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An Air Canada plane at Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL) on October 3 2021. (Photo by DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images) Photo by Daniel Slim/AFP /Getty Images
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Formula 1 employees, along with other passengers, were allegedly ordered off an Air Canada flight by armed police, despite claiming to have done nothing wrong.
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Jordan Conlan, 28, part of the Williams team, and 24 other passengers were tossed from a flight headed to London from Montreal, following the Canadian Grand Prix, the Daily Mail reported.
He said everyone on board was quiet, “behaving properly” and all appeared to be wearing masks.
After an hour of sitting on the runway, an airport security staffer entered the plane and began walking up and down the aisles.
“Then all of a sudden, a long line of five or seven police officers came on the flight,” Conlan told the Mail.
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One by one, passengers were ordered off the plane including three of Conlan’s teammates — one with a broken leg, a pregnant woman, and their colleague.
The latter two “were both crying and very upset. They just couldn’t understand it.”
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When it was Conlan’s turn to be ejected, he asked why but said he wasn’t given a reason.
Four members of the Aston Martin F1 team were also booted along with someone from the Red Bull team who wasn’t allowed to get his bag — which had his passport, wallet and phone — from the overhead compartment.
Two Canadians sitting next to Conlan were also forced to leave. The Mail also reported on a British couple was removed from the flight after their four-week “dream holiday” in Canada.
They were all taken to the baggage area, though the plane ended up leaving with their bags still on board.
They were told by an Air Canada employee that they may have been either drunk or not obeying mask-wearing rules, although all of them insisted they had done nothing wrong.
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They weren’t booked on new flights by Air Canada due to their “behaviour,” the staffer added.
“Nobody could understand it because we had done nothing wrong,” Conlan said.
The airline issued a statement to the Mail, saying it is investigating the incident.
“We are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding this incident involving a group of 25 customers who were removed from our flight from Montreal to London Monday night, due to disruptive behavior,” it read, adding that “unrelated individuals” who were deplaned were rebooked the following day.
“Once our investigation is completed, we will follow up with the customers.”
Air Canada did not immediately respond to the Toronto Sun’s request for comment.
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