WestJet requires all passengers to be awake during takeoff. That is in case something like an accident happens; all passengers need to be alert for their own safety, according to regulations. The regulations also say that airlines can refuse anyone they feel may pose a “safety risk.”
Bennett suffered a stroke two months ago. He hadn’t slept well the night before on a flight from Burnaby to Toronto so he took a sleeping pill in order to get some sleep. Bennett was one of the earliest passengers to board the plane, and immediately fell asleep, according to an article on the BBC News website. Paramedics examined him after he was off the plane and said he was medically fit to fly. Bennett also got an email from his doctor saying he was okay to fly.
However, WestJet would not allow him to board and said he needed to take the next available WestJet flight, which wasn’t until the following week. The flight from Toronto to Cuba was part of a holiday package Bennett and his family had purchased. Instead of waiting for another WestJet flight, the family paid more than $2,000 to buy a plane ticket from another airline. They had to cut their vacation short by two days. Bennett told reporters he was embarrassed by the incident and that he plans to sue WestJet, according to CTV Vancouver.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- Bennett told reporters that he plans to sue WestJet. Do you think the airline was wrong to refuse this passenger? Why or why not?
- A “fair” article portrays both sides equally–it provides support to both sides. Reread today’s article and decide whether you believe both sides were treated fairly. Provide evidence from the text to support your answer.
I think it is not fair how the man was kicked out and not allowed to go back on the plane. Instead of making the man stay out of the plane, the flight attendants could have just made sure the man could be awake for takeoff. It’s also not fair because the man had just had a stroke two months before the lane flight, and needed as much sleep as possible.
I think the article does support both sides. It says why it was unfair for the man to get kicked out, but the article also says why the flight attendants kicked the man out. Apparently they needed to ensure the passengers were aware of takeoff. All in all, I think it was unfair that the man got kicked off the plane.
I argge with jefferson
I don’t think that it is fair to kick him off. I do get that it is a safety issue but it is not right to kick him off when he was just trying to get some rest. What i think is the most unfair is how they did not give him his money back and him and his wife had to pay for another flight. I think that it is good that he’s suing them, if that happened to my parents they would sue West Jet too.
I think that the article supports both sides of the story.
I think it does because in paragraph two it talks about how it would be a safety issue, and that all flight attendants have the right to kick him off. In the other paragraphs it explains that all he wanted to do was try and get some sleep, also it said that his doctors were o.k with him flying but they didn’t let him.
I think the airline should have let him on. It’s not okay to refuse to let someone who already paid on board. They should have woke him up and let him in.
The man was right to sue the airline. The extra $2000 it cost him should be given back at the very least. The airline might have to take cautions, but not something this extreme.
This is so mean in my perspective, they could have just woken him up and told him about the take off. I mean he just had a stroke, so I feel they should give him good if not, better care.
I think WestJet was absolutely wrong to kick that man out of the plane, knowing that number one he payed a lot of money for that flight and two it was technically not his fault.
I felt like the man could’ve taken his sleeping pills after or a few minutes before take of (depending on how long it takes for the sleeping pill to take effect) and he would’ve avoided all this. I think the man and WestJet both did wrong, I think the article supported both sides, of course some would say that it was the man’s fault and others would disagree with WestJet but I think the man should not sue WestJet, it’s like asking for drama, like there’s so many ups and downs when suing something or someone, and in the article the man said he was embarrassed and my advise to him is to not sue because there’s a chance he could feel more embarrassment. I think this matte was kind of treated fairly, the only thing I disagree with is kicking the man off the plane because you could’ve let him off with a warning especially since nothing went wrong.
1) I think it is unfair that the airline kicked off the man and didn’t let him back on even though he was okay to fly. Why it is unfair because i see other people sleeping and the flight attendants don’t do anything about it. I think the mistake was that they didnt let him back on and didnt refund it.
2) I think the article supports both sides clearly and not taking sides. It states why the man shouldn’t of been kicked out and why he had to be kicked off. After all of this i still think he should of not been kicked off the flight.
I think that it was very wrong that Westjet refused to take the man off the flight just because he fell asleep. Also he didn’t get enough sleep the night before so it is very reasonable for him to be very tired. Reminding him that the flight would be starting 10 minuets earlier would be good as well, but kicking him off the flight is just too much. In conclusion for this paragraph I disagree with the airline.
In this article CTV news is supporting both sides of the problem. In the article the flight attendants said why they had to kick the man off the flight. In all I think personally that the man on the flight shouldn’t have been kicked off just because he fell asleep.
I think the person should have been aloud on the plane because I think it is just rude to just kick him off the plane for him not being awake for takeoff. I also think he has a right to be on the plane and his doctor even told him he is able to fly. Even if it was said to be a fair article I still think he had every right to be on the plane especially since he had a stroke two months ago. If I had to be in the same situation I would totally sue them like that guy wanted to do.
In my opinion, I think that WestJet shouldn’t have kicked the passenger off because its just not nice to not let him on board.
Although it’s a fair article, I still think that the passenger should have been let on board.
I don’t think that the airline should have kicked the guy off. Instead, they should have just woken him up and let him continue. Also, as for his plans to sue West Jet, I think that he should. I mean, could you imagine if you were looking forward to a nice relaxing vacation, but then some lady comes up to you and says you have to get off. I would be pretty upset and I’m sure you would be too.
I think that the article supports both sides, because the guy did have a stroke and hadn’t gotten good sleep the night before. But on the other hand, it does make sense that they would need all passengers to be awake for take off. IN conclusion I don’t think the guy should have been kicked off.
I thick it was so rude of WestJet to kick the man off the plane. I think the man deserves his 2,000 dollars back plus more for having being so badly treated.
I think that the article was fair because it talked about both sides, about how WestJet needed all passengers to be awake for takeoff, and also about how the man was only taking a nap and he paid to be on that plane and how it was unfair for him to be kicked off.
I’m going to be direct: It wasn’t fair that the man got kicked off the plane. The article mentions that he woke up BEFORE the plane took off, so why did the WestJet people still kick him off? Also, didn’t he offer some explanation about his stroke thingy? All in all, however, it was nice that the attendants cared about the man’s safety/health issues. I wonder why his wife didn’t tell the attendants that he was on a sleeping pill. He also paid a lot of money for the flight, so he should have gotten a refund. Still, it’s pretty risky to go on a plane just months after a stroke, so I think the article supported both sides.
I think that the article supported both sides by giving us details from both sides. The West Jet’s rules and regulations for flying in an alert and aware state, and the passenger’s poit of view by being very tired. Maybe the airline was a little bit unfare to remove the passenger from the flight even though the passenger was awake and did not show any signs of illness.
In regards of the passenger suing the airline, I think that is going to be a long process but her might lose.
I think they should have let the man stay on and tell a worker to stay beside him or tell the wife to make sure that he doesn’t fall asleep.
I think that it isn’t really fair because the man didn’t have a good night sleep in a long time and finally got something to help him sleep and the least the can do is give them another plane ride because the man and his family already paid for the tickets and still had to get off.
But one thing good is the man can sleep all the way until the next plane is here.
I agree with Abby.
1. I think they are right and wrong. Because (GOOD SIDE) The People on the plane is right to kick him off because they’re not sure if he is sick or not and he could of probably died in his sleep and everyone on the play needs to make sure everyone is awake cause then they are sure everyone is safe to fly and he was asleep and they could not wake Bennett up so of course his not allowed to fly with his family. (1. What if he passed away while fly? 2. what if he had a emergency and no one knew until they landed?) So there is a lot of reasons why they need to make sure Bennett is awake. Now on the (BAD SIDE) I guess… ANYWAYS! If they did not kick him out of the plan then you would know what would of happened. he would of died in the plan and no one would of ever knew. Until they landed so EVERYTHING would always have reasons and I`m not sure why Bennett would want to sue Westjet flight for that cause Its kind of stupid. Ha Ha No offence but still.