An Air Canada passenger’s ‘hissy fit’ over in-flight dinner caused massive delays

An Air Canada flight was delayed for several hours after one business-class passenger was deeply unhappy with his in-flight meal.

The unnamed passenger onboard the flight from Vancouver to Toronto allegedly told staff he had a food intolerance, which restricted him from eating meat or wheat, and was absolutely livid to discover there were no more fish meals available on the flight.

“He was very belligerent, very rude to the flight attendant,” a witness told CTV News Vancouver. “The flight attendant was very polite, she offered him several choices.”

The witness, who does not wish to be identified, said the man was visibly abusive and even swore at cabin crew who refused to come through with a fish meal.

Another passenger onboard the Air Canada flight claimed the man didn’t appear to be intoxicated or slurring his words, but seemed to be composed.

"He was very calm and was like, 'If I don’t get fish, there will be a problem. One way or another, I will get my fish, either you serve it to me or I will serve it to myself,'" said the unnamed passenger.

All of this occurred before the plane had even left the ground and eventually the man was kicked off the flight. In the time it took to return the angry passenger to his gate, the airline’s original crew members were nearing their duty day limit and needed to recrew, delaying the flight by five and a half hours.

Air Canada confirmed the AC118 flight returned to the gate because of a "disruptive passenger".  

“We were all inconvenienced because this guy had a hissy fit over not being able to get fish,” one passenger said.