Passenger on Air Canada outraged that the crew can’t speak French

An Air Canada business class passenger, Jean-Pierre Beaudoin, was angered when he discovered that the flight attendant assigned to his zone could not speak French. Beaudoin and his wife were traveling from Quebec City to Fort Lauderdale on flight AC1688 in March 2023.

Beaudoin requested a French-speaking flight attendant, but the English-speaking attendant refused and gave him an ultimatum to leave the plane or be served by the English-speaking attendant. Beaudoin chose to stay on the flight but filed a complaint with the Quebec Office of the French Language after the flight, as Air Canada is subject to Canada’s Official Languages Act, which provides equal status to English and French.

While Air Canada prefers bilingual candidates who speak both languages fluently, the airline does not require its flight attendants to speak both languages.